Author: Chicago News Guild

To our readers—

We’re happy to share some good news: after a series of bargaining meetings concluding in September, the Current Affairs staff union has ratified and signed a new contract with the magazine, covering the next two years. 

We’re represented by the Chicago News Guild, Local 34071, an affiliate of the The NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA), and this contract gives Current Affairs workers a number of important protections and benefits. We’re proud of what we were able to secure through collective bargaining, and hope this contract will become a useful standard for workers at other media organizations who are considering unionization. 

Among the major provisions of the new contract are:

• A strong anti-AI policy, prohibiting the use of generative AI to write articles or create art for the magazine. 
• Ownership of our intellectual property, meaning that workers retain the copyright to the writing and art they create. 
• Three weeks days of paid time off (PTO).
• Unlimited sick days, so workers can seek medical care without worrying about counting their leave. 
• 10 weeks of fully paid parental leave.
• “Just cause” employment protections, giving workers greater job security. 
• A cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to wages, helping ensure that pay keeps pace with rising inflation.
• A worker representative on the Current Affairs board of directors.

Contact: dhnewsguild@gmail.com

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL – On Thursday, Oct. 1, Daily Herald journalists elected to form the Daily Herald News Guild by an overwhelming vote of 15-0.

Authorized observers from the union and management witnessed the counting of ballots unsealed at the offices of the National Labor Relations Board at the Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago.

The secret ballot election was conducted via U.S. mail after newspaper owner Alden Global Capital/Tribune Publishing refused to voluntarily recognize the union. All 20 union eligible journalists had signed cards in support of organizing in late August.

The Guild will officially be certified within a week of the vote tally.

CHICAGO—The University of Chicago Press Workers Guild (UCPWG) has won their union election, with a majority of their 134 members voting to become a unit of the Chicago News Guild, TNG-CWA Local 34071, joining the nationwide labor movement for a stronger publishing industry. In a decisive victory, 89% of workers voted in favor of union representation.

Workers held a mixed manual-mail ballot election with the National Labor Relations Board. Onsite and hybrid workers based at the University of Chicago Press’s campus office voted in person on June 9 and 10, while out-of-state, remote, and eligible Chicago Distribution Center workers voted by mail. The formation of this unit marks a significant moment, as it is the first union for most of the departments at the press, following certain Chicago Distribution Center departments that are already organized with the Teamsters.