The NewsGuild-CWA | The NewsGuild

Victory for Press Freedom and Workers: Court Grants Preliminary Injunction to Protect the U.S. Agency for Global Media

April 22, 2025

WASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction in Widakuswara v. Lake, affirming the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) was unlawfully shuttered by the administration, Acting Director Victor Morales and Special Adviser Kari Lake. The decision enshrines that USAGM must fulfill its legally required functions and protects the editorial independence of Voice of America (VOA) journalists and other federal media professionals within the agency and newsrooms that receive grants from the agency, such as Radio Free Asia and others.

Defend Our Free Press: National membership meeting

MEMBERS ONLY: We’re holding an emergency all-hands national membership meeting to defend a free press. Workers, unions, and journalists are under attack—and we’re fighting back.

Journalists at Wisconsin Watch ratify first contract

Contact: wisconsinwatchunion@gmail.com

MILWAUKEE – Wisconsin Watch journalists, represented by Wisconsin Watch Union and Milwaukee NewsGuild Local 34051, have secured their first union contract, which includes meaningful gains in wages, job security and workplace protections.

Wisconsin Watch Union members this week voted unanimously to approve the contract.

Federal judge grants temporary restraining order to halt shutdown of U.S. Agency for Global Media

Contact: press@newsguild.org

NEW YORK, N.Y.—A federal court Friday issued a temporary restraining order blocking the unlawful shutdown of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Read the full opinion and order.

The court’s order temporarily freezes the efforts by Kari Lake, Victor Morales and the Trump administration to continue decimating the Congressionally-mandated agency while the broader legal challenge proceeds.

“We are proud to stand with journalists and media workers who sounded the alarm and fought back,” said NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss. “This ruling is a powerful rebuke to an administration that has shown contempt for press freedom and the rule of law.”

Citing unanimous support, staff of Los Angeles Public Press form union

Contact: Amanda Del Cid Lugo
EMAIL mandadc94@aol.com

Citing unanimous support, the staff of Los Angeles Public Press on Thursday launched a union campaign. Within an hour of the staff’s announcement, newsroom management agreed to voluntarily recognize the union.

The LA Public Press Union, a unit of Media Guild of the West, would represent eight employees. MGW, the Los Angeles-based Local of The NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America, represents hundreds of other journalists at the L.A. Times, the Arizona Republic, the Dallas Morning News and other news outlets in Southern California, Arizona and Texas.

VIDEO: Voice of America Journalists Hold Press Conference on Trump’s Attacks on Free Press

March 23, 2025 – Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, The NewsGuild-CWA, & AFSCME held a press conference outside of the Southern District Court of New York, where a joint lawsuit was filed Friday seeking a reversal of Trump’s order to slash funding.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette striker Natalie Duleba calls on PG owners to end the two-year labor dispute during a rally at the newspaper's North Shore newsroom on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. The rally marked the two-year anniversary of the strike. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Union Progress)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ordered to restore healthcare to newsrooms workers in 2-year strike

PITTSBURGH – The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals enjoined the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PG) on Monday, requiring the company to—among other orders—restore the health care it illegally took away from editorial workers, addressing a core demand of the union workers who have struck for more than 29 months.

“It is further ordered that the Respondent, PG Publishing Co., Inc. d/b/a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and its officers, agents, successors, and assigns, shall: …rescind the changes in the terms and conditions of employment related to health insurance for its unit employees that were unilaterally implemented on about July 27, 2020,” the order, written by Judge Cindy K. Chung, reads.

The PG is also required to bargain with the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh-CWA Local 38061, submit bargaining progress reports to Region 6 of the National Labor Relations Board, and negotiate with the workers’ union on any changes in wages, hours, or any other terms of employment.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Journalists, Federal Workers, and Unions File Lawsuit to Challenge Closure of U.S. Agency for Global Media

March 21, 2025

Contact: comms@cwa-union.org, press@whistleblower.org, Nvoutsinos@afscme.org, press@democracyforward.org, press@statedemocracydefenders.org, press@afge.org, Gamer@afsa.org, pjones@rsf.org

The U.S. Agency for Global Media violated the First Amendment, separation of powers, appointments clause, and several laws when it suspended nearly all operations, says a new complaint filed by unions and workers

Guild defends journalists targeted by Trump’s cuts to international newsrooms

The NewsGuild-CWA stands with the journalists and listeners affected by President Trump’s efforts to cut funding and sideline journalists who for decades have provided news to an international audience often living under repressive regimes.

Event: Trump’s attacks on a free press

The Trump administration has targeted independent media in the U.S. by barring the Associated Press, seizing control of the press pool and kicking out other longstanding members of the press corps from covering White House events.