Whew! It’s been a while since my last newsletter, and that’s because The NewsGuild staff and I were laser-focused on preparing for our 2025 Sector Conference in Pittsburgh! Every two years elected Guild leaders from across North America come together and pass resolutions, make changes to our Constitution and set the vision for our union.
This year opened with tributes to our Pittsburgh strikers, now more than 1,039 days on the line, and delegates kept energy high throughout. I spoke about our record growth in organizing and strikes, our contract wins and the escalating attacks we face from employers and the Trump administration.
Delegates passed resolutions on North American solidarity, diversity and inclusion, and endorsed a national single-payer campaign. You can read more about the resolutions here.
We also gave our leaders from Canada the first ever collective agreement signed with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a historic document from 1953 signed by the president of Local 213 which became the Canadian Media Guild we have today. One of the signers was Charles Dale, who was born in Nova Scotia and was The NewsGuild’s president from 1987-1995.
We celebrated Executive Vice President Marian Needham, who announced she’ll retire in 2027 after a lifetime of service to our members. The room rose to its feet for a lengthy standing ovation. I, alongside 12,000 other members, wouldn’t even be in our union without Marian. We owe Marian a debt that can only be paid by paying it forward.
Directly after our conference we had the CWA Convention. Most of our delegates stayed for that. See the resolutions and proceedings here. And we wrapped up our time in Pittsburgh by picketing outside the Post-Gazette publisher’s house, where dozens and dozens of CWA members and leaders turned out, to chant, sing and stand with our strikers.
Our strikers were in mediation this week with Post-Gazette management, as ordered by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. The company is staring at contempt charges and a National Labor Relations Board enforcement order. Subscribe to the Pittsburgh Union Progress to get the updates as they happen.
A lot more has happened since my last update. Let’s dig in.
Workers at the Maine Trust for Local News launched a “One Big Union” campaign to unite nearly 200 employees under one contract. While more than 150 workers are already union members, nearly 50 colleagues are still excluded from the protections of collective bargaining agreements, even though they are part of the same company under common ownership. That means that they see staggering pay disparities and are more vulnerable to layoffs.
This week, those workers filed for recognition with the News Guild of Maine, Local 31128 of TNG-CWA, and rallied outside company headquarters in South Portland.
“Today we demand equal pay, equal respect and the same job securities that our represented colleagues have,” said staff writer Kendra Caruso. “As one company, one union and under one contract, we will hold the company accountable to its stated mission.”
Support the workers by singing their petition here!
Workers at Mission Local announced their union at the largest nonprofit newsroom dedicated to San Francisco, joining the Pacific Media Workers Guild, Local 39521 of TNG-CWA. The newsroom’s 13-person full-time staff want a fair contract that supports both the outlet and its workers as it continues to grow.
“Forming a union is a natural next step as we grow from a small, scrappy team into a highly professionalized outlet,” said Vicky, Mission Local’s donor engagement lead. “On the business side, we have big plans to expand our operations and having a union will ensure we are centering the well-being of our budding team in our goals for the future.”
IGN Entertainment laid off eight members of the IGN Creators Guild just days after staff pulled off two major live events, IGN Live and San Diego Comic-Con. The cuts came as a directive from its multibillion dollar parent company Ziff Davis, which has continued to pursue costly acquisitions while slashing staff.
“Every single person impacted today was involved in and critical to the success of those events,” workers said in a statement. Workers also pointed out that management is undercutting the very staff who create IGN’s award-winning coverage.
“While IGN Entertainment management may not value us, we value one another and the incredible work we can do together. Behind the articles, videos, social posts, playlists, and maps of IGN are human beings, not just numbers on a spreadsheet to be pushed around when some number at the top isn’t big enough. Without us, there is no IGN.”
Journalists at New York Daily News escalated their fight for a fair first contract with vulture fund Alden Global Capital also known as the “destroyer of newspapers”.
Since Alden took over, it slashed staff and sold the newspaper’s printing plant for nearly $100 million. Management refuses to agree to a fair contract that protects jobs, provides a living wage and sustains New York’s hometown paper.
Guild members hired a truck to circle Montauk – the home of Alden president Heath Freeman – sending a clear message: FAIR CONTRACT NOW.
“New York’s hometown newspaper, the Daily News, has been posting critical news and coverage for the last 106 years. But since Alden has taken over, a vulture private equity fund, it has faced severe cuts with just 63 journalists to cover a city of 8.5 million people,” said City Councilmember Carmen De La Rosa, who introduced a resolution backing the union.
