Two unions, poised to walk off the job, achieve life-changing agreements that lift wages, provide job security and strengthen local news.
NEW YORK – Journalists represented by The NewsGuild of New York at six of Gannett’s largest papers in New Jersey and New York have reached tentative contract agreements with life-changing increases in pay and job protections, ending three years of contentious bargaining.
The APP-MCJ Guild, which represents editorial staff at the Asbury Park Press, Courier News, and the Home News Tribune, and the Hudson Valley NewsGuild, which represents editorial staff at The Journal News, Poughkeepsie Journal and Times Herald-Record, will vote to ratify their contract deals this Thursday.
On Feb. 24, both unions—which have been bargaining separately but coordinating closely—voted jointly in favor of walking out. Bargaining for both unions took place over the next two days and ended with tentative agreements for both.
“After three years, our members were willing to put their livelihoods on the line in our fight for sustainable salaries, regular wage increases and strong job protections,” said Asbury Park Press reporter Mike Davis, acting unit chair of the APP-MCJ Guild. “This agreement is a testament to their strength, tenacity and solidarity and should serve as proof-positive for other Gannett newsrooms, who should stop asking nicely and start using their collective power to demand what they deserve.”
The two units have been bargaining for their first contracts with Gannett for over three years.
“We fought for Gannett to invest in our communities, and in us,” said Journal News reporter Nancy Cutler, acting unit chair of the Hudson Valley News Guild. “And we won.”
Highlights of the deals include:
Pay
- Strong salary floors for new and current employees, many of whom will see life-changing raises (as high as $23,000, or 57% for one APP-MCJ Guild member and nearly $23,000, or 53% for one Hudson Valley News Guild member).
- Annual guaranteed wage increases to combat inflation and prevent further wage stagnation.
- Continuation of status quo benefit rates for the first year of the contracts.
Job protections
- Seniority, severance and a recall list in the event of layoff.
- Guardrails around the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), including codifying policy, a contractual guarantee that AI is “supplementary to local news reporting and not a replacement for it” and requiring bargaining over the introduction of new technology.
- Strong jurisdiction language protecting against outsourcing of members’ work
- Just cause, no exceptions.
“Our Gannett journalists have been at the forefront of the fight to protect local news. Winning life-changing contracts with fair wages and good job protections ensures they will be able to continue to report local news in their communities,” said Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York. “It is why we fight so hard to raise the standard of working conditions in local newsrooms. Our members’ work has value beyond words on paper and screen. These contracts are the result of their determination to stand up for their worth.”