Category: covid19

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

Newsletter: Guild members are winning so many contracts! 

Subscribe to the Guild’s newsletter here.

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—

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Newsletter: Meet the new Guild staffers

Subscribe to the Guild’s newsletter here.

This every-other-week newsletter is packed with a lot of news. My hope is that we help communicate all the fights of our members through this newsletter and build solidarity within the Guild. Can you do me a favor and forward this newsletter to at least one of your colleagues and ask them to subscribe?

Folks can subscribe right here.

Danielle Newsome

We’ve got two new staffers! I’m thrilled to announce them after a lot of work to make it happen. Danielle Newsome (she/her) joins us as a new staff representative, with a focus on the jobs that used to be part of the Guild’s director of collective bargaining. This comes after all of our discussions last year to increase capacity and provide more support to our locals. And while CWA still has a hiring freeze, this position was created after the passage of the SMART resolution at CWA’s October Convention. 

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NY officials denounce Dotdash Meredith’s neglect of HERO Act

NY Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, Labor Committee Chair Jessica Ramos, along with 22 New York electeds sent a letter in support of 170 media workers at Dotdash Meredith organizing for better health & safety standards. 

Read the 22 Legislators’ Full Letter Here 

In a letter sent Monday to Dina Nathanson, senior vice president of Human Resources at Dotdash Meredith, 22 New York state senators and assembly members are highlighting the company’s failure to obey the NY HERO Act, which protects workplace safety during airborne disease outbreaks. 

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Newsletter: You can now buy a Guild bomber jacket

Subscribe to the Guild’s newsletter here.

You’ve waited a long time, and now NewsGuild swag is here. The Guild store opened last week with coveted union-made bomber jackets, hoodies, T-shirt and pins. They all bear the Guild’s new unblinking eye logo, which symbolizes the watchdog role journalists and activists play in protecting our democracy and holding power to account.

We’ll be adding more items in the coming weeks, including a non-leather jacket and coffee mugs. Check out the store and tell me what else you’d like to see!

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Newsletter: A real Dr. Evil moment

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Last week I joined members and leaders in a rally in front of the New York Times. We came to deliver a message: Stop union busting and respect our union.

It was a brisk day, but I was thrilled to see so many NewsGuild of New York members from several different newsrooms show up in support! There were three groups of workers from the New York Times there fighting for respect: Wirecutter, the NYT Tech Guild and the NYT Guild.

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NLRB: Return-to-Office Plans are a Mandatory Subject of Bargaining

While dismissing a charge by the NY Guild, the agency gave workers a big win.

The National Labor Relations Board dismissed an Unfair Labor Practice charge by the NewsGuild of New York on Wednesday but upheld the union’s most important claim: Management has an obligation to bargain with the union over return-to-office plans and vaccine mandates.

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Relief bill could save thousands of local news jobs

Updated Dec. 28, 2020 – After six days of uncertainty, President Donald J. Trump signed the COVID relief bill on Dec. 27, marking an important victory for journalists, readers, the news industry generally, and millions of others.

The relief bill in front of Congress includes a NewsGuild-supported provision that will expand Paycheck Protection Program loans to local newsrooms across the country.

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There’s no shortage of news in Springfield, Ill., but they are running low on reporters.

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, Sept. 4, 2020 – The daily newspaper in this capital city of 115,000 is one of the go-to places for political coverage in a state where consecutive governors went to federal prison, the state’s finances are precarious and the longtime speaker of the Illinois House may be in the crosshairs of a federal investigation. Continue reading “There’s no shortage of news in Springfield, Ill., but they are running low on reporters.”

Watchdogs on furlough: A thwarted secret deal, an intensely local story

By Dean Olsen

Aug. 6, 2020 – Readers called and emailed the Florida Times-Union over the past year with appreciation for the newspaper’s commitment to uncovering apparent secret deals behind the now-canceled attempt to sell the city of Jacksonville’s municipally-owned utility to a private entity. Continue reading “Watchdogs on furlough: A thwarted secret deal, an intensely local story”