Author: Jon Schleuss

Hundreds of Guild members from more than two dozen newsrooms went on strike across the U.S. in the past week, joining the strikers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who have been on strike for nine months.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Workers from the newsroom and production side have been striking against the Block family over the company’s cancellation of health insurance and its illegal imposition of terms. They’re running a strike publication and continuing to hold the line and make sure that the company follows federal law.

Insider

About 300 journalists went on an open-ended strike on Friday, June 2 over an unfair labor practice where the company illegally changed health insurance without bargaining (sound familiar?). The workers are pushing for decent health care coverage, a livable minimum wage and protections from artificial intelligence eroding their jobs.

Gannett

Hundreds of workers from about two dozen Gannett publications went on a one-, two- or five-day strike in Gannett over the company’s unfair labor practices. Workers pushed for a no-confidence vote and the Guild called on shareholders to withhold their votes for CEO Mike Reed this week. Under Reed’s stewardship of the company following the merger of GateHouse Media and Gannett Media in November 2019, newsrooms have been hollowed out, local news coverage has dwindled, and Gannett share prices have fallen nearly 70% – far more than peers in the industry like the New York Times and Lee Enterprises. Shares tumbled more than 10% after the walkout. Several newsrooms set up fundraisers to help cover the lost wages during the strike.

We’re looking for an administrative secretary who will report to The NewsGuild-CWA President and Executive Vice President. This position is based in Washington, DC.

• Performs wide range of clerical and secretarial work of an administrative and confidential nature.  
• Performs duties that require a thorough knowledge of the organization, its procedures and practices. 
• Pace of work is erratic, with periods in which work is rapidly paced.
• Duties are generally diverse, with many duties requiring analysis and reasoning.
• Work involves the application of standard practices.  Frequent substantive decision making is required.  Few guidelines exist for performance of duties and tasks.  Exercises independent judgment on complicated or special matters.
• Plans and schedules own work.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Composes correspondence frequently without instruction or review.  May be asked to read reports and summarize information to facilitate review by supervisor. Handles routine administrative details independently and may participate in the management of the office. 
• Performs all secretarial functions as required by Supervisor.  Duties include typing, word processing and data entry from a variety of sources such as: handwritten rough drafts, form letters, forms, reports, printed materials, columns of numbers etc.  May handle or compose correspondence or take action without direction from supervisor. 
• Answers telephone, takes messages or refers calls to appropriate department.  Has regular contact with local members, local officers and or external public including individuals in high levels of responsibility.
• Arranges and maintains accurate records and files. Must be able to retrieve information from records and files upon request.  May be required to interpret data, perform auditing or large scale reconciliation or records.
• Keeps calendar, schedules appointments and conferences, makes travel arrangements.
• Performs liaison duties between supervisor and other employees and offices.
• Receives and distributes mail.
• Operates routine office equipment including computer, label maker, copier, FAX.
• Performs other miscellaneous general office duties as required, some of which may require independent judgment.
• May be required to travel.

Qualifications:

• Thorough knowledge of modern office practices and procedures and the use of office machines and equipment.
• Thorough knowledge of policies and procedures of the union; ability to understand and interpret pertinent policies and procedures clearly and accurately.
• Must be a self-motivated and energetic individual who possesses good interpersonal skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing.
• Sufficient skill in typing and the ability to take sufficient notes at a meeting from which to prepare an accurate record of events.
• Advanced working knowledge of Microsoft Windows, Word and Excel.
• Ability to learn new software and computer equipment as required by supervisor or as technology changes.
• Ability to understand moderate technical instructions.
• Must have ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Four to six years related experience.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described herein are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit for long periods of time, use hands to handle or feel objects, writing instruments or keyboard controls, reach with hands and arms, and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, and stoop, kneel or crouch. The employee must occasionally lift and or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include both close and distance vision.

Salary range: $73,914.90 – $77,805.16 Salary/year

CWA is an equal opportunity employer, and, as such, does not discriminate an employee or applicant on the basis of race, creed, color, age, sex, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliation, disability, or any other classification protected from discrimination under applicable law.

