Events | The NewsGuild

Let’s turn this into Labor Week!

I hope you had a great Labor/Labour Day!

I was in Toronto with members of CWA Canada and the Canadian Media Guild celebrating Labour Day, which falls on the same day in the U.S. and Canada.

It was a total blast to be back together outside with other workers after two-and-a-half years of the pandemic.

Newsletter: NYT performance reviews show bias; Guild loses a good soul

Subscribe to the Guild’s newsletter here.

An analysis by members of the New York Times Guild published last week reveals stunning racial disparities in performance evaluations of Guild-represented employees by management at the New York Times.

The study found that being Hispanic reduced the odds of receiving a high score by about 60%, being Black cut the chances of high scores by nearly 50%, and being Asian lowered the odds of a high score by about 35%. In 2020, not a single Black employee received the highest rating, while white employees accounted for more than 90 percent of the roughly 50 people who received the top score.

Newsletter: You get a contract! You get a contract! You get a contract!

Subscribe to the Guild’s newsletter here.

I just came back from Minnesota for Pride at Work, an organization that builds the power of LGBTQ+ members in the labor movement. It was a total blast and the convention honored AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Fred Redmond and me with their Solidarity Awards.

Newsletter: WaPo members start bargaining, Gannett still fighting its journalists

Subscribe to the Guild’s newsletter here.

When members of the Washington Post Guild announced last week that they were about to go to the bargaining table, they had an impressive bit of news to share:

“We have been building to this moment for years — nearly doubling membership since the last time we bargained…”

Full stop. That is amazing work by folks at the Post Guild!

Newsletter: Big wins and a reckoning

Subscribe to the Guild’s newsletter here.

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.

Newsletter: The Hill journalists launch union campaign, more workers under contract

Subscribe to the Guild’s newsletter here.

Great news! Journalists at The Hill announced last week that they are unionizing! A supermajority of the roughly 80 reporters, designers, copy editors, producers and social media curators have signed cards in support of the effort. They will join the Washington-Baltimore News Guild Local 32035.

Newsletter: We are worth more.

Subscribe to the Guild’s newsletter here.

Over the weekend there was devastating news out of Buffalo, N.Y. Ten people were killed and three wounded when a gunman opened fire in a supermarket on Saturday in an act of racist violence. My heart goes out to the people of Buffalo, which is known as the city of good neighbors. I commend the brave reporting by Buffalo Newspaper Guild journalists. Members “jumped into action to faithfully tell the story. It’s a task we will continue to vigorously pursue.”

Newsletter: Packing bargaining to deliver a message

Subscribe to the Guild’s newsletter here.

Workers at the Chicago Reader took to the streets to save their publication. Last Tuesday they tweeted “We won,” after co-owner Len Goodman stepped down, ending his attempt to delay the publication’s transition to a nonprofit.