A union representing US employees of Reuters Group Plc is mounting a legal challenge against outsourcing of many of their editorial jobs to Bangalore in India.
An independent arbitrator will hear the Newspaper Guild of New York's charge that offshoring US-based editorial jobs violates its contract with Reuters. The arbitrator's decision will be legally binding. The case could take months to complete.
The employees have planned a protest against outsourcing on Thursday.
As the lawyers square off, journalists and other employees will picket Reuters' US headquarters in Times Square and other US bureaus at lunchtime to call attention to the dispute.
"Instead of focusing on producing the highest quality news, Reuters is now focused on producing the cheapest news," New York Guild President Barry Lipton was quoted as saying in a press release. "This change is not just bad for our members, it's bad for Reuters and its clients."
The Guild said despite alerting Reuters managers last August that outsourcing jobs violates their contract, the London-based news and information company went ahead with its plans to expand its Bangalore-based editorial staff that was set up to write about American companies and other selected US financial news.
"This is remote-control journalism, with low-paid reporters in India writing US news to US editors' specifications," said Lipton. "It produces a cheaper product but adds no value to stories with reporting at the source."
So far, no Guild-covered employees have lost jobs to outsourcing. But the Guild said that could change in a few weeks with the company's plans to move other US-based editorial jobs to Canada and Singapore.
The Guild and Reuters have been in contract negotiations for more than two years, with management seeking to slash healthcare coverage, retirement benefits and job security.
The Guild represents more than 450 print, Television and still picture journalists, technicians and other employees at Reuters' US subsidiary, Reuters America LLC.
