Teachers
at Washington Post Co. educational unit vote
for
representation by Newspaper Guild of New
York
NEW YORK ,
June 7 – New York City-based teachers of English as a second language at
the Washington Post Co.'s [NYSE: WPO] educational subsidiary, Kaplan Inc.,
voted today for workplace representation by the Newspaper Guild of New York,
becoming the company’s first employees to unionize.
In a government-supervised election, the teachers, based at the three Manhattan
facilities of Kaplan International Centers, voted for the Guild by a 2-1 margin,
despite an intense anti-union campaign by management that included a steady
stream of leaflets and regular work-time meetings with managers and outside
consultants, all urging them to vote no.
“These are professional employees, many with masters degrees, who
are paid at an assortment of illogical hourly rates as low as the $7.25 federal
minimum wage,” said Guild President Bill O'Meara. “They know they
should be treated better and they deserve a lot of credit for maintaining their
focus through Kaplan's incredibly intense campaign.”
The National Labor Relations Board, which conducted the election, is
expected to certify the Guild as the bargaining agent for the group of about 95
teachers after seven days. No other Kaplan teachers in the United States are
union-represented. The results require Kaplan to bargain in good faith with the
Guild for a contract covering the teachers’ employment terms.
NLRB Official counts the votes |
“This is of course a great day for teachers at Kaplan,” said
Kaplan teacher Danny Valdes. “But I hope that this shows teachers that we
can increase standards industry-wide by coming together to organize.”
New York-based Kaplan Inc., with $2.5 billion in revenues last year, was
founded in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan and provides higher education programs,
professional training courses, test preparation materials and language
instruction around the world.
The Newspaper Guild of New York, Local 31003 of the Communications
Workers of America, represents more than 2,800 employees at New York area-based media organizations and
their respective bureaus around the nation. Its members also include non-media
workers, such as those on the staff of the Writers Guild of America, East and at
Hudson News Manhattan retail outlets.
instruction around the world.
instruction around the world.
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