Category: News

AUSTIN — On Friday, the employees of The Texas Tribune were formally recognized by their employer as a union, the Texas Tribune Guild. 

The union — which secured support from 90% of eligible staff members — is wall-to-wall, representing more than 40 eligible staff members, including reporters, photographers, designers, engineers, accountants, editors, and members of the development, product and revenue teams. 

“Today is a great day for the employees of the Tribune. We now look forward to negotiating a contract with management that will make working at the Tribune even better,” said the Tribune’s senior data visuals developer Carla Astudillo.

“We are proud of the work that employees have put in to secure recognition of the Texas Tribune Guild,” said Joshua Fechter, urban affairs reporter for The Tribune. 

“We appreciate the support we have received from readers and journalists across the country,” said William Melhado, general assignment reporter for The Tribune. 

“We went from sí se puede to sí se pudo,” said El Paso-based reporter Uriel García. “Now we can negotiate a contract that can provide some worker protections so the employees of the Tribune can continue to provide quality journalism to Texans.” 

Background: 

The Texas Tribune Guild went public on Jan. 24 and is a unit of Media Guild of the West, TNG-CWA Local #39213, AFL-CIO 

The Texas Tribune was founded in 2009 as a nonpartisan nonprofit news organization, covering politics and public policy. Its mission is to inform — and engage with Texans — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

As the number of local newsrooms across the country continues to dwindle, members of Congress have reintroduced legislation to keep communities informed informed, maintain government accountability, and protect American democracy.

Continue reading “Congress reintroduces Save Local News Act”

Workers at the Evansville Courier & Press in southwestern Indiana won their union certification election. On February 8, every member of the nine-person unit voted in favor of unionization, becoming the latest Gannett newsroom to form a union.

Continue reading “Courier & Press workers vote unanimously to unionize”

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.

Continue reading “Workers at IGN unionize, form IGN Creators Guild”

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.

Continue reading “Photos from Tribune Publishing walkout”

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.

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.

Continue reading “Tribune Publishing journalists go on 24-hour strike”