Author: The NewsGuild-CWA

On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released the following statement:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, April 4, 2024
Contact: Ryan Martin, 202-680-0427

SCHUMER STATEMENT ON THE ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE JOURNALISTS AS THEY SEEK A FAIR CONTRACT WITH GANNETT

New York, N.Y. – A long-time advocate for New York’s local news outlets, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer today released the following statement urging Gannett to negotiate in good faith with the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle journalists and reach a fair deal on wages, benefits and working conditions to avoid a strike:

“Local journalism is the glue that keeps our communities together and nowhere is that more true than Rochester, where Gannett was first established nearly a century ago – with the Democrat & Chronicle as its flagship newspaper. I visit every one of New York’s 62 counties each year — many of which depend on Gannett newspapers as a critical source for local news. It breaks my heart to see the decline of these once robust newsrooms with reporters who are struggling to get by and newsrooms without enough reporters to cover many of the important local stories that are foundational to a well-informed citizenry and a healthy democracy. I urge Gannett to stay at the table and negotiate in good faith with the union to reach a fair deal on wages, benefits, working conditions, and investments to create the robust well-supported newsrooms our communities need. I stand in solidarity with the journalists at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle as they pursue the fair contract and benefits they deserve.”

The NewsGuild-CWA and the Washington-Baltimore News Guild are hiring a comms director.

Job Title/Position: Communications Coordinator
Salary Range: $80.932.66 – $103,073.27
Job Location: Washington, DC

This is a full-time position for a Communications Coordinator, based in  Washington D.C. The Communications Coordinator  will work with both  The NewsGuild-CWA and the Washington-Baltimore News Guild as the principal media strategist. They will help manage earned media, online media, internal, and external communications. The ideal candidate will have the ability to work independently, as well as part of a team, and be able to respond to time-sensitive communications and deadlines.

Continue reading “We’re hiring a comms director!”

Journalists at The Markup, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates how powerful institutions use technology to change our society, ratified their first collective bargaining agreement. Workers first unionized and won voluntary recognition in October 2020.

Workers locked in a $65,000 salary floor, guaranteed annual raises of at least 3.5% for the lowest paid employees and codified their 401(k) match and other benefits they had at the time of unionizing.

“We pushed really hard for a fair contract and safe benefits and we’re extremely excited to have it,” said Malena Carollo, an investigative reporter at The Markup.

“It means a lot to have job security in this type of environment,” she said in referencing the hundreds of journalists who have been laid off by media companies in January. The threat of layoffs at either profitable or billionaire-owned organizations have led many journalists to strike at publications like the Los Angeles Times and Condé Nast recently.

They also secured an impressive six months of 100% paid parental leave.

“It means people are able to take the time they actually need after they have or adopt a baby,” Carollo said.

The contract also includes $15,000 support for a diversity, equity and inclusion committee and new hiring pool goal minimums for candidates of historically underrepresented groups. Workers also secured book writing rights and the power to share in any production rights if their stories are turned into films or podcasts.

More than 200 unionized journalists at seven newsrooms launch a one-day strike to demand fair wages, protection of 401k match

Biggest collective action against Alden Global Capital since 2021 purchase of Tribune Publishing

Alden has slow walked contract negotiations; bargaining for most units is in its fifth year

NATIONAL – More than 200 Tribune Publishing journalists, designers, and production workers at seven newsrooms across the country walked off the job for 24 hours today in a historic strike to protest the company’s refusal to pay journalists, designers and editors a fair age and management’s threat to take away the 401k match benefit. Tribune Publishing journalists at all the newsrooms are represented by The NewsGuild-CWA.

Continue reading “Tribune Publishing journalists go on 24-hour strike”

After more than 3 years of bargaining, the Indianapolis News Guild reached a two-year collective bargaining agreement with Gannett.

The agreement invests $200,000 in giving members long-deserved raises and updating the woefully outdated wage scale. This was a priority among the 39 members, whose input also guided the decision-making in non-economic areas.

