Workers at IGN unionize, form IGN Creators Guild

UPDATE: On February 22 workers won voluntarily recognition from their employer.

Los Angeles, Calif. — Today a supermajority of editorial and creative workers at IGN have announced that they are unionizing with the NewsGuild-CWA.

The unit will consist of a little over 80 employees at inception, with 87% of the eligible members signing union authorization cards. The IGN Creators Guild expects that Ziff Davis will voluntarily recognize the guild in response to this impressive participation from their staff.

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Photos from Tribune Publishing walkout

More than 200 Tribune Publishing journalists, designers, and production workers at seven newsrooms across the country walked off the job as part of a historic 24-hour strike to protest the company’s refusal to pay journalists, designers and editors a fair wage and management’s threat to take away the 401k match benefit.

Workers from the Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Virginian-Pilot, Morning Call, Suburban Chicago Tribune, Design and Production Studios, and Tribune Content Agency participated in the walkout — the single largest coordinated action journalists at the company have taken against Alden Global Capital since the hedge fund purchased Tribune Publishing in 2021.

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Newsletter: 24 strikes in two weeks? Yep!

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It has been a very busy 2024! Just yesterday more than 200 workers across Tribune Publishing struck seven publications over the owner’s refusal to provide raises and retain a 401k match that employees depend on. The owner? Alden Global Capital, the hedge fund murdering America’s newsrooms. 

America’s journalists are standing up and fighting back. 

“We didn’t go into this job for the money, but Alden’s cuts have hit so close to the bone that we can’t even do our jobs as journalists anymore. Enough is enough. Journalists deserve to be able to retire with dignity,” said Madeline Buckley, criminal courts reporter at the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Tribune Guild unit chair. “The company’s insulting proposals on wages and benefits puts our future at risk, along with our ability to continue to produce the hard-hitting journalism this city relies upon.”

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The Markup Union

Journalists at The Markup secure first contract

Journalists at The Markup, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates how powerful institutions use technology to change our society, ratified their first collective bargaining agreement. Workers first unionized and won voluntary recognition in October 2020.

Workers locked in a $65,000 salary floor, guaranteed annual raises of at least 3.5% for the lowest paid employees and codified their 401(k) match and other benefits they had at the time of unionizing.

“We pushed really hard for a fair contract and safe benefits and we’re extremely excited to have it,” said Malena Carollo, an investigative reporter at The Markup.

“It means a lot to have job security in this type of environment,” she said in referencing the hundreds of journalists who have been laid off by media companies in January. The threat of layoffs at either profitable or billionaire-owned organizations have led many journalists to strike at publications like the Los Angeles Times and Condé Nast recently.

They also secured an impressive six months of 100% paid parental leave.

“It means people are able to take the time they actually need after they have or adopt a baby,” Carollo said.

The contract also includes $15,000 support for a diversity, equity and inclusion committee and new hiring pool goal minimums for candidates of historically underrepresented groups. Workers also secured book writing rights and the power to share in any production rights if their stories are turned into films or podcasts.

Chicago Tribune workers rally outside Tribune Tower in December 2023

Tribune Publishing journalists go on 24-hour strike

More than 200 unionized journalists at seven newsrooms launch a one-day strike to demand fair wages, protection of 401k match

Biggest collective action against Alden Global Capital since 2021 purchase of Tribune Publishing

Alden has slow walked contract negotiations; bargaining for most units is in its fifth year

NATIONAL – More than 200 Tribune Publishing journalists, designers, and production workers at seven newsrooms across the country walked off the job for 24 hours today in a historic strike to protest the company’s refusal to pay journalists, designers and editors a fair age and management’s threat to take away the 401k match benefit. Tribune Publishing journalists at all the newsrooms are represented by The NewsGuild-CWA.

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New York Daily News workers picket in a 24-hour strike

New York Daily News journalists walk off the job in one-day protest over hedge fund owners’ slashing of resources

NEW YORK – Journalists at New York’s Hometown Newspaper, the Daily News, walked out Thursday — the first walkout since the end of their historic strike in 1991 — fed up with chronic cuts ordered by the paper’s owner, the ‘destroyer of newspapers’ Alden Global Capital. 

“Alden wants to act as if we are not being chiseled,” said union steward Michael Gartland, an award-winning reporter who’s covered three NYC mayors. “We’re not going to engage in that intellectual dishonesty. In reality, we’re being crushed for cash. As a result, staff is diminished, which means our ability to cover the city is diminished. We believe this is bad for New York.”

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Forbes workers go on three-day strike

NEW YORK – Unionized editorial staff at Forbes are walking off the job through Monday in protest of the business magazine’s attempts to prevent union members from exercising their rights as well as slow-walking contract negotiations. 

This the first walkout for the Forbes Union, and the first known work stoppage in the magazine’s 106-year history. It occurs during the production of its February/March print issue. 

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Binghui Huang speaking to supporters and members of the Indianapolis NewsGuild during a rally in 2022

Indy Guild ratifies new contract, with better pay and job protections against AI

After more than 3 years of bargaining, the Indianapolis News Guild reached a two-year collective bargaining agreement with Gannett.

The agreement invests $200,000 in giving members long-deserved raises and updating the woefully outdated wage scale. This was a priority among the 39 members, whose input also guided the decision-making in non-economic areas.

The contract includes a new seniority-based wage scale, plus across-the-board pay increases in both years of the contract, which will benefit every member and help with pay equity in the newsroom.

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Photo of the workers at the San Antonio Report wearing red shirts after going public with their union in January 2024

Workers at San Antonio Report walk off the job in protest of illegal layoff

At 11:30 a.m. Central Time Wednesday staffers at the San Antonio Report walked off the job after hearing that their colleague Sandra Santos was laid off by the nonprofit newsroom in Texas.

“This is exactly the type of thing we organized to prevent so we could find solutions for the organization and the members,” said Isaac Windes, an education reporter at the San Antonio Report.

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Texas Tribune staffers pose for a photo and gather together on the day they launched their union January 24, 2024

Texas Tribune employees announce union organizing campaign

AUSTIN — Employees of the award-winning nonprofit newsroom The Texas Tribune announced their intent to unionize on Wednesday as the Texas Tribune Guild, part of the Media Guild of the West and The NewsGuild-CWA.

Organizers petitioned for voluntary recognition from the CEO, editor-in-chief and the board of The Texas Tribune.

Members of the union organizing committee presented management with the request for voluntary recognition after 90% of eligible staffers signed union authorization cards signaling their desire to be represented by the Texas Tribune Guild.

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