News | The NewsGuild - TNG-CWA

View of the Federal Communications Commission headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 2020.

CWA, NewsGuild-CWA and NABET-CWA Applaud FCC’s Action on TEGNA Takeover

This afternoon, the Federal Communications Commission announced its Media Bureau has submitted Standard General’s attempted takeover of local news broadcaster TEGNA to an administrative law judge to review.

The hearing designation order is a strong indication that the staff agrees that there are clear issues with the takeover attempt. The move to refer the matter to an administrative law judge is rarely used by the FCC. Hedge fund Standard General first announced their plans to acquire TEGNA in February 2022. It’s an $8.6 billion deal and affects more than 60 local news stations across the U.S.

Today’s action shows that Standard General has failed to show that their takeover is in the public interest. In its order, the Media Bureau wrote, “based on the record before us, we are unable to find that grant of the applications would be consistent with the public interest.”

“Chairwoman Rosenworcel clearly recognizes that protecting the public interest means assessing the impact of media industry transactions on workers and on the health of local news,” CWA President Chris Shelton said. “In line with the Biden Administration’s focus on creating and preserving good, family-supporting jobs, Chairwoman Rosenworcel understands that it is not only appropriate, but essential, for the FCC to consider potential job loss as a result of mergers. CWA members appreciate her careful scrutiny of this deal and we thank the FCC staff for stepping in and standing with us at this critical point in our democracy’s history.”

“I applaud Chairwoman Rosenworcel for sticking up for local news and workers, and thank her for recognizing our concerns, particularly on the losses of local news jobs,” NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss said. “We have witnessed hedge funds murdering local newspapers, cutting jobs and decimating local news. We engaged in this fight to prevent the same thing from happening in local broadcast.”

“NABET-CWA has long fought for broadcast journalists and editorial workers, and we thank Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s resolve for backing our members,” said NABET-CWA President Charlie Braico.

In June 2022 The NewsGuild-CWA and NABET-CWA filed a petition to deny with the FCC, challenging Standard General’s plans to reduce local news jobs, raise consumer prices and violate the FCC’s ownership cap.

The NewsGuild-CWA has long advocated for local news and expressed concerns about hedge funds, including at Alden Global Capital, which has cut thousands of jobs and shuttered newspapers across the U.S.

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Press Contact

CWA Communications
(202) 434-1168
news@cwa-union.org

Palm Springs Desert Sun journalists walk out two years after unionizing

On Friday, Feb. 17, members of The Desert Sun NewsGuild in Palm Springs, California, participated in a one-day walkout. The walkout was held on the two-year anniversary of the formation of the union. It was the guild’s second walkout in just over three months as The Desert Sun NewsGuild previously participated in a walkout on Nov. 4.

The decision to walk off for a second time was a difficult one, but members decided it was necessary after only limited progress was made toward a contract in the two years since The Desert Sun NewsGuild was formed.

In particular, there has been virtually no progress toward some of the guild’s most significant goals, which include a $60,000 salary floor, securing fairer and more equitable scheduling practices and guaranteeing the ability for employees to freely pursue freelance writing work that does not interfere with the work they do at The Desert Sun. The Desert Sun’s owner, Gannett, has also refused to agree that all Desert Sun staffers either join the guild or pay dues to support it going forward.

All 14 NewsGuild members who were scheduled to work on Feb. 17 participated in the walkout. The guild also held a rally and march Friday morning in downtown Palm Springs, during which it called for Gannett to move quickly toward a contract that will ensure The Desert Sun’s hardworking employees are treated with the dignity and respect that has for too long been denied to them, and guarantee the future of high-quality local news in the Coachella Valley.

On this day in 2021, we unionized to fight for the future of quality journalism in the desert — but since then, @Gannett's proposals have shown little interest in that mission. That must change.

Today, on our 2nd birthday, we're walking out in demand of a fair contract ASAP.✊
— Desert Sun NewsGuild (@TDSNewsGuild) February 17, 2023

Several members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 440 Riverside County attended the rally and march and joined the NewsGuild’s call for a fair contract. The TDS NewsGuild was extremely thankful for their support.

On Thursday, supporters launched a GoFundMe to raise money for its members that would be losing out on a second day of pay to participate in the walkout. As of Monday morning, $2,102 had been collected. The Desert Sun NewsGuild is extremely thankful to those who have contributed to the fund, which remains open for donations.

