Over 200 employees from NBC News and MSNBC walked off the job on Thursday in response to recent layoffs that NewsGuild leaders insist broke the law.
Staffers chanted and marched outside NBC’s New York City headquarters at the iconic Rockefeller Center. Scabby the inflatable rat was on hand, angry NBC employees held signs declaring the network stands for "Nothing But Criminals" and New York City comptroller Brad Lander, D., specifically called out MSNBC, NBC's left-leaning cable arm, for failing to practice what it preaches.
"You can’t have the MSNBC brand be one that’s about progressives and then screw your workers," Lander told the crowd.
Lander said New York City pensions belonging to teachers, firefighters and other city workers have invested heavily in NBCUniversal and "shareholders are not happy" with the way employees are being treated. Lander also accused the Comcast-owned company of "union busting" and "unfair labor practices" while standing outside the entrance to NBC’s 30 Rock.
"If you want to consider yourself, in this day and age, a responsible company, then you will respect your worker’s right to organize, you won’t interfere when they do, won’t commit unfair labor practices," Lander said. "Companies really show who they are when they fire people without cause when they’ve got a union organizing in place. That’s an unfair labor practice."
NewsGuild president Jon Schleuss rallied the crowd by noting that journalists are supposed to hold the powerful to account and sometimes that includes their own employers.
"NBC is breaking the law, and we are here to hold them to account," Schleuss said before leading a raucous chant.
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The workers who walked off the job were largely from digital components of NBC News, MSNBC and "Today."
The NewsGuild believes NBC management illegally terminated union journalists and has failed to negotiate in good faith. Earlier this week, the guild sent a scathing letter to NBC News chairman Cesar Conde along with executives Catherine Kim, Janelle Rodriguez and Libby Liest detailing that rank-and-file staffers have "had enough" of the company’s tactics.
"NBC is refusing to bargain with our union, as they have a legal obligation to do," Tate James, an NBC News video editor who serves as Guild chair, told Fox News Digital.
"They are illegally lowering salaries, and they’re illegally laying off people without bargaining with us," James continued. "They are acting as if we are not a union, they are acting as if the union does not exist, but we do. We’re here, and they have a legal obligation to bargain with us before they make changes to our workplace."
James said negotiations have been ongoing for three years but "NBC is repeatedly breaking the law."
NBC News has insisted the guild is misrepresenting the facts and wants to work toward an agreement, but outspoken employees disagree. At one point during the rally, an NBC News staffer took the mic to praise the network’s journalism before scolding management.
"That work deserves to be treated with respect by NBC," she said. "NBC likes to pretend that it is the best news organization to work for… I’d like to see that. I don’t see it at the table, I don’t see it in the newsroom."
Others signs in the crowd included "Two Years Too Long," a reference to how long NBC has failed to acknowledge the union, "What’s Appalling? Bosses Stalling," "What’s Disgusting? Union Busting" and a variety of puns using the logo for NBC’s flagship "Today" show.
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Lander, an independently elected official who essentially oversees New York City’s finances, expanded on his fiery speech while speaking afterward with Fox News Digital.
"The company has illegally fired a set of workers, they laid them off… when you’re in bargaining with your union, you can’t just fire or lay off workers, you’ve got to do it at the bargaining table," Lander said, adding that NBC has been fined for unfair labor practices in the past.
"The workers are fed up with it," he said.
Lander feels the network should uphold its corporate values.
"I’m a MSNBC watcher, and as somebody who enjoys listening to Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes and the lineup that they have here, I want to see the company do right by its workers," Landers said. "If a company is going to consider itself – not even just progressive, if a company wants to be considered responsible, then it needs to respect its worker’s rights to organize, or people are going to come out and say you’re not living up to the corporate values you have."
NBC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"We are disappointed by the NewsGuild’s continued attempts to misrepresent the facts while we work in good faith with them to reach an agreement," an NBC News spokesperson told Fox News Digital prior to the rally.
