Union: Bloomberg BNA plans to lay off 46 staffers

The Washington-Baltimore News Guild, the union that represents journalists at Bloomberg BNA, sent out the following email to its staffers on Wednesday:

Over the next 2 days, BBNA is laying off 46 bargaining unit members as part of a companywide reduction-in-force. The Guild is providing representation to every employee and is investigating the circumstances to ensure that the contract is being followed in each case. We will make everyone aware of the details when they become available. Just know that the Guild is working to ensure that everyone’s rights are protected during this process.

Because of our contract, every employee is entitled to at least 4 weeks’ notice on top of 4 weeks of severance per year of service plus company-paid COBRA health insurance premiums for three months. They also are entitled to go on a rehire list that gives them priority when new jobs open up.

We fully expect that BBNA will go after these benefits during bargaining, which is set to begin sometime next month. Slashing severance and related benefits would make it cheaper, and thus easier, for the company to conduct further rounds of layoffs and upend the lives of the employees it claims to care about. Providing severance at these levels ensures not only that employees have a cushion when their employment is terminated, but also that BBNA does not make layoff decisions lightly.

We are at a critical moment right now and it is imperative that we increase membership in the Guild to protect these and other essential benefits in our contract. The only way to ensure that we preserve, or improve upon, what we have is to sign up as many people as possible.

If you are not a Guild member, please consider joining. If you are, please talk to your nonmember colleagues about the importance of joining the Guild now more than ever.

A Bloomberg BNA spokesman declined to comment. Bloomberg BNA has about 250 editorial staffers.

In addition to government-focused news and information products, Bloomberg BNA provides news and information about the legal, tax and compliance markets.

BNA was acquired by Bloomberg in 2011 for nearly $1 billion. Bloomberg Government was folded into BNA last year.