Reuters reporters make news

Chris Garlock

01 Feb 2010

Union City

(Chris Garlock/Union City)

At a noontime demonstration outside the DC Thomson Reuters H Street offices Friday, journalists were making the news instead of covering it. "Impasse, my ass!" some three dozen Reuters reporters and their supporters chanted as they circled the sidewalk, their breaths visible in the sub‑freezing air.

"All we're looking for is a fair contract," said Debby Zabarenko, Reuters unit chair for the DC Newspaper Guild members. "Reuters declared impasse on January 19 and yesterday they told us they're going to start imposing new working conditions that'll mean more work and effective pay cuts of at least ten percent."

Zabarenko called the Reuters actions "especially hypocritical" in light of the company's profitability and the CEO's $36 million pay package in 2008. "It's not only unfair to the workers, but we're worried that this is just going to erode the high‑quality news reporting we do. All we want is for the company to come back to the table. We don't want to be out here; these are some of Washington's best journalists and they'd much rather be working at their desks, especially on a cold January day."

The Newspaper Guild of New York represents 110 Reuters workers locally and over 400 across the country; Friday's rally was supported by the Washington‑Baltimore Guild.