News

Penguin Random House has terminated its collective agreement with unions after talks aimed at protecting staff redundancy terms broke down.

Staff were informed on Friday 16 December that it was terminating its formal relationships with both the NUJ (National Union of Journalists) and Unite the Union after talks on collective agreements came to a halt. The unions were unable to accept the company’s stance on Redundancy Payment terms and the company making no attempt to compromise but decided not to extend the current agreement, or to continue the talks to find a solution.

The decision affects the publisher’s London-based headquarters and includes editorial, production, sales, marketing and publicity staff. All staff have been asked by the unions to sign a petition to restore the union rights at the company and to ensure that negotiations on their behalf can be continued in the future.

Penguin Random House UK have unilaterally terminated that relationship without any consultation with the wider workforce. Not only is this a blatant disregard of the views and wishes of the employees, it damages quite significantly the good reputation of the business as being one that cares about people.

Authors in the UK have reacted quickly: children’s authors David Almond, Michael Rosen and Meg Rosoff are among more than 140 writers, booksellers and librarians who have signed a letter calling on Penguin Random House to reinstate relations with the two trade unions. Read the full story here.

More background can be found here