Categories: OLD Media Moves

Court rules in favor of union in Reuters negotiations

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Thursday flatly rejected Thomson Reuters attempt to prevent the Newspaper Guild of New York from enforcing its contract through arbitration, according to a union post.

The guild states, “The tersely-worded rebuke upholds the Guild’s right, as previously determined by Judge Sidney H. Stein of the U.S. Southern District Court, to arbitrate pending contract disputes with the company. Hanan Kolko, the Guild’s lawyer, presented his arguments before a three-judge federal appeals court panel — circuit judges Barrington D. Parker and Richard C. Wesley, and district judge Barbara S. Jones — on Wednesday, November 10.

“The summary order issued this morning by the three-judge-panel states:

“‘We agree with the district court that the arbitration clause of the parties’s [sic] latest collective bargaining agreement applies here. Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is hereby affirmed.’

“The decision means that the grievances filed after the Feb. 28, 2009 formal expiration date of the contract are subject to binding arbitration. Simply put, we won the battle with Thomson Reuters about our right to fight for our members.”