RTRSY Reuters Grp. Plc ADS (MM)

Statement of Newspaper Guild of New York President Barry Lipton on Reuters Group Plc Financial Results for 2004 NEW YORK, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- "Reuters (LSE:RTR)(NASDAQ:RTRSY) today said its 2004 operating profits jumped 52 percent to $373 million (198 million British pounds), while revenues fell 11 percent to $5.435 billion (2.885 billion pounds) in a continuation of a slide that began in late 2001. The company's profitability is the product of asset sales and a short-sighted strategy of attacking its workers. Thousands of employees have been let go and many of those who remain have had their compensation cut, just as management wants to do to our members. All the while, cash compensation has increased for Reuters CEO Tom Glocer and other top executives, who have been trying to convince investors and clients that the quality of the of the company's services will not diminish even as they try to squeeze the life out of the workforce that produces them. In addition, company managers are engaged in a reckless experiment in remote control journalism. They are trying to cover Wall Street from Bangalore, India, and plan to issue captions for all global pictures, including those of American sports and politics, from Singapore. At the very least, these moves threaten the quality of journalism for which Reuters is known and in which our members take great pride. Our members are resisting the assault on their compensation. They are currently voting on whether to authorize the union's leadership to call a strike if and when it is deemed necessary. We will know the results of the vote by the end of the week. The way to reverse the decline in revenues and restore the company to enduring financial health, rather than to a short-term profit spurt, is to value and build on its reputation for quality and to cultivate a committed workforce by treating employees with dignity." The Newspaper Guild of New York, Local 31003 of the Communications Workers of America, represents nearly 500 U.S. employees, including print, photo and television journalists and technical personnel, at Reuters America LLC, the main U.S. operating subsidiary of Reuters Group Plc. DATASOURCE: Newspaper Guild of New York CONTACT: Barry Lipton of the Newspaper Guild of New York, +1-212-730-1546

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