Thomson Reuters will have to offer hundreds more jobs in New York after receiving a multi-million dollar tax break extension, according to a report by the Industrial Development Agency.

The news agency had faced opposition by the Newspaper Guild of New York over its proposed amendments to extend and reallocate funds within a 'tax credit deal' it won in 1998.

But the amendment was granted by the IDA last week, with the agreement that Thomson Reuters will more than double its "Base Employment Commitment" initially to 3,744 from the 1998 amount of 1,800.

According to a public hearing package report by the IDA, the agency will have limited access to the funds at first and will only receive access to the entire sum if the employment figure reaches 3,977.

The company will also only be able to earn 'growth credits' once employment in New York exceeds 4,210. The report also outlines that Reuters must not relocate its headquarters to another location in the US and must spend some of the tax benefits on extending and renovating its Manhattan offices.

The Newspaper Guild of New York, which is already involved in a legal battle with Reuters over cuts to members' pay and benefits, said in a statement that it had wanted the decision to be delayed.

"Even in its more modest state, the company's tax deal survived by only the barest of margins," it said on its website. "The governing board of the New York City Industrial Development Agency (IDA) voted 5-to-4 against a Guild-backed proposal to delay the decision following a spirited and uncharacteristic discussion of the company's aggressive anti-worker tactics.

“We knew getting this agency to reject the Thomson Reuters  tax break request was a long shot, but we proved that we will be there to oppose the company’s greed, whether it is looking for taxpayers’ money or taking money out of our members' pockets," it added.

Writing in a letter to the Public Advocate for the City of New York, Thomson Reuters' CEO Thomas Glocer said failed negotiations with the guild in the past had not affected the company's journalism environment.

"Despite our differences we point with pride at the work of our journalists and the role they play in our company," he says in the letter. "Appropriately the salaries and benefits Reuters staff receive are among the highest for journalists in New York City. While other news companies are struggling to make "news" work and are cutting jobs and forcing furloughs on their reporting staff, Thomson Reuters has increased the number of journalist jobs."

He added that discussions over the tax amendments should be made separate from ongoing labour disputes with the Newspaper Guild which he claimed were currently being reviewed by the National Labor Relations Board.

Jobs at Thomson Reuters


Also in Thomson Reuters jobs news, Tom Tague from the agency's OpenCalais team posted an advert for "news ninjas" on his blog on Friday, who will work to "transform" the company "into the next generation partner for our clients".

"Obviously I can't talk about specifics in a public forum (at least not yet) – but we're looking at solutions that range from archive monetization to more flexible content syndication to better newsroom workflow capabilities to tools to enable investigative journalism – basically anything that helps improve our customer's business," he wrote. "What do we need to get all of that done? The answer is pretty simple: we need great people that understand the business and the technology that we can bring to bear. That's what I'm looking for."

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).