Teachers and staff at Virginia’s largest school district— Fairfax County – are celebrating a historic union victory. This week, Fairfax County Public School workers overwhelmingly voted in favor of forming a union. Over 27,000 workers are now solely represented by Fairfax Education Unions.
Congratulations to both the educators and the FEU staff – who are NewsGuild members! – for organizing the most successful public sector bargaining campaign won in 25 years!
The Southern Poverty Law Center announced this week that the non-profit organization – which has over a billion dollars in reserves – laid off a quarter of its staff. The layoffs impact 60 union members, including five union stewards and the union chair. I don’t think it’s purely coincidental that the organization laid off dozens of employees, many union activists, less than a year before the union was set to bargain its second contract.
“This is designed to punish Union activists and intimidate employees just as we saw when Mercedes-Benz fired Union organizers in Vance, Alabama. Management’s goals here are clear, but they will not win,” the SPLC Union wrote in a statement. “Our Union is strong.”
I’m in Baltimore today to support SEIU 1199 In-House United as they hold their union election vote count today at 3 PM EST! Even though these workers are employed by a union, they have faced an uphill battle in unionizing. They recently an unfair labor practice charge against SEIU 1199 management unilaterally changed the policy around Paid Time Off & Attendance. This decision was made during their election, before negotiations began.
Since staff announced their campaign to unionize in March, management has engaged in classic union-busting behavior, including firing Donald Hemmings, one of the staff union’s most active organizers. Show solidarity with the 1199 In-House staff union and stand with them today! And follow the results online.
Journalists at The Buffalo News wore black on Wednesday as the Buffalo Newspaper Guild continues to show solidarity with the bargaining committee, which met in person with Lee Enterprises this week to continue bargaining for a fair contract.
The Buffalo News is western New York’s only daily print publication, serving the area since 1880. Journalists are currently fighting to protect local news from corporate greed. They’re also pushing Lee Enterprises, the owner, to make a usable website for readers. You can learn more about their fight at ProtectLocalJournalism.com.
I was on America’s Workforce Radio this week talking about the amazing wins of our members across eight Tribune publications, the fight against AI by our members in Palm Beach, Florida and an update to our strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Listen here.
There is a fun, stylish new way to support striking Pittsburgh Post-Gazette journalists! The Pittsburgh Union Progress, the strike publication for striking journalists, launched new t-shirts to support their strike solidarity fund. Don’t know about y’all, but I have my eyes on the Andy Warhol pop art one.
Our striking family also scooped up three wins at the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation’s Robert L. Vann Media Awards. They won in excellence in the written journalism and in news feature/profile categories. Congratulations to our strikers!!!
Finally, our friends at the Writers Guild of America East and the National Writers Union are hosting a panel discussion about how worker cooperatives might be able to save the media industry. It’ll be in-person in New York City and online everywhere from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, June 18. Register here.
In Solidarity,
Jon Schleuss
President, The NewsGuild-CWA