NewsGuild-CWA members at Law360 are on strike today. Workers at the legal news service owned by LexisNexis are fed up with management’s illegal and stalling tactics at the bargaining table and started a one-day work stoppage in protest over management’s behavior.
The Law360 group is special to me (and yes, every member and bargaining unit is special to me). But Law360 members paved the way for my colleagues to organize at the Los Angeles Times. Law360 unionized in August of 2016 and set up a union website. We straight-up copied their “Union busting 101” page and most of their website. Law360 members applied aggressive collective action tactics, which we copied at the Times up to our union win in January 2018.
Law360 members were there for us when we were still trying to understand what a union was and what our union could be. They answered our calls and strategized with us. I — and thousands of others — would not be in our union without their support.
Since Law360 unionized, 10,021 workers have unionized with The NewsGuild-CWA from 222 workplaces.
They paved the way in 2016 for a wave of organizing and are still paving the way today by withholding their labor in their first ever full-day work stoppage.
Law360 workers are demanding management show up to the table and actually respond to proposals. The company has threatened to backslide in bargaining because they’re upset at the pace. Sweethearts, the workers are upset at the pace. The company has refused to respond to demands to improve the pathetic 3 days of sick leaves and appalling 6 weeks of parental leave. The company has refused to recognize Juneteenth as a company holiday.
“LexisNexis needs to understand that we will not back down and today they will see that in full effect as we picket outside their headquarters,” said Hailey Konnath, a Law360 reporter and unit chair for the union.
I’m in New York City today and will rally with our members at 2 p.m. ET outside LexisNexis headquarters at 230 Park Ave. Join us if you’re in town.
But you can support Law360 workers with two quick actions now:
- Donate to the striker fund. Because they’re just doing 1 day of action, they’re not eligible for CWA’s strike benefits. So they’re fundraising to support colleagues most in need.
- Send a note to management. Tell them to stop the threats and delays and get to the bargaining table. The company needs to meaningfully respond and get serious now.
Law360’s strike today is our 35th strike of the year.
And the 36th strike starts tomorrow at the Southern California News Group. Workers at 11 publications, including the Orange County Register and Daily Breeze will also strike over an unfair labor practice for 24 hours. They’ve been bargaining for more than a year and the company keeps cutting staff while piling up work. Some workers haven’t gotten raises in 15 years. They’re fed up.
“I personally haven’t had a raise in more than six years, while my rent and other expenses have gone up,” said Brooke E. Staggs, an environment and climate reporter. “I’m tired of needing side hustles/second jobs. It’s past time for a fair contract.”
The Southern California News Group is owned by Alden Global Capital, the vulture hedge fund destroying America’s newsrooms. The fund operates by extracting as much cash, assets and profits from local newsrooms as possible and then funneling those investments into shadier investments. Like buying up and shutting down Greyhound bus stations. And becoming slumlords at mobile home parks.
NewsGuild-CWA swag is a great holiday gift. The heavy leather jacket has protected me and our strikers in Pittsburgh when we’ve held the line in single digits in the middle of the night. We’ve got the all-seeing Guild eyeball on union-made hats, t-shirts, hoodies, jackets and pins. Tell mom — or your colleagues — that you’d like a union bomber jacket this year. Find everything in our store.
Our members are still on strike after 14 months at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. There the company continues to openly violate federal law and ignore a judge’s order to bargain in good faith with workers.
While we continue to put pressure on the company we’re in another holiday season and need to rally around our colleagues in Pittsburgh. The amazing Steelworkers are planning a holiday bake sale Tuesday. I’ll be there and aim to whip up some pies to support our strikers.
But we also just launched a Striker Santa registry. Strikers have asked for gifts this holiday season ranging from a Disney backpack to a vacuum cleaner to a board game to books and NewsGuild-CWA swag.
Check out the list and purchase a gift for a striker in need.
Thursday’s walkout at the Washington Post was historic for several reasons.
About 750 folks participated in the one-day unfair labor practice strike. In 2017 just 36% of the bargaining unit was signed up, participating in their union and paying dues. Now that’s up to 75%! That’s amazing growth.
It was the first strike at the Post in 50 years. And it appears to be the first work stoppage at the Washington-Baltimore News Guild in 40 years.
Journalists and other members of the Guild are fed up with the terrible treatment by greedy bosses and we’ve turned our energy into organizing ourselves to support collective action.
NewsGuild members are not screwing around.
In solidarity,
Jon Schleuss
President, The NewsGuild-CWA