Media contact:
centraloregonnewsguild@gmail.com
The reporters, photographers and news assistants of The Bulletin and The Redmond Spokesman announced Tuesday their successful vote to form the Central Oregon NewsGuild.
After EO Media Group declined to voluntarily recognize the Central Oregon NewsGuild in October, the overwhelming majority of employees voted in favor of union representation this month.
Continue reading “Staffers at The Bulletin and The Redmond Spokesman vote to unionize”
Contact: Charlie Vargas, (909) 275-9669; SCNG News Guild, juancharlievargas740@gmail.com
Journalists at 11 daily newspapers in Southern California are walked out Thursday, Dec. 14.
“We are simply seeking fair wages so that we don’t have to struggle to afford living in the communities we cover,” said SCNG Guild unit chair Sean Emery, a courts and crime reporter. “We believe in local news, and our communities deserve robust coverage. But choosing a career in journalism should not require a virtual vow of poverty. It is time for the members of our newsroom to be paid what they are worth.”
Continue reading “Journalists at 11 SCNG newspapers hold 1-Day Walkout”NewsGuild-CWA members at Law360 are on strike today. Workers at the legal news service owned by LexisNexis are fed up with management’s illegal and stalling tactics at the bargaining table and started a one-day work stoppage in protest over management’s behavior.
The Law360 group is special to me (and yes, every member and bargaining unit is special to me). But Law360 members paved the way for my colleagues to organize at the Los Angeles Times. Law360 unionized in August of 2016 and set up a union website. We straight-up copied their “Union busting 101” page and most of their website. Law360 members applied aggressive collective action tactics, which we copied at the Times up to our union win in January 2018.
Continue reading “Newsletter: Law360 went on strike this morning”
Contact: Jen Sheehan, jen@nyguid.org, 610-573-0740
NEW YORK – Unionized editorial workers at Law360 — who have had enough of parent company LexisNexis execs’ illegal tactics and stalling at the bargaining table — will hold a one-day strike on Wednesday, highlighted by a mid-afternoon rally and a day-long picket line outside corporate headquarters in New York City.
Readers of the legal news service are urged not to cross the digital picket line Wednesday.
The work stoppage comes after The NewsGuild of New York filed an unfair labor practice charge on behalf of Law360 Union against LexisNexis on Tuesday. The basis of the charge is a Nov. 16 bargaining session in which LexisNexis representatives threatened Guild members with less favorable terms the longer negotiations continue. Regressive bargaining is a form of bad faith bargaining, in which one side moves backwards, offering less on a proposal than they had previously offered.
Continue reading “Law360 workers walk off the job in one-day action protesting management’s threats, unlawful conduct at the bargaining table”
At midnight today workers at the Washington Post started a 24-hour unfair labor practice strike over the company’s refusal to bargain in good faith.
After 18 months of bargaining with Washington Post, Guild workers — including reporters, editors, cartoonists, visual journalists, advertising sales people and circulation drivers — walked out. Despite a year and a half of efforts, Post management has refused to bargain in good faith for a fair contract that keeps up with inflation and the Post’s competition.
Continue reading “Washington Post workers go on strike today”
We have some good news to share with all of you.
As many of you know, we have been fighting a lawsuit filed by journalist Mike Elk since 2021. Elk targeted four Guild journalists, the international union and the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, accusing us of breach of contract, misrepresentation, defamation and other claims. The suit came in the wake of sexual harassment allegations in our Pittsburgh local. We updated you on the progress of the suit against us in October.
The suit has been a distraction from our work to improve the working conditions of our 26,000 members across North America. With that in mind, we have settled, with no admission of any liability, the suit with Elk and will make a $10,000 donation directly to Casa San Jose, a nonprofit Elk selected.
We are happy to move on and focus our time and efforts on winning contracts and protecting our members.
NABET-CWA President Charlie Braico and NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss released a statement in support of Federal Communications Commission Chair Rosenworcel’s announcement on a proposed rulemaking to support local journalism by prioritizing license application review for broadcasters that provide locally originated programming:
“American democracy depends on every citizen having easy access to local news coverage that provides credible, factual information they need to make informed decisions about their health, their safety, their government and their lives. Yet a rise in local news deserts, communities without access to local news, threatens the livelihood and wellbeing of our communities and our democracy. In the last decade thousands of local newspapers have shut their doors and half of all journalist jobs have disappeared.
“We must do everything we can to protect and bolster local news coverage and the journalists and media workers who help bring us the news. That’s why we applaud Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s announcement on the proposed rulemaking to support local journalism. We look forward to working with the Federal Communications Commission to ensure our members can have a future in local journalism and our communities are served by the news they deserve.”
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Last week workers at Scholastic ratified a new contract that includes raises of 4.75%, 3.5% and 3.5% over three years. The new salary floor starts at $65,000 a year, mirroring wins at the New York Times, Insider and Conde Nast. Workers also won a $3,250 ratification bonus, added health and safety provision, a transparent and fair hybrid work agreement and they continued to fight off a management’s rights clause. I got to join the Scholastic rally during their one-day strike last month and started tearing up talking about how proud I am to be part of a union with folks who help young kids explore new worlds through reading. (Speaking as this kid who grew up in rural Arkansas.) Scholastic members are amazing!
Workers at the AFL-CIO also ratified a successor contract this weekend. The new contract includes raises of 13.25% over four years. Recent previous agreements only won signing bonuses, with no percent increase to staffers bottom lines. The raises only happened because workers put pressure on the boss, in this case the leaders of the AFL-CIO. They marched on the boss, they picketed outside headquarters, built a petition, demonstrated in the workplace and much more. I got to join several of their job actions in Washington, D.C. and was inspired by their solidarity. They work for the entire labor movement and yet were not afraid to hold the house of labor to account.
Continue reading “Newsletter: AI in the Senate, Scholastic and others get new deals”
On November 9, The NewsGuild-CWA condemned the killing of 39 journalists and media workers in the Israel-Hamas War. Since that time, roughly 20 more have been killed and many others have been injured, harassed and detained. As stated by the Committee to Protect Journalists, this has been the deadliest month for journalists since they started gathering data in 1992.
The nearly 60 known dead include 50 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese. Many currently reporting from Gaza have lost homes and family, and are reporting without regular access to phones, internet, shelter or power.
Continue reading “NewsGuild-CWA renews call to protect journalists abroad and at home as Israel-Hamas War continues”
The Unions of Lee Enterprises is denouncing plans by Lee Enterprises to sell The Southern Illinoisan newspaper to Paxton Media Group under terms that will result in the elimination of all the local journalists who currently work for it.
Despite pronouncements by Paxton Media on Oct. 27 that it will foster “community-based journalism” and “expand” coverage through the purchase of The Southern Illinoisan, the entire union-represented newsroom has been told they should clear out their desks by Nov. 24.
Continue reading “Workers denounce plans to sell The Southern Illinoisan”