Bargaining | The NewsGuild - TNG-CWA

Union members, leaders and staff celebrate on Zoom after winning a first contract.

Newsletter: Guild members are winning so many contracts!

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We’ve been off the newsletter for the last couple of weeks because of the holiday, travel and some folks being off. And boy did a lot happen in two weeks since our last newsletter!

We were planning to say that WIRED workers were on strike yesterday and today, but late Monday night they inked a deal with Condé Nast for a three-year contract. They announced it on Twitter just a few minutes before midnight. More details will be out soon, but the group represents more than 55 workers at WIRED who unionized in April 2020. They went public then with 85% support and have run many collective actions increasing pressure on the company to settle.

This is how you do it. BUT—

WIRED Union wins a first contract after strike threat

The WIRED union, a unit of The NewsGuild of New York, which represents more than 55 workers at the technology magazine, reached an agreement on a first contract with management late Monday night. The culmination of nearly 14 months of bargaining, the agreement allows the company to avoid a planned strike on Amazon Prime Days, July 12th and 13th, two of the most lucrative traffic days of the year for WIRED Magazine. More than 95% of the unit had signed on to walk off the job this morning.

Workers took the WIRED Union public with 85% support in April of 2020, joining media workers at The New Yorker, Ars Technica and Pitchfork in the ranks of unionized Condé Nast publications. This past March, around 500 more workers at Condé Nast, including at storied publications such as Vogue, GQ, Allure, and Bon Appétit also unionized with The NewsGuild of New York as Condé Nast Union.

WIRED Union members set to strike during Amazon Prime Day July 12-13

More than 60 employees at Condé Nast’s technology magazine are fighting for a first contract. They’re asking the public to honor their digital picket line.

The staff of Wired, the science and technology magazine owned by Condé Nast, announced Thursday that over 97% of workers are prepared to strike on Amazon Prime Days July 12-13 if the company refuses to bargain in good faith and fails to reach an agreement with the union before then.

Newsletter: Abortion as a healthcare right and collective action

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Access to abortion is a fundamental health care right and a matter of personal choice. And we’re going to fight for it by doing what we do best: organizing to protect our rights in the workplace.

Newsletter: Big wins and a reckoning

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If you haven’t already signed up for the Guild assembly, “Was that the Reckoning? Addressing anti-Black racism in the news industry,” now’s the time!

The event is at 8 p.m. ET, this Wednesday and will feature Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of the landmark 1619 Project; NewsGuild of New York President Susan DeCarava; Desiree Stennett, race and equity reporter for the Orlando Sentinel and Erin Logan of the Los Angeles Times.

As unionized media workers, we have an opportunity and the responsibility to hold our employers — and ourselves — accountable. I hope you’ll join us. Register here.

Members of Washington state Guild ratify first contract

Members of the Washington State NewsGuild voted 27-0 to ratify their first collective bargaining agreement with McClatchy last week. The agreement covers journalists at four publications: the Bellingham Herald, Tri-City Herald, Tacoma News Tribune and Olympian. They are members of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild.

Detroit Guilders demand a fair contract

Members of the Newspaper Guild of Detroit picketed the Michiganians of the Year Awards on Thursday to press their demand for a fair contract. The protest was part of a campaign to win community support for workers at the Detroit Free Press, the Observer & Eccentric and the Detroit News, which sponsored the awards event. They’ve been bargaining since February.

Guild’s Tribune-owned units win big victory: NLRB issues complaint on healthcare changes

The NewsGuild’s Tribune-owned units won an important victory Monday when the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against the company for unilaterally changing employees’ healthcare benefits in October 2021.

Newsletter: Vultures are circling

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Wall Street vultures are circling local news again and this time it’s at TEGNA, a local news broadcaster that operates 66 stations in 54 communities. Standard General and Apollo Global Management are attempting a takeover of the company and it will almost certainly mean fewer local news journalists and higher costs for consumers.

If you’re a Guild member, I need your help to stop this takeover of local news.

Gannett Regional Union members score big wins

Workers at a dozen Gannett-owned news outlets in the Atlantic region have racked up some impressive wins recently. The Gannett Regional Union, which reported the victories, includes the Atlantic DOT Guild (Atlantic Digital Optimization Team), APP-MCJ Guild (Asbury Park Press, Courier News and Home News Tribune), Hudson Valley News Guild (The Journal News, Poughkeepsie Journal and Times Herald-Record), The Record Guild (The Record, Daily Record and New Jersey Herald), Newspaper Guild of Rochester and Utica News Guild.