Oxford University Press makes two US teams redundant

Oxford University Press (OUP) has made almost 20 members of its US office redundant this week, including the entirety of the North America Design team and the US Content Transformation and Standards team. 

Among those being made redundant are 13 members of the OUP USA Guild, a union representing approximately 150 OUP employees, just three weeks after the union said it “ratified a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)” with the UK-based academic publisher.

A spokesperson for the OUP told The Bookseller: “We are implementing changes to our business that unfortunately impact some of our team based in the US, some of which are Guild members. Like many organisations, we have to adapt how we work so that we are best-placed to achieve our mission and future ambitions. We are grateful to all of those affected for their contributions and quality of their work over the years.” 

The OUP spokesperson confirmed “fewer than 20 colleagues” were affected by the redundancies, but that they included "both OUP USA Guild and non-guild members".

The OUP USA Guild is part of the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America. It says it has “filed a grievance” in response to the redundancies asserting “that they violate the CBA’s jurisdiction article, which protects historic union work from being relocated out of the unit, and the layoffs article".

A source told The Bookseller that employees have been told their work is being moved to the UK head office in Oxford. 

In a statement, the OUP USA Guild said: “Management has attempted to justify these layoffs to our members on the highly dubious grounds that the US and UK teams are duplicative and that the amount of work has been reduced, despite these teams’ heavy workloads (many of which have only increased since before the pandemic).”

It added: “These are the people who design OUP’s award-winning covers and graphics, do complex data work that sustains OUP’s digital products, and so much more. Together, they represent nearly two centuries of service and dedication to OUP’s mission. They and their teams are irreplaceable.”

OUP employees voted to join the News Media Guild in September 2021 and ratified their first contract in August 2024.

Scott Morales, unit chair of the OUP USA Guild, who was himself made redundant last April having worked at the OUP for 15 years, said this was the second round of redundancies in the last six months, adding: "I stand in solidarity with those affected by the layoffs and will continue to lend my voice to advocating for their fair treatment."

The News Media Guild also represents workers at The Associated Press, the Guardian-US, the EFE News Service, Financial Times-US, Democracy Works, With Intelligence and United Press International.