Tuesday morning staffers at the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, DC announced their intent to unionize, joining a wave of workers unionizing at other ACLU affiliates in North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri, Minnesota and Kansas.

ACLU-D.C. prioritizes justice, equity, and inclusion in its work and, as the workers of this organization, we believe it should maintain those priorities in its self-governance.

So today, we told management that ACLU-D.C. workers have formed a union with @WBNG32035.

— ACLU-DC Staff United (@ACLUDCunion) April 11, 2023

The workers published their mission on Twitter, writing:

ACLU-D.C. prioritizes justice, equity, and inclusion in its work and, as the workers of this organization, we believe it should maintain those priorities in its self-governance. To this end, staff has joined other affiliates and thousands of other non-profit workers across the country to form ACLU-D.C. Staff United, the newest collective to join the labor movement.

Our union will provide a democratic and accountable structure through which staff can support the greatest ideals of ACLU-D.C. We will build and share power, make collective decisions, and promote transparency and collaboration with management. Our greatest aim is to ensure that the workers who are most impacted by the organization’s policies can shape our working conditions.

Together, we will build on ACLU-D.C.’s strong foundation to develop anti-racist policies and create sustainable conditions that empower staff to thrive as we build a more just and free D.C.

The Lab and Operations staff at Reviewed, part of the USA Today Network, voted unanimously yesterday to be represented by the Boston Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA Local 31245. The Reviewed Lab and Operations Workers Union consists of the full-time laboratory testing team and the building operations and logistics workers at Reviewed’s Cambridge, MA offices.

The division of the Reviewed Workers’ Union into two separate units was the product of an anti-union campaign conducted by management aimed at protracting the unit certification process and undermining the unity of their workers. The unanimous victory today, and landslide victory of the Reviewed Editorial Workers Union last week, demonstrates that those efforts have failed, and that Reviewed’s staff will continue to stand united, even in the face of voter challenges, targeted restructuring, and a series of dubiously legal mid-election captive audience meetings which prompted the workers to file an unfair labor practice charge against Gannett.

“It has been a long road to get here,” said lab manager and eleven-year Reviewed employee Jon Chan, “but seeing the election results today made it all worth it. This unanimous outcome is proof that our interest in each other’s wellbeing at work is more powerful than any corporate interest in short-term profit.”

Reviewed’s lab and operations workers include lab managers, test technicians, operations and logistics coordinators, who contribute to product testing, shipping and receiving, and support the editorial staff across divisions. The Reviewed Union’s organizing effort went public with an NLRB election petition in December, 2022, and the separate Lab and Operations unit petition was filed a few weeks later. 

The announcement of their union effort was accompanied by a mission statement calling attention to a number of demands shared by members of Reviewed’s staff, from just-cause for terminations to the redress of current substandard wages and more, issues they blame for the high employee turnover Reviewed saw in 2021-22.  

Beckett Dubay, a product test technician, said, “I’m so excited to see, through the results of the election, that my coworkers and I are overwhelmingly committed to making Reviewed the best possible place to work. The costs of living continue to increase, and I’ve heard so many stories from colleagues who haven’t received fair raises or COLAs that could help account for that. I worry about being priced out of living in the Boston area, where our office is located. None of us can do our best work when we are struggling to get by, so I’m looking forward to working with my coworkers to bargain a fair contract with Gannett.”

The Reviewed Lab and Operations Workers Union joins 48 other unionized Gannett shops around the country ready to fight for a fair and equitable contract for Reviewed and for every Gannett shop.

The Unions of Lee Enterprises call on the Iowa-based chain to stop taking resources from its newspapers, which is costing jobs, weakening communities and harming the company’s ability to become a sustainable digital operation.

So far this year, there have been more than 50 staff reductions at the 12 unionized newspapers of Lee. That includes 22 newsroom layoffs, buyouts or voluntary resignations of union members, 12 abolished open positions, and other layoffs or eliminations of non-union employees and managers. Those numbers grow considerably when factoring in Lee’s non-union newspapers.

Continue reading “Lee Enterprise workers call on company to invest in news”