We’ve had a packed couple of weeks!
On Friday U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth extended the temporary restraining order in our lawsuit against the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Kari Lake and Victor Morales. Last month the Trump administration attempted to shutter the agency, which makes sure news is broadcast into countries controlled by repressive regimes. Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other newsrooms were immediately impacted. But Congress funds these news organizations and they re-upped that support last month in the latest continuing resolution to fund the U.S. government.
On Thursday we had a hearing for a preliminary injunction in front of Judge Lamberth and he didn’t seem pleased with the Department of Justice attorneys. They attempted to explain why the executive branch could refuse to do something both it and Congress already passed into law.
“Maybe I don’t understand the law now,” Judge Lamberth said.
We’re expecting a ruling on our preliminary injunction any moment now. Our members at Radio Free Asia have been furloughed for a month and want to get back to work. Sign the petition supporting RFA journalists.
Earlier this month, we hosted a membership meeting on the threats to our free press and broke into several breakout rooms to strategize what we need to do to fight to save our right to a free press. I opened the meeting with an overview of the threats to journalists, the news industry, our union and other unions.
There are three major factors I see causing these massive declines: financialization of the news by hedge funds and private equity, threats from Big Tech and a diminished trust in mass media by the public. These trends are true both in the U.S. and Canada.
And in Trump’s first term he spoke out against journalists, calling us the enemy of the American people in 2017. But in his second term Trump has turned rhetoric into action:
- After the election he sued the Des Moines Register and a pollster.
- His Federal Communications Commission opened investigations into NPR and PBS and he singled out diversity, equity and inclusion provisions as a no-go for any broadcaster looking for approval in front of the FCC.
- The administration threatened CBS.
- ABC folded in a lawsuit Trump brought and forked over $15 million.
- Our members at the AP, Reuters and others have been blocked from attending White House events.
- The AP sued and recently won. AP members were again blocked, even with a judge’s order.
- The White House seized control of the press pool that follows the president.
And our members at Radio Free Asia have been put on unpaid furloughs after the administration instructed the U.S. Agency for Global Media to stop paying a Congressionally-mandated grant.
The report-backs from our members were really instructive and we put together a toolkit as well. We’re also putting together a working group. Sign up here if you’re interested.
Washington Post management officially refused to voluntarily recognize The Post Tech Guild voluntarily, so workers from both Post unions showed up at a joint picket to be heard loud and clear.
Tech and newsroom staff joined forces for a powerful picket outside The Post’s D.C. headquarters, demanding recognition for the more than 300 tech workers fighting for a voice on the job. Management’s decision to refuse the workers a seat at the table isn’t just disrespectful, it’s a failure to live up to the values of The Washington Post. But workers are not backing down.
Sign their petition to let management know that tech workers deserve a union, too!
The Hill fired a journalist to avoid a Trump lawsuit, and now Nexstar is laying off 30% of the newsroom. A bombshell report this weekend revealed that a journalist at The Hill was fired to satisfy Donald Trump and avoid a lawsuit over coverage of Truth Social’s financial troubles. Trump sued 20 outlets — but only The Hill caved.
Now, Nexstar, the company that owns The Hill, is moving ahead with layoffs that would gut 30% of the newsroom and target key coverage areas. Journalists say this isn’t just a business decision — it’s a continuation of the same political appeasement.
Nexstar leadership has reportedly referred to staff as “losers” behind closed doors while eliminating positions covering race, climate, and Latino communities. The company is reshaping the newsroom to align with political interests — and workers are speaking out.The Hill Guild is calling on Nexstar to halt the layoffs and protect independent, nonpartisan journalism. Read their statement here, and sign their petition here!
One Oregon bill would force Big Tech to fund local journalism jobs. The Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild is backing a new bill in Oregon that would require Meta and Google to pay for the local journalism they profit from and use that money to fund actual newsroom jobs.
Senate Bill 686, the Oregon Journalism Protection Act, would make Big Tech compensate Oregon newsrooms for content shared on their platforms. Local President Mai Hoang testified in support, calling out the platforms for threatening to block news content instead of paying up.
“It speaks volumes that these gigantic digital platforms are responding to this bill and others proposed in other states by threatening to censor and take away news content from their sites and depriving their users of valuable and vetted information,” Hoang said.
“They call it a business decision – I call it a refusal to properly pay the news outlets – and the journalists who work for them.”
The Oregon legislation mirrors other efforts happening in states and nationwide, including the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act. The NewsGuild-CWA will only support those legislative efforts if there’s a requirement that 70% of new revenue will be used by news organizations to support newsroom jobs.
Journalists in Utica, New York just won a successor agreement after the successful wins in Rochester, Hudson Valley and New Jersey at Gannett. Workers ratified a two-year agreement that will correct long-standing wage stagnation, set salary minimums for the first time and improve time off and job security.