Please follow The TDS NewsGuild on Twitter @TDSNewsGuild to stay up to date on our efforts. TDS NewsGuild members are hopeful that the company will act quickly to reach a fair contract.

Chicago Guild hiring a full-time staffer

The Chicago News Guild is seeking a dynamic full-time Staff Member to join our growing local in the home of the American labor movement! We’re looking for a member-focused “coach” who can identify and cultivate leaders among our membership, and build up skills and cohesion in each of the more than 20 units in our local of 400 members (soon to add nearly 200 more) who work at newspapers, as court interpreters, and at nonprofits and labor unions.

NBC News Guild "We're walking out!" graphic

Over 200 Journalists at NBC News, MSNBC, TODAY Digital Plan to Walk Off the Job

For immediate release: February 8, 2023
Media contact: communications@nyguild.org, 646-761-1991

Workers call out NBC Universal for repeatedly breaking the law, most recently illegally laying off union members

Along with illegal actions, workers are fighting back against bad-faith bargaining

NATIONAL — This morning, NBC Digital News Guild, a union representing just under 300 workers across NBC News, MSNBC, and TODAY Digital, sent a letter to management announcing that a supermajority of workers in the unit are committed to walking out on Thursday, February 9, unless the company walks back their unlawful actions.

On January 12, NBC illegally laid off seven bargaining unit members, and informed several others that, while still employed, they were no longer protected by the union. The union filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge against the company at the National Labor Relations Board on January 13.

Under well-settled NLRB precedent, employers cannot conduct layoffs without bargaining with the union during negotiations for a first contract. NBC knows this precedent well, previously having been found by the NLRB to have violated federal law by cutting union salaries in 2020 without bargaining. The NLRB was affirmed by the DC Circuit, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars of back pay delivered to union members this year.

National Labor Relations Board judge rules Post-Gazette violated federal labor law; must bargain with union and restore previous contract

An administrative law judge from the National Labor Relations Board handed journalists at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette a major victory Thursday by ruling the newspaper didn’t negotiate in good faith, illegally imposed working conditions and unlawfully surveilled workers engaged in union activities.

Geoffrey Carter, who heard the case last fall, ordered the newspaper to resume bargaining with the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh within 15 days of the union requesting it. He also ordered the company to rescind the unilateral working conditions it had imposed in 2020, and restore the union’s previous contract, which expired in 2017.

Carter further ordered the company to “make its employees whole for any loss of earnings and other benefits that resulted from its unlawful unilateral changes.” Union officials had estimated at one point that the company’s bill could be about $4 million.

Continue reading at unionprogress.com, subscribe and donate to the striker fund.

Judge rules Pittsburgh Post-Gazette bargained in bad faith, must release previous contract and undo unilateral changes

CONTACTS: ZACK TANNER
PRESIDENT, NEWSPAPER GUILD OF PITTSBURGH
724-761-6969
ZACK@ZACKTANNER.COM

JOSEPH J. PASS
ATTORNEY
412-281-3850
JJP@JPILAW.COM

JAN. 26, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

In a major victory for Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, an administrative law judge ruled overwhelmingly Thursday that Post-Gazette management and representatives have bargained in bad faith with the guild since 2017 and, in doing so, violated the National Labor Relations Act.

As a result, Judge Geoffrey Carter ordered the Post-Gazette to end the impasse that the company unilaterally declared in July 2020, to undo changes to working conditions that the company imposed in 2020, to restore the guild’s 2014-17 contract, and to begin bargaining within 15 days of the guild’s request to do so.

Additionally, Judge Carter ordered the Post-Gazette to make whole workers who lost wages or benefits caused by the illegal imposition of conditions in 2020.

Judge Carter also ruled that security guards employed by the Post-Gazette illegally photographed workers in October 2020 while they were participating in protected union activities outside the home of PG publisher and co-owner John Robinson Block.

“Today is a monumental victory for Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh workers,” said Zack Tanner, Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh president. “This ruling undoes years of illegal behavior by the Post-Gazette and tells it loud and clear that when workers stand and fight together, they win.

“We’re still on strike against the Post-Gazette, and the PG’s owners, the Blocks, have to know that their time is running out,” Tanner added. “We implore the company to do the right thing and acknowledge the judge’s ruling, follow his orders immediately and stop treating its workforce with such animosity.”

