Featured | The NewsGuild - TNG-CWA

M+R Union ratifies much-improved second contract

The M+R Union ratified its second collective bargaining agreement with 100% of its 72 members voting yes, the group announced on Tuesday. M+R Union represents staffers at M+R, a firm that works for nonprofits “fighting for a just and sustainable world.”

The biggest win is a new compensation structure with a $62.4k floor. Members will get a median raise of $10k and a median bonus of $6.5k at ratification, with the biggest raises going to those who currently earn the least.

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.

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.

Category: Featured