Jon Schleuss | The NewsGuild - TNG-CWA

Digital journalists in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois join Gannett organizing wave

Employees of Gannett’s Midwest Digital Optimization Team (DOT) announced on Thursday that they have formed a union – the Midwest Digital Guild. The new unit will include approximately 15 digital journalists of varied backgrounds and career experience, all of whom serve a key role in producing and managing digital content across Gannett properties in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. They will be part of the Indianapolis NewsGuild, TNG-CWA Local 34070.

“If you’ve read a story online from the IndyStar, Louisville Courier Journal or one of the many other publications across Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois, it found its way to you because of the work and influence of a Midwest DOT Digital Producer,” said Jenny Porter Tilley, lead Indiana producer.

The Midwest DOT is the second Midwestern Gannett property to unionize in 2022, following the Courier Journal Guild announcement on August 30. NLRB election results for the Courier Journal staff are anticipated on November 18.

“We couldn’t do what we do at the Courier Journal without the help of the Midwest DOT,” said Courier Journal food writer Dahlia Ghabour. “We are constantly told by Gannett leadership we are a digital-first organization, which means the Digital Optimization Team is extremely valuable. They deserve to be paid like they’re valuable too.”

Guild members at the Midwest DOT have demanded that Gannett answer for dismally low, uncompetitive wages for digital producers, repeated cuts to benefits (like those announced just last week), and understaffing, among other issues.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gannett restructured its digital production workforce, creating fully remote Digital Optimization Teams that separated producers from their home newsrooms. Some Midwest DOT producers were invited to reapply for jobs they had held for years, while others were furloughed – with no additional resources given to those few remaining staff left with an untenable workload.

“Gannett has proven time and time again that we are on our own as employees,” Rosalind Bowling, a Midwest DOT digital producer, said. “We will not back down, and we will continue working tirelessly to protect each other. Gannett has given us rage, and now it’s time we use it.”

Midwest Digital Guild members are fighting for the future of journalism. Per the Guild’s mission statement: “Our members shouldn’t be working multiple jobs to support ourselves. We should be focused on the critical work we do connecting our communities with the vital news they need.”

The Midwest Digital Guild and The Courier Journal Guild are just two of the many Gannett properties to unionize in the latest wave of media organizing. Members at other Gannett unions have been organizing together to demand accountability from Gannett as the company continues to chip away at morale and working conditions in newsrooms across the country.

Jenna Watson, IndyStar staff member and president of the Indianapolis News Guild, lauded the Midwest DOT team for rejecting Gannett’s narrative and demanding a seat at the table.

“This isn’t just about our lives at work,” Watson said. “It’s about pushing our parent company to invest in its journalism at the local level, so we can keep serving our communities the way they deserve. We must save local journalism.”

Midwest Digital Guild members and their union siblings at other Gannett properties are calling on community allies to stand in support of fair pay and dignity at work for digital producers and journalists across Gannett.
Follow them on Twitter @MidwestDOTGuild

Gannett’s latest proves the importance of building a strong union

This afternoon Gannett announced plans to cut employee benefits, push buyouts and require non-union employees to take unpaid leave. This announcement came only two months after the company laid off 400 employees and cut another 400 open positions. Gannett’s executives continued to make their motives clear, despite their mission “to build trusted local communities where people thrive.”

The following statement can be attributed to NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss

Gannett only cares about cutting costs by bleeding newsrooms dry. Gannett doesn’t care about journalists, the local news our communities depend on nor the survival of one of the most important pillars of our democracy.

The only way to fight back is to build a strong union in every newsroom in North America. Many of these cuts will not immediately impact newly unionized newsrooms and Gannett has a legal obligation to bargain over any changes with its workers.

Hundreds of Gannett journalists are organizing across the country to force Gannett to put people over profits. Journalists hold companies — Gannett included — to account every single day.

America’s journalists call on Gannett to cease the cutting, invest in our newsrooms and pay journalists enough to thrive in the communities they cover. Gannett should eliminate its extravagant executive pay, fire its anti-journalist lawyers and immediately suspend its stock buyback program.

Gannett cannot cut its way out of financial mismanagement. It must invest in journalists if it has any chance to grow. Every American, every community and our democracy depend on it.

This the clearest endorsement yet of the importance of unions. Mike Reed acknowledged these changes won't impact newsrooms at @Gannett like mine who are still bargaining.
(We're approaching the 3rd anniv. of when we voted to establish the @azrepublicguild, but still no contract.) https://t.co/KlYz6dVlyt
— Rafael Carranza 🌵 (@RafaelCarranza) October 12, 2022

Y'all I am so grateful for the @AustinNewsGuild. Gannett just announced they are cutting 401k matches and forcing furloughs over the holidays and my union colleagues are protected by status quo. My heart hurts for all the journalists and families who will suffer because of this.
— Sarah Asch 🦇 (@sarahradinasch) October 12, 2022

About The NewsGuild-CWA

The NewsGuild is the largest union of journalists and media workers in North America, representing about 27,000 workers in media, the public sector, at nonprofits and other labor unions. The Guild represents hundreds of media workers across Gannett at about 50 publications. The Guild is one of the fastest growing unions on the continent and is a sector of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which represents workers in telecommunications and information technology, the airline industry, health care, public service and education, manufacturing and other fields.

Newsletter: Condé workers make history

Subscribe to the Guild’s newsletter here.

Condé Nast workers made history on Friday: More than 500 staffers at a dozen publications won voluntary recognition of Condé Nast Union. All of Condé Nast publications are now union!

The newly recognized union covers full- and part-time editorial, video and production workers at Allure, Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, Condé Nast Traveler, Epicurious, Glamour, GQ, Self, Teen Vogue, them., Vanity Fair and Vogue, as well as Condé Nast Entertainment. It also includes more than 100 subcontracted employees who work for a third-party staffing agency.

Let’s turn this into Labor Week!

I hope you had a great Labor/Labour Day!

I was in Toronto with members of CWA Canada and the Canadian Media Guild celebrating Labour Day, which falls on the same day in the U.S. and Canada.

It was a total blast to be back together outside with other workers after two-and-a-half years of the pandemic.

Newsletter: NYT performance reviews show bias; Guild loses a good soul

Subscribe to the Guild’s newsletter here.

An analysis by members of the New York Times Guild published last week reveals stunning racial disparities in performance evaluations of Guild-represented employees by management at the New York Times.

The study found that being Hispanic reduced the odds of receiving a high score by about 60%, being Black cut the chances of high scores by nearly 50%, and being Asian lowered the odds of a high score by about 35%. In 2020, not a single Black employee received the highest rating, while white employees accounted for more than 90 percent of the roughly 50 people who received the top score.

Bill McLeman, staffer who helped forge Guild merger with CWA, dies

Bill McLeman passed away on Aug. 18, 2022, after a brief, intense bout of pneumonia.

A gentle soul with a heart of gold, Bill was never known to raise his voice, according to his widow, Bridget. He started life with few assets and created a strong family that will treasure his memory. He was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, uncle and a friend, Bridget wrote on Facebook.

Newsletter: You get a contract! You get a contract! You get a contract!

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I just came back from Minnesota for Pride at Work, an organization that builds the power of LGBTQ+ members in the labor movement. It was a total blast and the convention honored AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Fred Redmond and me with their Solidarity Awards.