Featured | The NewsGuild - TNG-CWA

Florida journalists rally for local news, fair contracts

Dozens of Florida journalists rallied outside five Gannett-owned newspapers across the state on Monday, seeking support for fair contracts and for local news. The events were the first coordinated action among the state’s unionized Gannett papers.

Union members stood on busy street corners near their offices, holding signs, making noise, and talking to passersby about the crisis facing local news: extremely low pay, staffing that’s insufficient to properly cover their communities, a push toward regional – rather than local – coverage, and unending rounds of cutbacks.

Daily Hampshire Gazette columnists announce writers’ strike

A group of writers who contribute columns to the Daily Hampshire Gazette announced a writers’ strike in solidarity with the Pioneer Valley NewsGuild on Monday.

NewsGuild calls on pension funds to boot Cerberus

NewsGuild-CWA activist Veronica Serrano urged the board of directors of the Texas County and District Retirement System to divest its holdings in Cerberus Capital Management at the board’s quarterly meeting in Austin today, in a statement submitted in writing.

Crosscut workers ratify first contract

Members of the Crosscut Union, representing workers at Crosscut and KCTS9, nonprofit news outlets based in the Northwest, voted overwhelmingly to ratify their first contract with Cascade Public Media on Nov. 30.

“This contract – and the hard work it took us to get here – is something to be immensely proud of,” union members said.

BuzzFeed News Union members walk out, demanding a fair contract – on the day shareholders take the company public

BuzzFeed News Union members walked off the job Dec. 2 to demand a fair contract, the same day shareholders will vote to take the company public. 100% of union members are participating in the 24-hour work stoppage.

After two years of fighting for a fair contract, they are calling on management to negotiate adequate pay raises, affordable health care, a sensible policy on “outside work,” and a prohibition on using traffic and revenue metrics as a basis for issuing discipline to workers.

Pittsburgh Local scores big court win

Workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette scored an important win on Nov. 30, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rejected management’s attempt to reverse an arbitration ruling that required the company to cover increases in workers’ health insurance premiums.

Wirecutter workers end strike; management to return to the bargaining table

The workers at Wirecutter, the product-review company owned by the New York Times, ended their strike after Cyber Monday and all signs indicate that their job action was extremely effective.

Guild leaders urge Lee board to continue the fight against Alden

The 12 unionized newsrooms of Lee Enterprises implored the Board of Directors to reject any offer by Alden Global Capital to acquire the company in a letter dated Nov. 29.

Calling Alden’s claim that it is committed to the newspaper industry a “bald-faced lie,” they urged Lee’s board to, “Stand up for us. Stand up for your investors. Stand up for your communities. Stand up against Alden.”

Alden’s sleight-of-hand bid demands a closer look

Editor’s note: This article first appeared on the website of DFMworkers.org on Nov. 23, 2021.

The executives at Florida-based hedge fund Alden Global Capital must be restless.

No longer content with extracting the lifeblood from two of the nation’s largest local newspaper chains, it’s now stalking Lee Enterprises.

Alden announced, via a Monday-morning press release, that it wants to buy all of Lee Enterprises for $24 a share, in cash.

NewsGuild denounces Alden’s continued bid to destroy local news

The union is calling on Lee’s board to reject Alden’s takeover bid.

The NewsGuild-CWA denounces the purchase offer made yesterday by Alden Global Capital for Lee Enterprises. If advanced, the deal would give Alden control of three of the four largest chains of newspapers in the United States. Such industry concentration would have a negative impact on consumers who depend on local news, employees who work for Lee papers and on our democracy.