Newsletter | The NewsGuild - TNG-CWA

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!

Union members, leaders and staff celebrate on Zoom after winning a first contract.

Newsletter: Guild members are winning so many contracts!

Subscribe to the Guild’s newsletter here.

We’ve been off the newsletter for the last couple of weeks because of the holiday, travel and some folks being off. And boy did a lot happen in two weeks since our last newsletter!

We were planning to say that WIRED workers were on strike yesterday and today, but late Monday night they inked a deal with Condé Nast for a three-year contract. They announced it on Twitter just a few minutes before midnight. More details will be out soon, but the group represents more than 55 workers at WIRED who unionized in April 2020. They went public then with 85% support and have run many collective actions increasing pressure on the company to settle.

This is how you do it. BUT—

Newsletter: Abortion as a healthcare right and collective action

Subscribe to the Guild’s newsletter here.

Access to abortion is a fundamental health care right and a matter of personal choice. And we’re going to fight for it by doing what we do best: organizing to protect our rights in the workplace.

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: Vultures are circling

Subscribe to the Guild’s newsletter here.

Wall Street vultures are circling local news again and this time it’s at TEGNA, a local news broadcaster that operates 66 stations in 54 communities. Standard General and Apollo Global Management are attempting a takeover of the company and it will almost certainly mean fewer local news journalists and higher costs for consumers.

If you’re a Guild member, I need your help to stop this takeover of local news.

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.