Formidable allies
Two of the world’s top financial news agencies merged this year, but two NUJ reps who stood up to them have ensured that no journalists will be forced out of their jobs as Thomson Reuters seeks to economise from its giant scale.
Reuters was founded in 1851 and had expanded to become the world’s leading news agency. The Canadian-owned Thomson Financial News (TFN) can trace its origins back only to the 1980s, but the merger was seen in the City as a takeover of the venerable British news institution.
The new company came into being in April and unsurprisingly announced 835 job losses worldwide, including 140 in London. Right away the two NUJ chapels began their fight to stop any compulsory redundancies, and by July they had won.
Both chapels had threatened strike action over managers’ failure to consult them over the massive restructuring demanded by the merger. They forced the company to talk, and the two chapel leaders — MYRA MacDONALD at Reuters and FRANK PRENESTI at Thomsons — forced them to listen.
It took two months of negotiation to win the battle, and now members of the chapels have nominated the pair as Union Heroes.
“RIGHT AFTER the Reuters merger with Thomson went through, Reuters NUJ Mother of Chapel Myra MacDonald saw the handwriting on the wall and made a solemn vow: ‘no compulsory redundancies’ — not as long as she had anything do with it.”
So says Reuters joint Father of Chapel Mike Roddy, nominating his Mother of Chapel as a Union Hero. “She was told it was a risky strategy, that it could backfire, that it was an impossible goal, but in the end the tenacious Myra, who has held top editorial assignment for Reuters in India and Paris, and is now a chief sub-editor on the world desk in London, got her way.
“Myra knew the already low morale was going to go through the floor if people were being sacked right and left. The only reasonable option, if a functioning newsroom was to be maintained, was voluntary redundancies. And due to her remarkable powers of persuasion — management followed her lead.”
Over at TFN, chapel member Carol Repton says Frank Prenesti was already “a tireless, supportive and extremely feisty and effective negotiator in annual pay rounds and countless individual issues, from bullying to sexual harassment to dismissal, over the past eight years or so, after he won union recognition and set up our NUJ chapel here.
“In fact, he managed to secure a favourable pay rise and bonus for us in our last wage round in April this year.”
“Thanks to Frank and the other union reps, management gave way and offered a voluntary redundancy package to journalists in overlapping areas in the two London newsrooms, on the favourable terms of one month per year worked, plus 12 weeks’ notice. And all the journalists who do not take it will get jobs at Thomson Reuters.
“All I can say is — well done, Frank! He is not a person to blow his own trumpet. But without his perseverance, sheer hard work and refusal to take ‘no’ for an answer, I am sure we would not be enjoying the generous financial payoffs or job security that he has managed to negotiate for us. Those who are going will miss his down-to-earth Aussie sense of humour and friendly, morale-boosting presence, when we are all dispersed to the four winds.”
Frank Prenesti says: “The last 18 months presented a huge challenge in the face of a concerted assault from two large multinational companies. I have no doubt that had we not stood our ground the results for journalists would have been devastating. I couldn’t have managed the long haul without the tireless assistance of my deputy Phil Waller. He challenged management at every turn and was prepared to answer the endless queries from ministers.
“Myra MacDonald proved to be a formidable ally. When management presented the NUJ reps with documents and the like, Myra would go over them quickly but thoroughly, pen in hand, then after a bit she would come out with ‘hang on a minute’ or ‘can we go over this line by line?’ — usually catching management in something they’d hoped the NUJ reps might not notice. They learned that when Myra was quiet she was at her most dangerous.”