The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh’s contract with the Post-Gazette expired March 31, 2017 — nearly six years ago. Since the start of 2017, the two parties have met more than 20 times in fruitless negotiations — including four times since guild workers began an unfair labor practice strike in October 2022. At each of those sessions, the company was unwilling to move at all on any of its positions.

Despite not awarding a general raise to their award-winning journalists in more than 15 years, the Post-Gazette’s previous contract proposals have all demanded additional concessions.

In July 2020, the company decided to quit bargaining, declared an impasse in contract negotiations and unilaterally imposed working conditions that, among other things: forced members onto a more expensive health care plan that the company could change or eliminate at will, eliminated a guaranteed work week, gave managers free rein to do union work, removed the right to demand arbitration of disputes, and allowed the company to lay off workers without regard to seniority.

In October 2022, Block Communications Inc., which owns the PG, effectively removed production, distribution and advertising workers from their health care plan by refusing to pay a $19-a-week premium increase, as well as refusing to let workers deduct those increases from their own paychecks. Those workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), struck in early October. The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh began its own unfair labor practice strike two weeks later.

“This victory should send shockwaves through every member of the Block family and show them that they have received terrible legal advice for years,” said NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss. “Guild members in Pittsburgh have been so brave to hold the line — holding their own bosses to account and raising the standards for every local journalist on the continent.”

To mark 100 days on strike and to celebrate their massive victory in this case, striking Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh workers will host a rally at noon Saturday outside the City-County Building on Grant Street, where they will be joined by union members, community stakeholders, elected officials and other supporters.

Newsletter: Mourning a Guild mentor, celebrating a successful strike

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Happy Thursday!

First, last year’s NewsGuild-CWA numbers were incredible. Members held 21 work stoppages, including the two open-ended strikes in Pittsburgh and Fort Worth. We welcomed 1,999 new members from 35 newly unionized workplaces. And Guild members won 71 contracts last year, including 31 first contracts! Congratulations to all!

We had sad news last week. We lost a beloved retired NewsGuild staff rep, Bruce Nelson. Bruce died last Tuesday, January 10. He helped mentor and build up Guild members for three decades, until he retired in 2015. Born in St. Cloud, Minn., he spent his career involved in journalism, first as an award-winning reporter in Minnesota and then as a Guild staff rep. He worked alongside members at nearly every Guild paper, including the Washington Post, Albany Times Union, Baltimore Sun, Chicago Sun Times and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Tomorrow, several Guild members will gather to celebrate Bruce’s life. Funeral services will be held on Friday, Jan. 20, at Donaldson Funeral Home in Laurel, Maryland. Services begin at 1pm.

Members are now three months into their strike in Pittsburgh! I’ve been with members here and they’re doing amazing things. They’ve launched a petition calling for the removal of Allan Block, one of the Post-Gazette owners, from C-SPAN’s board. They’re telling the Pittsburgh Steelers to drop their relationship with the PG.

Please take two minutes and add your name to those petitions!

Despite these wins, the PG has refused to bargain and settle the strike.

To be clear, our demands are simple and reasonable: that the PG reinstate workers’ health coverage and agree to follow federal labor law. That’s it!

Their stall tactics won’t work. We’ve raised more than $207k to support striking workers, and are continuing to grow that number! This week we’re aiming to raise $40k, which just so happens to be the amount of bonuses the PG recently handed to people crossing the picket line.

Can you stand in solidarity and contribute right now?

The amazing journalists at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram won their strike! After 24 days on the line, they won a very good first contract and ratified it unanimously. This contract raised the salary floor from McClatchy’s $45,000 up to $52,000 for current staffers. They won gender-inclusive language on family leave allowances when a worker has a child. They won more flexibility on bereavement leave. And so much more! Congrats to our awesome members in Texas!

Side note, major props to the Tarrant County Labor Council, who showed up from day one to picket with folks — and brought Scabby the Rat! Also thanks to the Texas AFL-CIO and CWA District 6 for supporting our folks! Workers raised more than $50,000 to support their strike.

We had our first ever virtual nominating conference in early January. If you missed it, you can watch the whole thing on Facebook. An amazing crop of new leaders is stepping up. Nine Executive Council positions were filled for terms that will begin in July. You can see the full list of members and read more about our new EC on our website.

Need a map of all the regions? See that here.

We also got to thank the current Executive Council leaders, which is filled with folks who have dedicated many years of their lives to our collective fight. Congrats to everyone and my huge appreciation for everyone who’s leaving us and made our union strong for many decades!

