NBC News Union Blasts Return-to-Office Policy and Purge of Remote Colleagues

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NBC News Digital’s union blasted NBC News Digital management over the outlet’s return-to-work policy and the termination of several remote colleagues.

In a letter signed by 210 NBC News guild members and delivered to management on Wednesday, the guild accused NBC of “a pressure campaign – coercing employees to adhere to a plan that has not been negotiated – while refusing to answer basic questions about the plan, creating unnecessary confusion and anxiety.”

The letter noted that “NBC announced at least one team would be required to return for five days a week, and their manager alone would determine whether more flexibility could be allowed in the future.”

In a statement to Mediaite, an NBC spokesperson rejected the allegations about not being able to be flexible with where NBC News Digital employees work.

“We remain committed to a flexible and hybrid workplace,” said the spokesperson. “There is not, and has never been, a five-day return-to-office mandate.”

The guild members lamented in their letter that “NBC has consistently ignored” what they claim is “an obligation to notify and bargain with our union before policy changes can be implemented.”

Today we delivered this letter to @NBCNews management (signed by 210 unit members) demanding a better RTO plan and the immediate reinstatement of several remote colleagues who have been baselessly terminated. pic.twitter.com/V1YvzVCNGA

— NBC Guild (@nbcnewsguild) September 7, 2022

The letter blasted NBC for having “terminated several of our remote colleagues for no reason other than their geographic location.”

“Management would rather lose good workers who happen to live in another city than embrace the reality of a hybrid workplace or live up to their own repeated commitments to address concerns,” the guild members continued.

Regarding the terminations claimed in the letter, NBC said that no guild members have been terminated due to where they work.

“As a matter of policy, NBC News does not comment on the employment status of current or former employees,” said the spokesperson. “However, no NBC News Guild employee has faced any form of termination because of their geographic location. We are in active discussions with the Guild over a safe and flexible return-to-office policy.”

The guild members, who said they object to “a one-size-fits-all approach to our newsroom,” warned that “the company plan will increase exposure rates, upend sensitive family schedules, drive current employees from this newsroom, and make it harder to attract the kind of talent we deserve.”

The guild members concluded their letter by calling for those employees to get their jobs back, to “reinstate the current voluntary nature of the return, and commit to negotiating a plan that works for News Digital.”

Regarding the letter’s accusation that “at least one team would be required to return for five days a week,” a source denied there was any such policy, rather one show team was asked to come into the office five days a week for training and collaboration purposes ahead of a new program launch.

The source noted there are a handful of individuals employed by NBC News as temporary staffers, whose terms are set to end regardless of geographic location or any return-to-office policy.