The contract includes a new seniority-based wage scale, plus across-the-board pay increases in both years of the contract, which will benefit every member and help with pay equity in the newsroom.

Continue reading “Indy Guild ratifies new contract, with better pay and job protections against AI”

AUSTIN — Employees of the award-winning nonprofit newsroom The Texas Tribune announced their intent to unionize on Wednesday as the Texas Tribune Guild, part of the Media Guild of the West and The NewsGuild-CWA.

Organizers petitioned for voluntary recognition from the CEO, editor-in-chief and the board of The Texas Tribune.

Members of the union organizing committee presented management with the request for voluntary recognition after 90% of eligible staffers signed union authorization cards signaling their desire to be represented by the Texas Tribune Guild.

Continue reading “Texas Tribune employees announce union organizing campaign”

Shortly after midnight on Tuesday the POLITICO and E&E News (PEN) Guild reached a tentative agreement for its first-ever collective bargaining agreement after 20 months of negotiations. 

Covering three years, the tentative contract includes numerous improvements for the company’s journalists, including higher pay that helps close inequities in the newsroom, stronger benefits and layoff protections — including enhanced protections against adoption of artificial intelligence, some of the industry’s first contract language regarding the use of AI.

“We formed this union because our colleagues were overworked, underpaid and lacked basic protections,” said Unit Chair Tanya Snyder, a transportation reporter for POLITICO Pro. “This contract will benefit our journalists and lead to a healthier, stronger newsroom.” 

Members of PEN Guild, which represents over 270 journalists, must still ratify the contract.

Wage inequity was a top issue for many in PEN Guild. The union’s study of newsroom salaries found wage gaps for journalists of color and women and non-binary employees. The contract will take significant steps toward closing those gaps. 

Other achievements in the contract include 5 percent caps on insurance premium increases and coverage of IVF and fertility treatments; 24 weeks of paid parental leave; faster vesting of 401(k) matches; automatic transit stipends; a strong policy regarding the treatment of trans and non-binary employees; and just cause protections for the disciplinary process.

POLITICO journalists unionized in October 2021 with over 80 percent support of the newsroom and were formally recognized by the company shortly thereafter.

PEN Guild is part of the Washington-Baltimore Chapter of NewsGuild-CWA.

Contact PEN Guild at politicoeenewsguild@gmail.com. 

PEN Guild's tentative agreement with @politico means better pay, health care, vacation and comp time, parental leave, benefits, layoff and AI protections, and so much more.

tl;dr: A healthier newsroom.

Read our press release: https://t.co/qVPk10WHRN pic.twitter.com/bhtZ7GR4Tu

— penguild (@penguild) January 23, 2024

Six years after forming their union, workers at the Los Angeles Times struck for 24 hours over illegal behavior by management and a plan to gut the largest newsroom on the West Coast. The newsroom of about 400 walked off the job in a quickly organized strike, the first ever work stoppage in the L.A. Times’ 142-year history.

Workers struck across the country and gathered in downtown Los Angeles, Sacramento, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts and Texas.

Continue reading “Photos from the historic Los Angeles Times walkout”

Los Angeles Times workers are walking out today, the first strike at the publication in its 142-year history. The one-day unfair labor practice strike is happening six years to the day that workers formed a union at the Times.

Earlier this week, Los Angeles Times management announced that it intends to imminently lay off a significant number of journalists and asked the Guild to gut seniority protections in the union contract so they have vastly more freedom to pick whom to lay off. This will greatly damage their ability to provide the accountability journalism so important to Southern California. 

In response, the Guild is holding a one-day, multi-city walkout on Friday to Save Local Journalism. It will be held at 12 p.m. PT on the southwest side of Gloria Molina Grand Park (200 N Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012) near L.A. City Hall.

Staff will also be participating in Sacramento, Washington and elsewhere; and will be abstaining from work for the day. This is the first newsroom union work stoppage in the history of the Los Angeles Times, which began printing in 1881.

Continue reading “Los Angeles Times goes on strike today”