Newspaper Guild Accuses Newsweek Owner of Unfair Labor Practices

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Maybe IBT Media, the upstart digital publisher that produces The International Business Times and recently snatched up Newsweek for a song (see "TUOL" post 8/5/13), should take a Dale Carnegie course in how to win friends and influence people.

The ink hasn't dried on the Newsweek acquisition and  Ad Week already is reporting that The Newspaper Guild last week filed an unfair labor practices charge against the new owner. IBT purportedly offered four Newsweek staffers continued employment, but indicated that company policy prohibited their discussing salary with colleagues or criticizing IBT.  The Guild condemned IBT for "illegally muzzling" its workers and alleged the company had violated U.S. labor law.

That determination will be made by the National Labor Relations Board. If the NLRB finds merit in the accusation, it will file a complaint against IBT. According to the Ad Week story, Newsweek only has a staff of 20, down from 150 just three years ago, so there's barely anyone around in the lunch room to whom one could complain about low pay or the boss.