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CWA Applauds Labor Dept. Suit Against Time Inc. for Treatment of Freelancers
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Newspaper Guild/CWA applauded the Labor Department's suit against Time Warner for denying benefit coverage to regular editorial stringers and freelancers at Time Inc. and other publishing subsidiaries.
The suit, filed October 26 under ERISA, charged Time Warner with improperly classifying many workers as either temporaries or independent contractors even though they function as regular employees. The Department alleged that Time Warner improperly engineered breaks in service to maintain "temporary" status for some workers so it could deny them health care, pension coverage and employee stock ownership.
"Freelance journalists and writers are among the most frequently abused professionals in our society," said Guild President Linda Foley, noting that the union is committed to strengthening the rights of freelancers in collective bargaining agreements with newspaper and magazine publishers.
Reacting to Time Warner's charge that the suit is "an assault on the creative community," Foley said: "Time's got it backwards -- they've been assaulting the security and basic rights of these creative writers, artists and photographers for years."
The treatment of freelancers is one of several major issues in labor negotiations now underway between the union and Time Inc., according to Barry Lipton, president of the Newspaper Guild of New York.
The Newspaper Guild/CWA, representing about 35,000 journalists in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, is an affiliate of the 630,000-member Communications Workers of America.
CWA President Morton Bahr said: "The Clinton administration is to be applauded for taking strong action on one of today's growing workplace issues -- the creation of substandard contingent jobs instead of good paying jobs with benefits."
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The suit, filed October 26 under ERISA, charged Time Warner with improperly classifying many workers as either temporaries or independent contractors even though they function as regular employees. The Department alleged that Time Warner improperly engineered breaks in service to maintain "temporary" status for some workers so it could deny them health care, pension coverage and employee stock ownership.
"Freelance journalists and writers are among the most frequently abused professionals in our society," said Guild President Linda Foley, noting that the union is committed to strengthening the rights of freelancers in collective bargaining agreements with newspaper and magazine publishers.
Reacting to Time Warner's charge that the suit is "an assault on the creative community," Foley said: "Time's got it backwards -- they've been assaulting the security and basic rights of these creative writers, artists and photographers for years."
The treatment of freelancers is one of several major issues in labor negotiations now underway between the union and Time Inc., according to Barry Lipton, president of the Newspaper Guild of New York.
The Newspaper Guild/CWA, representing about 35,000 journalists in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, is an affiliate of the 630,000-member Communications Workers of America.
CWA President Morton Bahr said: "The Clinton administration is to be applauded for taking strong action on one of today's growing workplace issues -- the creation of substandard contingent jobs instead of good paying jobs with benefits."
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