Sen. Elizabeth Warren joined our call to stop the hedge fund takeover of local news. Did you see her powerful letter to the Federal Communications Commission, asking them to intervene in the attempted takeover of TEGNA by hedge fund Standard General? Thank you, Sen. Warren for joining our call: protect media jobs and stop the hedge fund takeover of local news!

Steward training is continuing. Next Wednesday we’ll have Module 2: A Workplace Organizer, followed by four more modules every other week through March. See and register for events on our calendar.

I feel so inspired to work with all of y’all every day. We have a righteous fight on our hands and we are WINNING. Keep it up!

In solidarity,
Jon

Guild loses Bruce Nelson, mentor to hundreds

Bruce Raymond Nelson, 73, died Tuesday, January 10, 2023 in Laurel, Md. Bruce was a NewsGuild staff representative for three decades, starting in 1984 and retiring in 2015.

Bruce trained hundreds of members, at sector meetings, district meetings and alongside workers at the bargaining table.

Born in St. Cloud, Minn., he spent his career involved in journalism, first as an award-winning reporter in Minnesota and then as a Guild staff rep, working alongside members at nearly every Guild paper, including the Washington Post, Albany Times Union, Baltimore Sun, Chicago Sun Times and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, to name just a few.

While in college, he reported for Minnesota’s St. Cloud Daily Times and tried to organize his coworkers in 1971. “I saw the St. Paul Pioneer Press contract and a salary that was four times what I was getting,” he told the Guild Reporter in 2015. He happily jumped ship, ultimately serving as local president before joining the Guild staff in January 1984.

In addition to being an extremely skilled negotiator, Bruce was also a talented educator. His unparalleled skill as a trainer has made an indelible mark on the Guild, as literally hundreds of Guild leaders learned the ropes from Bruce at the New Local Officers Seminar and at countless training sessions at district council meetings and conventions.

“Much of my training as a local leader came through Bruce,” said Marian Needham, the NewsGuild-CWA Executive Vice President. “I had the benefit of working with him years later when we were both national reps, and I continued to learn from him in that role. With humor, intelligence and a great big heart, Bruce helped us all understand the meaning of our union.”

“I first met Bruce after he retired when I was running for president in 2019,” said NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss. “He had this way of resting his fingers on his forehead and troubleshooting several problems at once in his mind. And then he had so much joy when he saw the collective win to the problem.”

“He was very instrumental with Washington Post negotiations for many, many years,” said Cet Parks, Washington-Baltimore NewsGuild Executive Director. “In negotiations Bruce would sit there and management would ask him what he thought,” he said. “He had the uncanny ability to use the Jedi mind trick on management to think of him as neutral,” he said. Bruce helped WBNG secure several agreements. “He was one of a kind,” Cet said.

“You just loved him once you worked with him,” said CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens, who worked with Bruce when she bargained for the Guild. “He has such a sense of union building,” she said. “It’s a rare quality to be so grounded in why we do this work and it was inspiring to everyone around him.”

“Bruce was extremely intelligent, possessed insight, was a keen judge of human nature, had a sly sense of humor, friendly and had a knowledge of labor relations that benefitted not only all of us in Albany, but across the Guild,” wrote the Albany Newspaper Guild.

At the time of his retirement in 2015, many Guild leaders and staffers remarked on Bruce’s ability to build the Guild.

“No one has had as profound an influence on our union as Bruce Nelson,” said Darren Carroll, a longtime staff rep who’s now retired. “His legacy will endure in the hundreds of people that he recruited, trained, encouraged and mentored, imparting a philosophy to each of them that underpins all that we do: namely, that we build power by sharing it, that we become stronger through the relationships we build with others in our union,” he said. “In making that fundamental concept central to his work, he helped each of us not simply to become better leaders, but better people.”

Bruce is survived by his loving wife of 23 years, Melissa (Cunningham) Nelson, retired Guild director of collective bargaining, children Andrea Bachinski and Joshua Locke, daughters-in-law Megan Bachinski and Daniela Pereira de Carvalho, sister-in-law Diane Cantele (Timothy), brothers-in-law Patrick Cunningham and Michael Cunningham (Heather), dearest cousin Nan Nelson, several nieces and nephews, and many cousins.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m., Friday, January 20 at Donaldson Funeral Home, P.A. in Laurel, Md.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Bruce’s memory to Camp Friendship/True Friends, 10509 108th Street NW, Annandale, MN 55302 or online at truefriends.org.