We Demand a Pro Worker ProPublica

We took a collective lunch break Tuesday to protest ProPublica management’s continued use of a flawed performance management system — including denying steward representation in disciplinary meetings, and refusing to agree to basic job security protections as part of a completed contract. Just today, a member of our Bargaining Committee was fired as a result of this flawed system.

Our Guild members in New York City left ProPublica’s headquarters for the one-hour lunch-out, while fellow unionized staff across the country gathered in solidarity via video conference. 

During nearly two years of active bargaining, management has fought to limit basic protections routinely provided to journalists and staffers in other newsrooms. The company has:

• Refused to allow stewards in disciplinary meetings. 

• Relied on vague and inconsistent performance standards.

• Rejected standard job security proposals from our union.

We gathered in solidarity with our coworkers who are currently being subjected to unreasonable, unclear and unequal “performance improvement plans” with ambiguous and inconsistent metrics. Such plans are often the last step before management fires an employee.

This has to stop.

We demand that management agree to our proposals on discipline and performance — including basic job security provisions such as “just cause” protections — and adopt a disciplinary process with clear and consistent standards.