EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Citing slashed resources and jobs and the prospect that nothing will change without action, the award-winning journalists of the Evansville Courier & Press are uniting to form a union.
The launch is intended above all to perpetuate the high standard of investigative journalism, sports, food and news coverage for which the Courier & Press long has been known — by giving a greater voice in the workplace to the journalists who make it all happen every day.
Since Gannett bought the newspaper in 2016, Courier & Press journalists who have been repeatedly recognized by their peers for their work have steadily left the newspaper as resources are reduced. Others have been forced out. The newsroom is a fraction of its former size — but the care and effort shown by the remaining reporters and photographers has not wavered.
In the current environment, Courier & Press journalists work the hours of three people to cover beats that once had dedicated reporters. They are told repeatedly that no new hires are coming and neither are any pay raises — despite the substantial shedding of payroll that has occurred in recent years.
Every member of the Courier & Press newsroom wants to continue to provide the top-notch journalism to which this community has become accustomed. And every member deserves respect and fair wages.
That’s why every journalist within the Courier & Press newsroom desires to be represented by the ever-growing NewsGuild-CWA and intends to move forward. We ask that our parent company, Gannett, voluntarily recognize our union.
In a mission statement distributed throughout the newsroom Jan. 8, and presented to local management, employees wrote, “We also ask our readers and fellow community members to support us in this effort. This union is for the future of journalism in Evansville.”
The NewsGuild is part of Communications Workers of America (CWA), the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in the US and Canada.
Evansville News Guild will become a bargaining unit of TNG-CWA Local 34070, which also represents workers of the Indianapolis NewsGuild and Courier Journal Guild.
Contact info:
evansville.local.guild@gmail.com