Category: Featured

As the company continues damage control over siloing titles at its book fairs focused on race and LGBTQ+ themes, it is also fighting its workers on living wages.

NEW YORK – Unionized workers at Scholastic – the children’s publishing powerhouse – are walking out in protest of the billion-dollar company’s refusal to pay its workers fair wages, specifically its rejection of the Scholastic Union’s proposal for annual raises.  

Members of Scholastic Union will not report to work Wednesday, Nov. 1 as part of the one-day stoppage and will instead rally via Zoom and then hold an in-person protest and picket starting at 1 p.m. outside Scholastic’s corporate headquarters at 130 Mercer St., New York City.

“What we are asking for, from a billion dollar company, is enough to live on as employees,” said Sandra Roldan, a member of the Scholastic Union. “We have members who have had to use their retirement savings to keep up with the inflationary costs and rent increases since the pandemic. That’s unacceptable for a company who professes to be dedicated to the ‘highest quality of life in community and nation.’”

Flagrantly hypocritical, Scholastic wants the public to believe that it values “the worth and dignity of each individual,” as its corporate credo says but yet it refuses to pay living wages and tramples on the legal rights of its unionized employees. 

All this comes as Scholastic attempts to mitigate controversy over its program to silo titles focused on race and LGBTQ+ themes at some book fairs. After intense backlash from the public, authors and illustrators, Scholastic halted the censorship.  

The Scholastic Union was formed in 1937 to represent employees at the children’s publishing powerhouse. The 82 members of the Scholastic Union are represented by The NewsGuild of New York. 

The union’s last collective bargaining contract with Scholastic Inc. expired in May 2022. Employees have been bargaining with the company since last October.

“We see straight through the hypocrisy of Scholastic and are standing together today to make this company better,” said Susan DeCarava, president of the NewsGuild of New York. “Our members are dedicated to the values that their work for Scholastic represents. We think the company should, at both the bargaining table and at book fairs, represent those values too.”

The afternoon work stoppage comes in response to ongoing threats of discipline by management over The Times’ unlawful return-to-office edict.

NEW YORK – The Times Tech Guild – the largest union of tech workers with collective bargaining rights in the country – will walk out this afternoon in protest of the New York Times’ flagrant disregard for their rights as union members. Times management has continually attempted to coerce members to comply with its unlawful return-to-office policy.

The nearly 700-member union – which includes software engineers, data analysts, project managers, product managers, and designers at the New York Times – will begin their walkout at 1 p.m. They will exit the building at 40th Street (between Seventh and Eighth avenues) and hold a rally, followed by an afternoon of picketing around The Times building. Some members will be in Halloween costumes, to not only mark the upcoming holiday but to demonstrate that they aren’t “scared” of Times management’s anti-union tactics.

Workers who are remote will sign off at 1 p.m. and participate in a digital rally and picket via Zoom.

The Tech Guild, which won its union election by a landslide in March 2022, is negotiating its first contract. The NewsGuild of New York, the labor union that represents the Tech Guild, filed an unfair labor practice charge in September 2022 about Times’ management’s edict to return to the office. In August, Region 2 of the National Labor Relations Board found merit to the charge and supported the Guild’s position – that return-to-office is a mandatory subject of bargaining.

Despite that, Times’ management continues to pressure Tech Guild workers to come into the office, including threats that failing to work in-person will impact performance evaluations that determine raises and bonuses. It’s one reason why the Tech Guild is fighting so hard for “just cause” in their contract as a fair standard that management must adhere to when disciplining or firing an employee.

“The Times is now not only refusing to recognize our rights to bargain on return to office but is now going a step further and using it as a tactic to intimidate us,” said Kathy Zhang, unit chair for the Tech Guild. “This afternoon’s work stoppage is to send The Times’ senior leadership a strong, unmistakable message: We will not stand by and allow you to trample on our rights.”

Times management has fought the Tech Guild every step of the way since they first announced their intention to be a union in 2021. It’s a pattern of behavior by the company that’s one of the reasons why the Tech Guild is bringing attention to their contract fight to the public with their walkout.

“Today’s rally is about RESPECT for the workers who help make the New York Times the media powerhouse that it is,” said Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of NY. “We are fighting for a fair contract that protects our Tech Guild members from arbitrary and unlawful work rules. We much prefer to work with a partner across the table in good faith, but that can’t happen until Times management stops violating our members’ rights and labor law.”

