Blog | The NewsGuild - TNG-CWA

Congress addresses the local news crisis

In a hearing on saving “the free and diverse press,” NewsGuild president urges lawmakers to protect local news and jobs

Summing up the nation’s local news crisis as a combination of unfair siphoning of advertising revenue by online platforms and “predatory financial actors” who strip newsrooms of jobs and resources, NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss testified Friday at a congressional hearing to address the nation’s local news crisis.

Seeking transparency, adequate staffing and more investment, journalists at Longview Daily News announce intent to unionize

Update: The journalists of the Longview Daily News in Washington state voted unanimously to form the Longview NewsGuild on May 14.

The journalists of the Longview Daily News in Washington state announced their intent to unionize on Thursday, saying a majority of staffers have signed cards authorizing representation by the Pacific Northwest local of The NewsGuild-CWA.

Staffers at RAICES TEXAS are unionizing

UPDATE – Workers at RAICES TEXAS announced July 7, 2021, that they won voluntary recognition of their union from management of the nonprofit organization. “We hope that management continues negotiating in good faith! We appreciate all y’all’s support, and feel the love and support of our community,” they said.

Fortune Magazine Union Members Walk Out, File Board Charges

Employees the Fortune Union staged a 24-hour walkout on March 16 to protest management’s “bad faith” in contract negotiations and to demand a fair, equitable collective bargaining agreement. They also filed Labor Board charges against the company.

Minnesota Council of Nonprofits is unionizing

Update – April 30, 2021: The MNC Union announced April 30, 2021 that the union won the vote, writing, “Despite the delays, and the waste of MCN resources on an anti-union attorney, the votes are in and they’ve been counted: we now have a formally certified union!”

Workers at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits announced March 12 they a unionizing with the Minnesota Newspaper & Communications Guild, a local of The NewsGuild-CWA. The announcement came two days after they asked management of the organization to grant voluntary recognition during a biweekly staff meeting.

NewsGuild president Jon Schleuss testifies to Congress in March 2020

NewsGuild President tells lawmakers: ‘Local news is facing an extinction-level threat’

NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss told a House subcommittee on Friday that local news is facing “an extinction-level” threat that jeopardizes American democracy. His oral statement is below:

“Chairman Cicilline, Ranking Member Buck, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for having me today.

“My name’s Jon Schleuss and I’m president of The NewsGuild-CWA and I’m here to tell you about the extinction-level event workers are facing in the news industry.

“We’re the largest union of journalists in the United States, with thousands of news workers among our membership — at large publications like the Washington Post and New York Times and small ones like the Billings Gazette in Montana News and the Jacksonville Florida Times-Union. We’re also part of the Communications Workers of America.

“I grew up in rural south Arkansas and remember as a kid that my grandmother got two newspapers every day. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in the morning and the Camden News in the afternoon.

NewsGuild President Schleuss to tell lawmakers: ‘The crisis in local news is a crisis of democracy.’

NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss will tell a House subcommittee on Friday that local news is facing “an extinction-level” threat that jeopardizes American democracy.

In his planned testimony, he will urge the committee to adopt legislation to stop the unprecedented, dangerous decline.

Colorado’s legislative and campaign workers are forming a union

Colorado’s legislative aides, campaign workers and organizers are determined to change the rules – and not just those that affect the constituents they serve.

The staffers announced Tuesday that they are forming a union, the Political Workers Guild of Colorado, to advocate for better pay and benefits for themselves and for all Coloradoans. They will become part of the Denver Local 37074 of The NewsGuild-CWA.

ACLU MO United wins union recognition

ACLU MO United has been officially and voluntarily recognized as the union of staffers at the rights organization. “We have been recognized through a voluntary card check,” workers announced on March 8.