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Newsletter: A lawyer oopsie, a work stoppage and more wins

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Hundreds of New York Times tech workers held a work stoppage last week to protest management’s attempts to prevent about one-third of tech employees, including product designers and data analysts, from voting in their upcoming election on union representation. They also protested other unfair labor practices, such as management illegally asking workers their views about unionizing and saying that workers would get more from management if they stopped organizing. I was fired up speaking to the workers at their rally Wednesday. These workers are innovating the future of journalism and they deserve a voice in their workplace!

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Digital Producers at the Atlantic Digital Optimization Team Win Union Vote

Digital Producers at the Atlantic Digital Optimization Team voted to be represented by The NewsGuild of New York Local 31003 in an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board that concluded Wednesday. The 21-person unit consists of digital producers across five states that make up Gannett’s Atlantic region.

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NYT Guild Tech Walkout: Let them vote!

After months of unlawful union-busting tactics by management of the New York Times, members of NYT Guild Tech staged a virtual walkout on Wednesday. Workers said they were protesting management’s continued unfair labor practices that seek to divide their union and prevent hundreds of workers from voting in an upcoming National Labor Relations Board vote on union representation. 

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NewsGuild, ACLU, NABJ Urge Department of Justice to Adopt Permanent Protections for Journalists

The NewsGuild-CWA has joined with the ACLU and National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) to call on the Department of Justice to adopt permanent protections for journalists and other observers covering protests.

The DOJ should enshrine a prohibition against arresting, threatening to arrest, or using force against journalists and legal observers in the department’s law enforcement guidelines unless there is probable cause to believe the journalists or observers committed a crime, the organizations said in an Aug. 6 letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

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High Participation Public Actions Get the Goods

Editor’s Note: This article was first posted on Aug. 3, 2021, on the website of The NewsGuild of New York.

A transformation is underway in our union. We are moving away from the business-as-usual servicing model that has come to dominate the labor movement over the past 70 years, much to the benefit of employers, and toward the organizing model that gives workers real power in the workplace.
 
These two approaches stem from different conceptions about where our power lies. The service model views the union as a vending machine, where someone puts their dues in and expects to get a grievance or contract out. But the organizing model is rooted in the understanding that our real power comes through unity and collective action. If we want to settle big grievances or win a strong contract, then we have to be willing to fight together to win it.

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Update on harassment report

Updated: Aug. 4, 2021 4:40 p.m. (with original post below)

For months, our members and our task force were waiting for the arrival of a report from an outside consultant to provide insights on the culture of the Pittsburgh local now and in the past, and offer recommendations for a path forward. The report, which is the result of the listening series conducted by consultant Rebecca Feaster, was originally scheduled to be released today, Wednesday, Aug. 4, as we previously announced in a statement from our task force on Tuesday. 

However, there are concerns that certain aspects of the report could potentially reveal people who want to remain anonymous. Our goal is to protect the members involved in this process and make sure their identities are not revealed. At this time, we feel it best to postpone our timeline, including this week’s meetings. 

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Newsletter: An organizing record!

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I’m just going to start with some very exciting news: last week our union hit a new record.

More workers have joined our union in 2021 than in any year in recent history. That number stands at more than 1,500 workers across 29 workplaces. It started with journalists at the Loveland Reporter-Herald in Colorado and includes Washington state McClatchy papers, Entertainment Weekly, the New York Daily News, MinnPost, the Kansas City Star, the Atlantic, the ACLU of Missouri and many, many others! See the full list here.

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