Bill McLeman passed away on Aug. 18, 2022, after a brief, intense bout of pneumonia.
A gentle soul with a heart of gold, Bill was never known to raise his voice, according to his widow, Bridget. He started life with few assets and created a strong family that will treasure his memory. He was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, uncle and a friend, Bridget wrote on Facebook.
Continue reading “Bill McLeman, staffer who helped forge Guild merger with CWA, dies”
A revised version of the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act still needs significant improvement, NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss says.
The revised bill, introduced yesterday by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and a bipartisan group of senators, would give news companies the right to bargain collectively with Google and Facebook to recoup revenue the social media giants have diverted from news organizations.
Continue reading “Bargaining bill for news companies still needs improvements”
Pride at Work, a national organization that supports LGQBTIA+ workers in the labor movement, recognized NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss on Friday with a Solidarity Award “for creating a new spirit of organizing in your union and your inspirational leadership as an out labor leader.”
Continue reading “Pride at Work recognizes NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss with Solidarity Award”
The New York Times’s performance review system has for years given significantly lower ratings to employees of color, an analysis by Times journalists in the NewsGuild shows.
The analysis, which relied on data provided by the company on performance ratings for all Guild-represented employees, found that in 2021, being Hispanic reduced the odds of receiving a high score by about 60 percent, and being Black cut the chances of high scores by nearly 50 percent. Asians were also less likely than white employees to get high scores.
Continue reading “Study Reveals Racial Disparities in Performance Evaluations at The New York Times”
Members of TIME Union voted unanimously last week to ratify a new contract after three years of bargaining.
This is the first contract that covers all TIME editorial employees — ending the divide between the print side of the magazine and the digital side and TIME for Kids. TIME digital and TIME for Kids workers organized in 2019; their print colleagues have been unionized for about 80 years.
Continue reading “TIME Union members ratify contract that ends the digital, print divide”
Journalists at the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald and Bradenton Herald voted unanimously to ratify their first contracts with McClatchy in balloting that was tallied on Wednesday. Members of One Herald Guild, which represents workers at the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald, voted 71-0; the Bradenton Herald Guild vote was 5-0. Turnout in Miami was 93% of Guild members and in Bradenton it was 100%.
Continue reading “Journalists of Florida ‘Heralds’ vote unanimously to ratify first contracts”
Last week Gannett, the largest local news publishers, provided us with a prime example of an important legal protection that union members have – maintenance of status quo regarding terms and conditions of employment.
Continue reading “What is ‘status quo’ and how can it protect you from layoffs?”
Hundreds of workers employed by Gannett-owned newsrooms are taking a coordinated lunch break today in response to a string of emails from upper management last week that threatened layoffs due to the company’s second quarter financials. According to Mike Reed, Chairman and CEO, Gannett must “responsibly and proactively [align] resources to our highest strategic priorities and [lower] costs to be in line with revenues.”
Continue reading “Hundreds of Gannett journalists walk out over layoff threat”
Today Gannett announced that it is soon planning to cut jobs after CEO Mike Reed said the company was “facing strong headwinds” after reporting their second quarter financials.
“Gannett has clearly shown it cannot be trusted to invest in journalists or its newsrooms and is prioritizing shareholders and executives over journalism,” said NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss.
“As a journalist representing thousands of other journalists in North America, we scrutinize and hold companies accountable for their behavior,” he said. “Gannett’s SEC filings and actions against America’s journalists show it is incapable of being trusted.”
Continue reading “Gannett can’t be trusted to invest in journalists as it begs for special powers”
Nearly 300 journalists at Reuters, the global news agency, walked off the job today for 24 hours in protest of management’s slow-walking contract renewal negotiations, the first major labor action by journalists at the company in more than 30 years. Reuters journalists, photographers, videographers, copy editors, producers and technicians are represented by The NewsGuild of New York.
Continue reading “Reuters journalists walk off the job, demand better pay”