Contact: wisconsinwatchunion@gmail.com

MADISON / MILWAUKEE — An overwhelming majority of non-managerial employees of Wisconsin Watch, an award-winning, nonprofit newsroom, announced Monday they had organized as the Wisconsin Watch Union.

Members of the union organizing committee presented Wisconsin Watch CEO George Stanley, Wisconsin Watch Board of Directors Chair Brant Houston and other members of the organization’s board of directors with a request for voluntary recognition after 80% of eligible staffers signed cards signaling their desire to be represented by Wisconsin Watch Union.

The union will be affiliated with The NewsGuild-CWA, the nation’s largest union for journalists and other news industry workers.

Wisconsin Watch Union will represent around 10 workers across the business and editorial sides of the organization, including staffers, fellows and interns.

“I’m organizing because I love Wisconsin Watch and want it to become its best possible self: a thriving and inclusive organization,” said Phoebe Petrovic, Wisconsin Watch’s longest-tenured investigative reporter. “I believe deeply in journalism as a public service, I think this organization is well positioned to serve the people of our state. My colleagues do phenomenal work every day, and I believe creating more democracy in the world is an unequivocal good.”

Petrovic was echoed by investigative reporter Jacob Resneck.

“I hope the public doesn’t misread our organizing as a vote of no confidence against Wisconsin Watch,” said Resneck. “On the contrary, we are doing this because we think it’ll make our organization more resilient in years to come.”

He continued: “Forming a union is the tried-and-true way to inject democracy into your workplace. That’s why my colleagues and I have come together to lead by example.”

In a mission statement distributed throughout the newsroom Monday morning, staff wrote: “For nearly 15 years, Wisconsin Watch has delivered the long-form, thorough investigative reporting our state needs. Our commitment to serving the people of Wisconsin through award-winning journalism remains unwavering.”

“We joined Wisconsin Watch because we believe in its mission: increasing the quality, quantity and understanding of investigative journalism in Wisconsin to foster an informed citizenry and strengthen democracy,” the mission statement continues. “We make Wisconsin Watch. To best fulfill that duty and live the organization’s values, the rank-and-file workers across business and editorial must play a greater role in decision-making about the structural, strategic and financial future of Wisconsin Watch.”

Wisconsin Watch staff members’ union campaign comes amid an upsurge in successful organizing drives in newsrooms across the country. For example, workers at fellow nonprofit newsroom ProPublica won voluntary recognition in August.

Founded in 2009, Wisconsin Watch is a nationally recognized nonprofit newsroom that began as the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. Until July, it was led by its co-founders, Andy and Dee Hall. The married couple retired this summer. George Stanley, former editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has since been tapped to lead the organization as CEO.

In June 2021 Mike Elk filed a lawsuit against four NewsGuild-CWA members, the international union and the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh alleging breach of contract over his sources, misrepresentation, defamation and other claims. His lawsuit against our members, myself included, came in the wake of sexual harassment allegations in our Pittsburgh local.

We believe that Elk’s lawsuit is meritless and are vigorously defending against his claims in court.

As Defendants, we are obligated to provide materials in discovery to Elk. In August, we responded to hundreds of requests for documents and questions from Elk. We turned over more than 1,400 pages of documents, including my communications with Ben Smith, a former media columnist at the New York Times. In our request to Elk for information, we asked for his correspondence with Smith, which relates directly to his claims in the lawsuit. We also asked Elk for any other communications he had related to his allegations.

We first asked him for relevant documents on September 19, 2022. Because Elk failed to fully comply with his discovery obligations, after many requests for him to do so, we were forced to file a motion to compel. On September 14, 2023, the Court granted our motion and ordered Elk to, “comply with discovery within thirty (30) days of this date of this Order or appropriate sanctions shall be imposed upon Plaintiff.” The deadline to produce these documents is Monday. To date, he has not provided the requested material.

Curiously, on Friday, Smith, now editor-in-chief at Semafor, reached out asking for comment. He wrote: “​​Jon — Ben Smith here, with I suspect something you may want to kick to comms: But apparently in the ongoing Mike Elk lawsuit, the Guild has demanded all correspondence between Elk and New York Times reporters including me. I was surprised News Guild would go after confidential reporter correspondence, and obviously the Times is agitated about it, though I think it’s within your legal rights. Anything you can tell me?”

