Carol Rothman, who held many leadership roles at The NewsGuild-CWA, died suddenly on May 19 at the age of 76. 

Rothman retired as TNG-CWA’s Secretary-Treasurer in 2013, having served in that role since 2008. Prior to that, Rothman was the Guild’s sector chairperson from 1995 until 2008 and oversaw executive council meetings and sector conferences. That followed her service as a vice president on the Guild’s executive council from 1983 until 1993. 

It’s been a minute since my last newsletter because we’re down a comms coordinator (scroll to apply!) and I’ve also been traveling the world for our union. More on those trips at the bottom because there’s more interesting member news up top. Happy Friday! I hope you’re about to have a good restful weekend. 

And, if you’re thinking, “Jon this is a lot to read!” I bolded all the important stuff! You can also just look at the pictures. Let’s dive in. 

This was originally posted by the Washington-Baltimore News Guild on May 15.

WASHINGTON– The ACLU of DC Staff Union has ratified a first contract, securing a landmark agreement that delivers sweeping gains in wages, benefits, job security, and workplace flexibility following voluntary recognition in May 2023. The contract stands as one of the strongest first agreements won by any union local in the region.

“We spent nearly three years at the bargaining table fighting for a contract that reflects the value of the work we do every day to protect civil liberties in the District,” said Yvonne Slosarski, bargaining committee chair. “This agreement delivers for every member of our unit, and it sets a new standard for what nonprofit workers can and should win.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contacts:
Kathleen Floyd, WBNG Communications — kfloyd@wbng.org
PEN Guild — politicoeenewsguild@gmail.com

WASHINGTON– The POLITICO and E&E News Guild (PEN Guild) members have earned a resounding final victory in one of the most significant labor-AI disputes in American journalism: following months of negotiations between PEN Guild leadership, the Washington-Baltimore News Guild (WBNG), and POLITICO management, the company has agreed to shut down both artificial intelligence products at the heart of last November’s landmark arbitration ruling.

POLITICO will shut down Capitol AI Report-Builder, a tool that produced branded policy reports for POLITICO Pro subscribers without any editorial review, despite generating glaring factual errors. It also will not revive the “Live Summaries” AI feature, which generated error-riddled unedited coverage of major political events, including the 2024 Democratic National Convention and Vice Presidential Debate. Both uses were found by an arbitrator in November 2025 to have violated PEN Guild’s collective bargaining agreement.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
TexasTribuneGuild@gmail.com

AUSTIN — Unionized journalists and employees of the award-winning nonprofit newsroom The Texas Tribune ratified their first contract, which features unit-wide raises, new salary minimums, a new sick leave policy and guardrails around the use of artificial intelligence.

“We entered negotiations two years ago as our newsroom and the media industry faced financial challenges and economic uncertainty,” Alejandro Serrano, the chair of the Texas Tribune Guild said. “But thanks to our strength as an engaged and united Guild and with support from the Media Guild of the West, we secured many wins in this contract that will ensure The Texas Tribune continues to be a great workplace.”

Media workers at three Hearst-owned newspapers represented by The NewsGuild-CWA have filed unfair labor practice charges against Hearst with the National Labor Relations Board this week, accusing the company of violating federal labor law and retaliating against workers for union activity.

The charges were filed by workers at:

• the Albany Times Union in New York, 
• the Austin American-Statesman in Texas, 
• and the Dallas Morning News in Texas.

The workers allege that Hearst management has illegally withheld information from unions, refused to bargain in good faith, and retaliated against employees for exercising their legal right to organize.

The following statement was released jointly by the News Media Guild and the National Union of Journalists. Both unions represent workers at the Financial Times in the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively.

National Union of Journalists – News Media Guild 
JOINT STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY

OUR UNIONS, which represent Financial Times journalists around the world, urge the employer to come to the bargaining table in good faith after it rejected talks with representatives of the News Media Guild. 

The right of employees to bargain collectively is protected by the laws of the United Kingdom and the United States. For decades in the U.K., and more recently in the U.S., unions and management have successfully reached collective bargaining agreements. Importantly, the Nikkei Group, the parent company of FT, formally pledges adherence to United Nations labour standards in its corporate human rights policy. 

The Denver Newspaper Guild has supported successful organizing at 25 workplaces over the past decade, recently winning representation for workers at Out Nebraska, Blue Bench and Nebraska Appleseed. As the local expands it’s looking to add a local organizer to its staff.

Last week all seven journalists at the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa. asked local management to voluntarily recognize their union after McClatchy, the newspaper’s owner, began placing journalists’ bylines on stories written by artificial intelligence.

McClatchy agreed to have an independent party review the union cards signed by workers and compare that to staff lists. Six McClatchy newsrooms have unionized in as many years and each one was voluntarily recognized by the company.