Author: The NewsGuild-CWA

Following the layoff of 10 union workers and two editors, Herald reporters, photographers, editors and designers and community members plan to picket to save jobs

Everett NewsGuild Layoff Picket
9am – 3pm PT Monday, June 24
LOCATION: Starting at the intersection of Colby and Hewitt in downtown
Everett, ending at the intersection of Colby and 41st near the Herald office.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 24, 2022

Kaitlin Gillespie
Executive officer, Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild
(206) 669-3562 │Guild37082@gmail.com

Sydney Jackson
Health reporter, NewsGuild member on the bargaining committee
(714) 791-8432 │ EverettNewsGuild@gmail.com

On Monday, June 24, at 9:00 a.m., instead of clocking into work at The Everett Herald, Everett NewsGuild members, represented by the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, will participate in a one-day strike and picket in downtown Everett.

After a wave of layoffs Wednesday that cut newsroom staff in half, including 10 of 18 union workers, the Everett NewsGuild is asking new owner Carpenter Media Group to come to the bargaining table and reinstate these jobs.

Continue reading “Everett Herald union workers to hold one-day strike, picket in Everett on June 24”

Contact:
WBEZ SAG-AFTRA Union: yourcpmunion@gmail.com
Chicago Sun-Times Guild: suntimesguild@gmail.com

CHICAGO – The Sun-Times Guild and the SAG-AFTRA units at WBEZ and Vocalo have held votes of no confidence in Matt Moog as Chicago Public Media CEO, Chicago Sun-Times president and a Chicago Sun-Times Media board member. The combined units overwhelmingly voted no confidence in Mr. Moog over the weekend: 86% of members took part in the vote, and 96% of those members – or 114 – voted no confidence.

Continue reading “WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times unions vote no confidence in Chicago Public Media CEO Matt Moog”

Several unions including The NewsGuild-CWA, SAG-AFTRA, NABET-CWA, the National Writers Union and local unions signed onto a letter enthusiastically supporting the California Journalism Preservation Act, Assembly Bill 886.

The legislation would unlock millions of dollars a year to support journalism jobs in the largest state in the U.S. and follows other journalism jobs bills that The NewsGuild-CWA helped pass in New York and Illinois.

Continue reading “Group of unions show strong support for California Journalism Preservation Act”

Nebraska journalists at the Omaha World-Herald Guild are celebrating a new two-year contract with Lee Enterprises. The contract – the Guild’s third with the company – was passed unanimously and guarantees multiple wage increases, immediate raises for all union members, new protections from Artificial Intelligence, expanded bereavement definition and more. Journalists in Omaha first unionized in October 2018 and are part of the Denver Newspaper Guild (TNG-CWA Local 37074).

The AI protections include negotiations over any effects of new AI policies or technologies and a requirement that any AI generated content will be clearly labeled. Raises include 3% in each of the two years of the agreement.

Continue reading “Omaha World-Herald journalists secure new contract”

The New York Assembly and Senate on Saturday passed a first-of-its-kind journalism jobs tax credit in the 2025 budget. The credits will become law when New York Governor Kathy Hochul signs the state budget.

The job tax credits were first introduced as the Local Journalism Sustainability Act (S.625-Hoylman-Sigal/A.2958-Woerner). The final budget language provides $30 million in tax credits each year over three years, covering half of a journalist’s salary up to $50,000 each year. Publishers will only be able to use these employment tax credits to rebuild their newsrooms by hiring new reporters and retaining current staff.

The organizing effort for this initiative has been spearheaded by the Albany Newspaper Guild, New York News Publishers Association, the New York State AFL-CIO, The NewsGuild-CWA and the Communications Workers of America beginning in 2022.

Continue reading “New York legislature passes historic journalism jobs tax credit”

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.