Union Strikes Outside U.S. Office of Oxford University Press

Members of the Oxford University Press USA Guild held a strike outside OUP’s U.S. headquarters in Manhattan on June 18. The union has been organized with News Guild TNG/CWA 31222 since September 2021, and represents approximately 150 U.S.–based employees of the university press.

Scott Morales, unit chair of the OUP USA Guild, estimated that about 25 or 30 workers rallied outside the headquarters, starting at 8:00 a.m., and that a further 60 joined a livestream of the picket line, intended to accommodate remote workers who could not join the strike in person. “It’s been a tremendous sign of collective strength thus far,” Morales told PW. “I’ve never felt so right and justified in doing an action like this until this morning.”

The guild had threatened a strike since earlier this year as negotiations, which began in February 2022, over a new contract with OUP drag on, and has made several claims alleging that the publisher has violated U.S. labor law. In March, the guild filed a complaint with the National Relations Labor Board that the organization has pledged to take to court, although the NLRB has not yet filed suit.

Among the guild’s claims are that OUP has been outsourcing vacant union jobs in the U.S., and that the April layoff of Morales, who had previously been with the publisher for 15 years, was “an illegal and retaliatory act” over “an email signature that contained a message about their working conditions”—despite, the union said in a release despite, that “communicating about working conditions is protected concerted activity under federal labor law.”

In a previous statement to PW, a representative of OUP characterized “the decision to remove the role in question” as “a business decision, unrelated to any economic reason or the individual’s role with the Guild.” The statement continued, “We continue to negotiate in good faith with the Guild.” Noting the guild’s complaint filing with the NLRB, OUP added: “We are confident that we have acted—and will continue to act—in compliance with U.S. labor law, and in accordance with our management rights.”