Contact: Email cbworkersguild@gmail.com or call 773-357-7096
CHICAGO — Workers at the nonprofit journalism lab City Bureau are forming a union and seeking to become a part of the Chicago News Guild, TNG-CWA Local 34071, joining the nationwide labor movement for a stronger media system.
It is as urgent as ever that journalists and practitioners working to address information gaps have a voice to advocate for fairness, accountability and equity. As of July 1, 2025, eligible City Bureau staff—across every department that plays a role in editorial work, programming and the organization’s operations—unanimously signed cards and a mission statement showing their support in forming a union with The NewsGuild-CWA.
The City Bureau Workers Guild has requested the organization’s leadership to voluntarily recognize the union and work with staff to create its first-ever contract. If not recognized voluntarily, workers are seeking an election monitored by the National Labor Relations Board by mail.
In its mission statement, the City Bureau Workers Guild outlined the following organizing principles that are guiding their efforts:
Sustainability & Responsibility
We want to secure a stable future for City Bureau’s staff and programs. We advocate for a supportive work environment that equips us to do our best work with pathways to grow, invests in staff wellbeing for the long-term, and includes our inputs to make responsible decisions for the health and sustainability of the organization.
Ethics & Accountability
We recognize that collective action is a meaningful tool to ensure we hold ourselves accountable to the communities we serve. We advocate for robust standards of care that uphold the integrity of our work, and fair and clear mechanisms for staff and community voices to shape organizational decisions that impact us.
Anti-Racism & Intersectionality
We as workers honor City Bureau’s founding principles based in racial justice, and we work together through an intersectional lens to dismantle the pillars of white supremacy in the workplace that enable complicity, bias, and unfair treatment. We advocate for policies and systems across the organization that are firmly rooted in anti-racism to further diversity, inclusion and equity.
Respect & Solidarity
We are committed to our collective power. We collaborate with empathy and care to make decisions that enable us to serve people most impacted by oppressive structures. We advocate as a unit to protect the dignity of every worker.
Hear from the City Bureau Workers Guild
The City Bureau Workers Guild will be having an informal celebration at Nighthawk at 4744 North Kimball Avenue on July 1 from 6-8pm. This event is open to press, community members, and supporters.
To speak with key members of City Bureau staff, please contact cbworkersguild@gmail.com by email or call 773-357-7096.
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About the City Bureau Workers Guild
The City Bureau Workers Guild is a group of journalists, program staff, and operations workers organizing to build a more sustainable, equitable, and accountable workplace at City Bureau. United across departments and job functions, we are committed to advancing the organization’s founding values through collective action. We are organizing with the Chicago News Guild, TNG-CWA Local 34071 part of The NewsGuild-CWA, the largest union of journalists and media workers in North America.