Standing up for our rights 👏

On Oct. 16, during a newsroom-wide meeting, our executive editor and publisher Aminda Marqués González told the staff of el Nuevo Herald, the Miami Herald and Miami.com that the company plans to withhold raises from all members of our bargaining unit during contract negotiations.

Here is what she said: "Managers who are not in the unit will get raises. People who are in the bargaining unit will not [get raises] until you have a contract, and then you will bargain over whether that’s retroactive or not.”  (Emphasis added for clarity.)

She added that these negotiations could take “years.”

The journalists of One Herald Guild have a right to form a union under federal law. We have a right to do it without fear of retaliation or reprisal. In fact, it’s illegal under Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act to attempt to influence the results of an election through threats or coercion, including the threat of withholding “changes in wages or benefits during a union organizing campaign that would have been made had the union not been on the scene.”

Our editor may have misspoken during this meeting. We do not think she would intentionally violate the law. But we believe her comments constitute an unfair, retaliatory and illegal threat. And it’s important that we speak out against this kind of behavior in order to protect our rights.

According to the National Labor Relations Board, it’s against the law for anyone to:

 — “Threaten employees with adverse consequences if they engage in protected, concerted activity” such as forming a union.

— “Withhold changes in wages or benefits during a union organizing campaign that would have been made had the union not been on the scene, unless you make clear to employees that the change will occur whether or not they select the union, and that your sole purpose in postponing the change is to avoid any appearance of trying to influence the outcome of the election.”

— “Convey the message that selecting a union would be futile.”

Newspaper unions routinely allow raises during contract negotiations. Even within our own newsroom, several colleagues who joined us from recently unionized papers received raises before finalizing a contract. Technically, a union could assert a right to stop raises, but who would want to do that? OneHeraldGuild, like every other union, would welcome raises and any other improvements to our working conditions. We want to be clear: The only thing that would stop us from getting raises during negotiations is management itself.

Given yesterday’s events, we ask that our executive editor and the McClatchy Company now publicly acknowledge that under federal law unions are allowed to let managers give raises during contract negotiations – and to promise us that no one will be denied a raise because we are exercising our legal right to bargain for a contract.

Find a full description of illegal behaviors as defined by the NLRB here: https://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect/whats-law/employers/interfering-employee-rights-section-7-8a1