The Utica NewsGuild – which represents the journalists at the Observer-Dispatch and the Times-Telegram – voted 100% to approve the deal on Sunday. The union is a bargaining unit of The NewsGuild of New York, the labor union representing nearly 6,000 media workers including three other Gannett unions.
“It took three years, but we forced Gannett to finally acknowledge that local journalists deserve to be paid and treated decently in exchange for the work they do to keep their readers informed,” said Amy Roth, interim unit chair of the Utica NewsGuild. “This contract, won through solidarity with other regional Gannett newsrooms in the NewsGuild, will make it easier for the Observer-Dispatch to retain and recruit journalists, and to produce strong journalism for our readers.”
Daily Kos workers won a first contract after two years of organizing and multiple rounds of layoffs. The victory follows negotiations that began in late 2022 and were interrupted by waves of cuts in 2023 and 2024.
Despite those challenges, workers held firm until they won a strong first contract that raises industry standards and protects their newsroom for the long haul.
Highlights of the contract include:
- Just Cause with no exceptions
- Guaranteed remote work for all bargaining unit employees
- Protection against AI displacement, preventing management from replacing union jobs with generative AI tools.
- Transparent salary minimums and meaningful raises
- Six weeks of paid vacation, comprehensive sick leave, and paid parental leave at full salary.
- A formal Equity Council with paid release time and decision-making power over diversity and inclusion initiatives.
- Clear grievance and arbitration processes, along with a commitment to progressive discipline.
“It’s been this thing that’s been looming over all of our heads and having it squared away is going to be such a relief,” said Jaclyn Casto, a Daily Kos Guild member since 2022. “We’re proud to finally have a seat at the table.”
This contract sets a new bar for digital media and political journalism shops, proving that organizing works, even through crises.
Every single worker in the Evansville Courier & Press newsroom just got a raise. The six-person unit at this Gannett paper ratified its first-ever union contract, a year after unanimously voting to unionize.
“The wage increases are a big win for our newsroom as we continue to commit ourselves to serving the Evansville community with award-winning journalism,” said photojournalist MaCabe Brown.
The contract also includes language on artificial intelligence that ensures members will not be replaced by AI and holds Gannett to its current AI policy.
“This contract is an important step in keeping local journalism alive at the Courier & Press,” government reporter Sarah Loesch said. “Each member of our editorial staff is better equipped to tell local stories each day with safeguards now legally protected.”
Loesch said current staff members hope to share the increased salary minimums with new hires who can help cover the Evansville community in the way it deserves. The new agreement follows a wave of Gannett first contracts from Florida to Arizona and shows that even small shops can win big in a union contract.
Hearst Connecticut journalists are finally getting their union vote after eight months of delays and a failed attempt to split the members into five separate units. Workers first launched their union campaign in August. The ruling was delayed by understaffing at the NLRB, which has had an essentially flat budget for the last decade.
“Over the last eight months since filing for an election, we have found that organizing a staff union has encouraged closer collaboration in our jobs, greatly improving both our journalism and our morale,” said Brian Zahn, a reporter and organizing committee member.
“This vote is nearly a year in the making, and we are excited to conclude this election and meet our company at the bargaining table to negotiate a contract that affirms the important work of local journalists in Connecticut.”
Hearst has been aggressively union-busting and fighting the journalists seeking to have a right to form a union and negotiate over their wages, benefits and working conditions. Since August the company has fired multiple members of the union’s organizing committee.
Three ways that you can support the journalists at Hearst Connecticut:
1. Send a letter to Hearst calling on management to respect the results of the election and immediately begin bargaining in good faith with the Connecticut News Guild.
2. Follow the CT News Guild accounts on Twitter/X, Instagram and Bluesky.
3. And, support a CT News Guild organizing committee member who was recently fired by contributing to the fundraiser here.
Workers at the Science News Media Guild held a rally for their first contract, telling management to stop stalling and that “a fair contract shouldn’t be rocket science!”
Workers have been bargaining for a fair contract for nearly a year. Their main demands are transparent and equitable pay structures, remote work protections and sick leave as reasonable parts of a worker contract.
Deputy managing editor and expecting mother Cassie attended the rally with her baby with an important message for management!
Tonight we’re hunting ghosts and talking unions on Twitch. Join leaders from the Bergen Record Guild and the Ziff Davis Creators Guild around 8pm ET. We’ll be talking about the recent first contract wins at several newspapers in New Jersey and ZDNet journalists joining the Ziff Davis Creators Guild. And we’ll do that while we hunt ghosts in Phasmophobia. That’s a game, not IRL. Follow us on Twitch and join the stream later tonight.
In solidarity,
Jon Schleuss
President
The NewsGuild-CWA