Thomson REUTERS Hit by Unfair Labor Practice Charge

[Omaha Steve]

http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/02-03-2009/0004965647&EDATE=

NEW YORK, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The New York Newspaper Guild has filed two unfair labor practice charges against Thomson Reuters, saying the media company unfairly barred workers from their long-standing practice of wearing red union t-shirts to show solidarity during labor contract negotiations.

The Guild's charges to the National Labor Relations Board said Thomson Reuters Corp. (NYSE: TRI, TSX: TRI, LSE: TRIL, Nasdaq: TRIN) violated federal labor law by banning only Newspaper Guild t-shirts and by implementing a dress code without bargaining with the union as required.

"This is the first time in the union's more than 30 years at Reuters that management has been so rattled as to ban a display of union support," said Guild President Bill O'Meara. "Our members are more than a little riled at management trying to curb their right to show solidarity with their union."

Just hours before a bargaining session for a new contract the company ordered newsroom staffers not to wear the red Guild t-shirts, if they could be captured by television cameras using the newsrooms in New York and Washington, D.C. as a backdrop to its fledgling web-based video product, "Insider."

FULL story at link.

[pleah]

1. K&R