NBC Digital NewsGuild called out company executives for alleged “unlawful behavior” by lighting up “breaking news” messages on the company’s 30 Rock building on Wednesday.
NBC’s digital employee union projected scathing messages onto 30 Rock Wednesday night, blasting company leadership for dragging its feet on a contract.
NBC Digital NewsGuild, a collective bargaining unit of the NewsGuild of New York, called out NBC News executives for allegedly “unlawful behavior” by lighting up “breaking news” messages on the company’s flagship building in midtown Manhattan, 30 Rock.
The NBC Digital NewsGuild represents reporters, editors, designers, video journalists, animators, social media strategists and editorial staff of NBC News Digital, who have been negotiating its first contract since the group unionized in 2019.
The projections specifically targeted NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde, as well as NBC News Editorial President Rebecca Blumenstein, Executive Vice President of Programming Janelle Rodriguez, Executive Vice President of News Catherine Kim and Executive Vice President of TODAY and Lifestyle Libby Leist for engaging in tactics that they say have violated labor laws, including layoffs of more than 20 union journalists without bargaining and retaliating against union members for taking part in protected activity.
“Cesar Conde and his leadership team have a bad habit of breaking the law,” Tate James, video editor and union leader, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“But now he’s dealing with a newsroom full of journalists who are sick and tired of working without a contract and trying to chase their bosses down in court. NBC News executives are obsessed with shareholder value, but they’re disrespecting the workers that create that value in the first place. We deserve a fair contract, and we’re not backing down from this fight until we get one,” he added.
In 2021, the National Labor Relations Board found that NBC had unlawfully withheld more than $350,000 in raises from union journalists, according to a press release shared with Fox News Digital.
“Bosses at @NBCNews keep breaking the law, so we’re back outside 30 Rock to shine a little light on the situation,” the NBC Guild posted to X Wednesday night. “Union workers have the right to a steward in investigatory meetings, but @cesarconde_’s management team illegally and inexcusably withheld that right from a member.”
“This is just the latest in a long line of unacceptable actions by the @NBCNews executive team, but it’s not slowing us down. Every day our union grows stronger and more committed to the fight for a fair first contract and respect in the workplace,” the post added.
The NewsGuild of New York, Local 31003 of the Communications Workers of America, is a labor union representing nearly 6,000 media professionals and other employees at New York area news organizations, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Thomson Reuters and ProPublica.
Fox News Digital reached out to NBC News for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