We are seeking Elk’s communications as they relate to his allegations against our members, including allegations related directly to Smith’s reporting (a New York Times column that ran in Dec. 2020). Elk cannot ask for justice and also seek to deny it to those who he accuses by refusing to provide the relevant requested information. Despite Smith’s innuendo, we have not and will not serve discovery requests on The New York Times, or any reporter, for this information.

We have an obligation to vigorously defend our members in the workplace and in the courtroom and we will continue to do so. While this lawsuit has been an unfortunate distraction and has taken resources from our members, we will continue to organize thousands of workers into our union and support campaigns that increase our members’ wages, improve benefits, and safeguard a craft that has been under attack for years.

After sexual harassment allegations were raised in Pittsburgh, our members and leaders took several steps to improve our culture and fight harassment in every form in our union. Pittsburgh members immediately asked for the local president’s resignation. He resigned from office and quit his job at the Post-Gazette. We then held town halls and one-on-one listening sessions with our members and crafted a path forward intended to prevent anything like this from happening again. We approved significantly stronger anti-sexual harassment procedures and policies, including a new complaint process for sexual harassment survivors and a new training program for members and leaders. All of this has been extensively covered and communicated on our website and in numerous messages to our membership.

If you have questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out to me at jschleuss@cwa-union.org.

Members of the Reviewed Union, which represents workers at Gannett’s flagship consumer review site, will walk off the job on Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days event today in protest of management’s failure to schedule bargaining dates and revocation of overtime pay from hourly employees after the announcement of the union last year. The Reviewed Union is one of more than 50 Gannett bargaining units represented by The NewsGuild-CWA.

The more than 40 writers, editors, art, community, lab, and operations team members at the Gannett-owned e-commerce and product review outlet will walk out during the shopping holiday unless bargaining dates are provided and overtime pay restored. Workers are calling on shoppers to respect the “Click-it Picket Line” by refusing to interact with any of Reviewed’s Prime Day content during the walkout.

Continue reading “Gannett’s Reviewed Union walks out on Prime Day”

Yesterday The NewsGuild-CWA submitted comments to the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission on their “merger guidelines.” Both agencies use these guidelines to evaluate the effect a merger or acquisition might have on competition within individual sectors of the economy. 

“Local news is being murdered by private equity and hedge funds gobbling up and shutting down news organizations,” said NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss. “The federal government needs to wake up and prevent the takeover and destruction of local news.”

Continue reading “DOJ and FTC need to scrutinize news mergers”

NewsGuild-CWA members across North America celebrated Labor Day, spelled Labour in Canada, in parades in several major cities.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette striker Steve Mellon shot several photos below and published them on the strike publication the Pittsburgh Union Progress.

Continue reading “NewsGuild members celebrate Labor Day”

Happy Labor Day!

Hopefully you’re off today and taking time today to reflect on the struggles we face as working people.

I’m writing to you from Pittsburgh where I’m supporting our members at the Post-Gazette, who have been on strike for the last 11 months. Workers here are holding their employer to account, demanding they follow federal labor law and provide affordable health insurance to their colleagues. This is a difficult fight, but I know we will win it.

Workers across the NewsGuild, from media, to interpreters, nonprofit workers and labor movement activists are making sure we hold the line and do whatever it takes to get the respect we deserve in the workplace.

Our members who work in the labor movement face their own threats. For example, the staff at the AFL-CIO has faced death by a thousand cuts even though the federation has raked in more dues from affiliate members. It’s time for those workers to finally get a decent wage and protections for their healthcare and retirement.

In the time since last year’s Labor Day more than 1,100 workers have unionized with us from Condé Nast, Cityside, SEIU Healthcare Michigan, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, ProPublica and many more workplaces. And we’ve gone on strike A LOT.

In 2022, 21 newsrooms went on strike for one day or longer, demanding first contracts and for their employer to follow the law. So far in 2023, 28 newsrooms have gone on strike.

Currently workers are on strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and TVO, the provincial public broadcaster in Ontario. TVO workers are demanding fair pay to keep up with inflation and protections from temporary work. TVO workers have a righteous fight on their hands as they hold the line alongside all Guild members.

