CWA Media Workers Go on ULP Strike at Le Monde

Last week, U.S.-based journalists and media workers at Le Monde, the largest national newspaper in France, enacted a one-day unfair labor practice strike. Every worker voted to strike after the Los Angeles-based subsidiary SEM USA Corp. refused to bargain in good faith. They organized as Le Monde Union and are affiliated with the Media Guild of the West (TNG-CWA Local 39213), which also represents journalists at the Los Angeles Times.

The company is accused of committing several unfair labor practices during the course of bargaining, including failing to provide counterproposals for months during bargaining sessions, setting arbitrary deadlines to conclude negotiations, and proposing changes to tentative agreements.

Members are protesting significant disparities in treatment between workers under French contracts and those with U.S. contracts, despite the fact that they all work in the same office and perform similar roles. Notably, employees on French contracts receive twice as much vacation time and housing allowances as their U.S. counterparts, among other benefits.

Le Monde Union calls on management to negotiate in good faith and take its proposals seriously, particularly regarding wages and just cause and the disparities in treatment between French and local contracts.

Click here to read more about the disparities these media workers face and their fight for a fair contract.

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.