Strike in Washingtonian magazine for “self-employed” editors

The Washingtonian authors went on strike, after The owner of the American magazine, in an opinion article, threatened to change their working status in case the teleworking is perpetuated.

At USA, many employees have not been to their workplaces for over a year due to the pandemic. However, as the vaccination campaign intensifies, many companies are beginning to consider how to organize the way they work in the future. On Wall Street, everyone is getting ready to return to their offices, Microsoft is launching a hybrid system, while Twitter leaves open the possibility for some to continue working indefinitely from home.

Kathy Meryl, the owner and CEO of Washington Magazine, took up the issue on Thursday with an article titled: “As an owner, I want my employees to understand the risk of not returning to the office”.

“Like many of my colleagues, I’m concerned about the unfortunate large number of employees who want to continue working from home and coming to the office only on an ad hoc basis,” the Washington Post reported. Among other things, Meryl argues that an employee’s duties are not limited to what is stated on the recruitment form but may also consist of “helping a colleague”, “becoming a mentor” or “celebrating a birthday”. of a third party.

“If an employee is only there very rarely to engage in additional activities, management has every right to change his status and consider him self-employed,” he insisted.

This would mean, among other things, that it would stop paying the insurance of its employees or provide them with other benefits.

This article caused a stir in the editorial board of the magazine, which went on strike today.

“As members of the Washingtonian editorial team, we want the owner to understand what the risk is when she does not recognize the value of our work.. We are surprised by Kathy Meryl’s public threats against us. “We will not publish today,” many journalists wrote on their Twitter accounts at the same time.

After the uproar, Meryl told the Washington Post that she assured the workers that “their status and insurance will not change.”

You may also like