Boston Globe Owners Criticized By Union for Ties to Controversial Law Firm - Labor Fight Continues
Thursday, November 19, 2020
A committee representing nearly 300 journalists and staff at the Boston Globe has sent a letter to the newspaper’s ownership and Managing Director, John Henry and Linda Pizzuti Henry, criticizing the ties between the Globe and Jones Day, a law firm that has become embroiled in election-related controversies.
The Boston Newspaper Guild (BNG), who represents the newsroom and other functions at the paper, has been in a labor dispute for about two years with the Henrys.
Billionaire Henry is also the owner of the Boston Red Sox, Roush Fenway Racing, Liverpool Football Club, and Fenway Sports Group, the parent company of those clubs, which has been reported to be in the process of merging with RedBall Acquisition Corp. as part of a potential IPO.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTOn Wednesday, Pizzuti was named CEO of the paper -- its fourth leader in eight years.
Latest Union Battle
According to the press release, "A number of staff at Jones Day have recently spoken out to the New York Times regarding the firm’s role in recent electoral litigation, with concern that 'the main goal of the litigation seemed to be to erode public confidence in the election results.'”
The Providence office of the Globe are not part of the union at the paper. The BNG told GoLocal previously, ”New initiative hires transition into the union after 60 months (five years).
The Boston Globe journalists raise the issue after reports that Henry's law firm Jones Day has filed litigation challenging issues pertaining to the security and outcome of the Presidential election in Pennsylvania.
The letter from Globe journalists to John Henry, Linda Pizzuti Henry, and to top Globe executives reads in part:
“We believe you should reconsider your relationship with Jones Day, an association that has already damaged our journalists' trust in your leadership -- and which we fear may also damage our readers' trust in the Globe at a critical moment.
As you know, the Globe has paid Jones Day significant sums for the past two years in its ongoing quest to strip away basic workplace protections from Globe journalists. How can the Globe's political journalists be asked to continue to endure such workplace attacks from the very law firm whose actions they are now reporting on and investigating?
This continued relationship with Jones Day poses a conflict of interest and raises serious ethical concerns for our journalists that cannot be ignored.”
The letter continues:
“Over the past two years, Jones Day’s involvement with the Globe has inflicted serious damage. It has eroded trust between employees and owners, and destroyed morale among journalists at the Globe, contributing to a recent exodus of talent, at a time when our jobs are more essential to our democracy than ever before.”
Boston Globe journalists expressed dismay about what they have viewed for months as a misallocation of resources to the controversial law firm at a time when they believe those resources should be used to retain journalists and bolster journalism at the Boston Globe for the benefit of its readers and the public good.
“Instead of using their ample resources to further invest in essential, top-notch journalism, the Henrys have sent significant sums of money into the Jones Day coffers," said Boston.com reporter Kevin Slane, one of the committee members who signed the letter. "I'm deeply disappointed that John and Linda think employing a law firm that appears to be enabling and profiting from this unprecedented attack on our democracy is an acceptable way of doing business.”
“Guild leadership has heard from many members who are deeply concerned by the Globe’s close ties to Jones Day, and management’s silence on the matter thus far is telling,” said Boston Globe reporter and Guild recording secretary Matt Rocheleau. “It’s sad that management hired a law firm with a reputation for deploying aggressive tactics to strip away basic workplace protections from journalists, and it’s even sadder that the company is continuing to stand by them.”
Wednesday, November 18, 2020 AN OPEN PUBLIC LETTER TO JOHN HENRY, LINDA PIZZUTI HENRY, AND BOSTON GLOBE EXECUTIVES TO:
John W. Henry, Owner, Boston Globe
Linda Pizzuti Henry, Managing Director, Boston Globe
CC:
Arch Carpenter, Senior Vice President of Print Operations
Claudia Henderson, Chief Human Resources Officer, Boston Globe Media Partners
Dan Krockmalnic, General Counsel, Boston Globe Media Partners
David Carillo, Chief Financial Officer, The Henry Organization
David Dahl, Deputy Managing Editor, Boston Globe
Jason Tuohey, Managing Editor - Digital, Boston Globe
Rich Ford, Director, Total Rewards
Trish Dunn, Partner, Jones Day
Dear John, Linda, and Globe Executives,
As you know, the staff of the Boston Globe has repeatedly raised concerns about the resources that Boston Globe officials are squandering on services from the Jones Day law firm -- resources that should be invested in serving our readers and in retaining journalists, not in trying to advance policies that drive journalists away from working at the Boston Globe, and that undermine the Boston Globe as a critical institution within the region it serves.
