Scholastic Employees Rally For ‘Fair’ Wages & ‘A Strong’ Contract - Workers ‘Call Out’ Publishing Company ‘For Slow-Walking’ Contract Negotiations & ‘Underpaying’ Workers After Their Contract Expired In May 2022
(NEW YORK CITY) - Dozens of Scholastic Union Members rallied at the company’s headquarters to protest Scholastic’s slow-walking of contract negotiations and refusing to offer a fair deal, including retroactive pay and remote work rights, to Workers.
The 82 Members of the Scholastic Union are represented by The NewsGuild of New York.
The Union’s last contract with the Children’s Publishing powerhouse Scholastic Incorporated expired in May 2022.
Employees have been bargaining with the company since last October, but management has yet to agree to important demands around retroactive pay and remote work protections.
“I believe in the work I do at Scholastic, but I get paid so little here that I can barely make rent. Scholastic hasn’t even compensated us for the work we did during the (Coronavirus) Pandemic, even though we’re the ones who kept the company going during the darkest days of COVID. Scholastic has more than enough to make sure we’re paid what we’re worth. It’s a question of who Scholastic wants to serve: A handful of executives at the top or Workers like us who make the company run,” said Alison Colby, a Production Editor at Scholastic.
Many of Scholastic’s Employees struggle to afford the cost of living in New York City under their current salaries, NewsGuild of New York Officials said.
The company has also refused to update and formalize its Remote Work Policy, putting the company out of step with the rest of the Publishing Industry and the economy at large.
Scholastic has failed to formalize hybrid work options in writing since before 2020, even though 90% of the company has used remote work effectively to keep Scholastic prosperous during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Union Officials said.
As a result, Workers have to rely on verbal assurances of flexibility that could be revoked at any moment, the Union said.
A number of Units represented by The NewsGuild of New York have won Remote Work Rights in their contracts in recent weeks after a series of collective actions, including The New York Times Guild and Insider Union.
To Directly Access This Labor News Report In Its Entirety, Go To: Scholastic Employees Rally for Fair Wages and a Strong Contract (nyguild.org)
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