And we’re getting solidarity from other unions, from the United Steelworkers, to SEIU, to the Teamsters and CUPE in Canada. Workers from other unions have stood on our picket lines and supported our causes.

It seems we are under attack in almost every single workplace. But we are fighting back.

And we have more power than we know.

Have a safe and happy Labor Day this year and continue to build a union of love and compassion for your colleagues and our society.

In solidarity,
Jon

The staff of Education Week took a major step this week toward forming a union as they seek to ensure a more transparent and equitable workplace.  

Reporters, visual artists, digital and engagement specialists, marketing and advertising professionals, and other employees across Education Week signed cards stating their desire to be represented by the Washington-Baltimore NewsGuild. On Tuesday morning, employees asked EdWeek’s senior leadership to voluntarily recognize their union—a collaborative approach that many other media organizations have taken. 

Education Week is unionizing! We are a strong majority of @educationweek’s reporters, artists, researchers, marketers, engagement specialists, and much more. @NewsGuild @CWAUnion @WBNG32035https://t.co/pqQmjHI0Sk pic.twitter.com/rs1GPMV4Bd

— EdWeek Union (@EdWeekUnion) August 30, 2023

But that evening, EdWeek’s senior leadership informed employees that they had rejected their request for voluntary recognition. Employees will now secure recognition by pursuing an election monitored by the National Labor Relations Board.   

“Employees from departments across our organization have come together to say we deserve a seat at the table—a change that can only make Education Week stronger,” said Sarah Schwartz, a staff writer for Education Week. “To do the kind of work that can inspire and empower the education field, we must advocate for ourselves as well. A union will preserve our ability to deliver the high-quality journalism that Education Week readers have relied on for more than 40 years. We’re disappointed that management rejected our request for voluntary recognition, but we’re confident that our strong majority can win an election.”

The NewsGuild-CWA would represent nearly 50 employees of Editorial Projects in Education, the nonprofit organization that publishes Education Week, a top nationwide source of news, research, and analysis. Many EdWeek employees say their job is the most fulfilling and meaningful of their careers. Some have stayed at the organization for decades, in part because of the strong relationships they have developed with their colleagues and their respect for senior leadership.

But in recent years, the company has lost many valuable and longtime employees, in part due to stagnant salaries and a lack of opportunities for career advancement. These losses have been particularly detrimental toward the company’s goal of having a diverse workforce: Education Week currently has no Black reporters or editors.

“I fear we aren’t effectively retaining our talented employees or are missing out on a wealth of great prospective employees, because some of our wages haven’t kept up with the rising cost of living,” said Hayley Hardison, a social media producer for EdWeek. She noted that the D.C. metro area has among the highest costs of living in the nation.

While EdWeek senior leadership has recently taken steps toward addressing some of these concerns, employees say they want more of a voice and more transparency in decisionmaking. 

“I believe in the EdWeek Union because I believe in my coworkers,” Hardison said. “I believe in pay equity, managerial transparency, diversity, inclusion, and our right to a seat at the table. I trust that we can hold fair, effective negotiations with our management as we all share the same underlying goal: to advance EdWeek’s mission of empowering K-12 educators with trusted news and insights. I believe that a union will protect all that I love about EdWeek by ensuring that all whom I love at EdWeek are taken care of.”

A mission statement drafted and signed by employees interested in affiliation with the NewsGuild says: “The EdWeek Union’s goal is to strengthen and preserve the best parts of our company—namely, our supportive and family-friendly culture—which lay the foundation for our ability to produce deep, nuanced, and revelatory journalism. The EdWeek Union is fighting for equitable pay, progressive family leave, fair remote work policies, and the continued commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

For interviews with Education Week staff, please email edweekunion@gmail.com. 

About the Washington-Baltimore NewsGuild:

The Washington-Baltimore NewsGuild includes more than 2,500 workers at news outlets, nonprofits, and labor organizations. Other notable units include the Washington Post, Bloomberg Industry Group, AFL-CIO, the Baltimore Sun, and Inside Higher Ed. WBNG is a local of The NewsGuild-CWA, which is a sector of the Communications Workers of America.

NewsGuild members across North America will be celebrating Labor/Labour Day this coming Monday. Parades in Pittsburgh and Toronto will include strikers at the Post-Gazette and TVO, the Ontario public broadcaster. 

Continue reading “NewsGuild members are marching for Labor/Labour day!”