We are troubled by the resources you have invested in Jones Day, given what we view as the firm’s repeated and chronic failure over many months to demonstrate an interest in doing what is best for our newspaper as an institution. We are also troubled that this relationship links our ownership, through Jones Day, to a federal administration that has attacked and demonized journalists, calling them “the enemy of the people.”
In recent days, those concerns grew deeper in light of revelations that Jones Day is involved in litigation that the firm’s own lawyers believe is designed “to erode public confidence in the election results” and undermine the voting process that is a cornerstone of American democracy, according to recent New York Times reports.
Given the Globe’s wide-ranging coverage of election-related news, we believe readers have a right to be aware of the relationship between the Globe and Jones Day, just as Globe readers have routinely been informed of the business relationship between Globe ownership and the Boston Red Sox.
We believe you should reconsider your relationship with Jones Day, an association that has already damaged our journalists' trust in your leadership -- and which we fear may also damage our readers' trust in the Globe at a critical moment.
As you know, the Globe has paid Jones Day significant sums for the past two years in its ongoing quest to strip away basic workplace protections from Globe journalists. How can the Globe's political journalists be asked to continue to endure such workplace attacks from the very law firm whose actions they are now reporting on and investigating?
This continued relationship with Jones Day poses a conflict of interest and raises serious ethical concerns for our journalists that cannot be ignored.
Jones Day has a well-established reputation for using aggressive worker disenfranchisement strategies and what we consider to be anti-democratic union busting tactics to undermine working conditions and protections for journalists at media companies across the country. Many such companies have seen a subsequent decline in talent and quality.
Over the past two years, Jones Day’s involvement with the Globe has inflicted serious damage. It has eroded trust between employees and owners, and destroyed morale among journalists at the Globe, contributing to a recent exodus of talent, at a time when our jobs are more essential to our democracy than ever before.
Our representative committee, on behalf of nearly 300 Boston Globe employees who are members of the Boston Newspaper Guild (BNG-TNG/CWA Local 31245), implores you to respond to these concerns immediately.
Thank you,
BNG Executive Committee & Governing Board
Scott Steeves, President
Kathy McCabe, Treasurer
Matt Rocheleau, Recording Secretary
Tim Flynn, At-Large Representative
Bonnie Foust, Delegate
Jenna Russell, Delegate
Christine Spaziano, Delegate
BNG Action Committee members
Zoe Greenberg
Stacey Myers
Janelle Nanos
Andy Rosen
Kevin Slane
Related Articles
- Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-Winning Columnist Suspended
- Projo Reporter Tells Boston Globe “We Get Our Ass Beat All the Time” on Stories
- Is The Boston Globe’s Kevin Cullen Part of ‘Fake News’?
- TONIGHT: Trump’s Political Director & Former Boston Globe President Headline GoLocal Event
- Problems Piling Up at the Boston Globe — Layoffs, Falling Circulation, and Multiple Investigations
- Head of Boston Globe’s Pressmen Union Tells GoLocal Problem is Not Theirs
- Boston Globe Early Edition Prints That Pats Lose
- GOLDEN GLOBES TONIGHT: See the Top Nominees
- Golden Globes Recap
- 74th Golden Globe Awards - See the Winners
- Viola Davis Wins Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in Motion Picture
- Media Unrest: Projo Takes Strip Club Ads, Globe Suspends Pulitzer Prize Winner
- Finneran: The Globe’s Mission
- Harlem Globetrotters Icon Fred “Curley” Neal Passes Away at 77
- Nazis Want to Kill Him, Tucker Carlson Blasts Him and Globe Fired Him - Luke O’Neil Is Never Shy
- Projo and Other Gannett Newspapers Hit With Furloughs and Pay Cuts, Globe Facing Layoffs and Buyouts
- Boston Globe Announces Layoffs and Benefit Cuts Due to “Significant” Revenue Impacts
- Media Mayhem - Boston Globe for Sale? Major Newspaper Co. Auctioned, WPRO’s Cumulus Gets Downgraded
- Boston Globe Plans to Lay Off More Than 100 Union Workers
- Boston Globe Union Schedules Walkout, Projo’s Parent Co. Reports 15% Decrease in Print Adv.
- Media Upheaval - Globe’s Labor Strife, Weekly Standard Shuttered & Big Local Advertising Changes
- RI’s Peter Farrelly Wins Golden Globe for Best Movie
- Is the Boston Globe Coming to RI to Take on the Providence Journal?
- Veteran Boston Globe Baseball Writer Nick Cafardo Passes Away at 62