The cuts have left major beats uncovered—from the governor’s office to the NYC Housing Authority, the migrant crisis and New York’s courthouses. NYDN workers are sounding the alarm that enough is enough. New York needs the Daily News!
Sign their petition and help workers fight for journalism in New York City.
The Marshall Project is breaking the law. The nonprofit newsroom that covers the U.S. criminal justice system takes its name from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who decided many important cases, including affirming the right for union represented-workers to demand their Weingarten Rights, which give employees the right to request a representative in interviews where the employee reasonably believes could lead to discipline.
Marshall Project journalists sent a letter to management pointing out the violations, including the lack of representation in discipline interviews, creating a retaliatory environment, making unilateral changes without bargaining and eroding the legal protections of status quo.
“The Marshall Project, in retaining union-busting law firm Kauff McGuire & Margolis, is willingly participating in the erosion of worker protections across our industry, a project that takes advantage of the current anti-worker political environment,” workers said in the letter. “When The Marshall Project voluntarily recognized our union last year, it touted a ‘longstanding commitment to a fair, equitable and inclusive workplace, with generous benefits.’ We are demanding a return to these values.”
Journalists at The Hill ratified their first-ever union contract with Nexstar Media Group after nearly three years of bargaining. The two-year deal raises salary floors by 18%, guarantees annual raises and doubles paid parental leave from six to 12 weeks. It also locks in just-cause protections, fair layoff procedures, and new safeguards against AI misuse.
“This contract means I’ll be able to spend the first three months at home with our new baby,” said Saul Elbein, who’s on the bargaining team.
Despite the victory, Hill Guild members continue to fight Nexstar’s plans to lay off 22 staffers—even as the company posts record profits.
Workers at City Bureau won recognition after launching their union effort with the Chicago NewsGuild.
Workers at the nonprofit newsroom launched their effort in July and filed for an election soon after seeking voluntary recognition from management. Every worker supported the union, so management rightly realized an election was unnecessary. Now they can bargain for a first contract.
“We look forward to beginning the bargaining process and co-creating an equitable contract that serves workers and the organization we all love,” the City Bureau Workers Guild organizing committee said in a social media statement. “Building a strong, unionized workplace is a journey, and we’ve just taken a major step to bolster our collective power.”
We condemned Israel’s latest targeting of journalists in Gaza alongside the National Writers Union.
Earlier this month Israel killed Al Jazeera correspondents and media workers in an attack in Gaza City. Correspondent Anas al-Sharif was one of Al Jazeera’s best-known reporters and one of several whom Israel had previously accused of being members of Hamas. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Al Jazeera said Israel’s claims were unfounded.
“More journalists and media workers have been killed in the Israel-Gaza war than at any other point in recent years,” I said in our statement. “Journalists and media workers should be able to do their jobs safely to report to the world the news we need to know. Our job is to interrogate on behalf of the truth and to challenge those uncomfortable being held to account. Ethical journalism demands that we provide a voice to the voiceless and journalists strive to do that every day.”
Los Angeles Times journalists are gearing up for a potential strike after 80% of the newsroom pledged to vote yes on a strike authorization vote.
“We have been negotiating a new contract for almost three years,” Matt Hamilton, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and unit chair said. “Our members haven’t had a cost-of-living raise since 2021, despite record inflation and the rising cost of housing and other essentials. We have faced intimidation from management, which resulted in an unfair labor practice charge.”
Amid the constant rounds of layoffs journalists provided essential coverage of the Palisades and Eaton wildfires, the ongoing ICE crackdown, the blizzard of policy changes from President Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom’s campaign to push back. And a lot more.
“Having worked at The Times for more than a decade, I know the care that goes into what we publish each day,” Hamilton said. “I hear from colleagues who are tired, fed up, taking on second jobs, and struggling to see a future at The Times.”
When they schedule a vote, they’ll have a supermajority of members in support. They’re not taking the decision lightly. Management needs to wake up and reach a deal for a new agreement. I’m standing with my former newsroom to continue our mission we wrote in 2017: To safeguard the future of the Los Angeles Times and its journalists.
A new Labor Notes feature highlights how rank-and-file militancy is driving The NewsGuild’s record growth. Since 2020, the Guild has organized 210 workplaces and more than 8,500 workers—the fastest growth of any CWA sector. Member-to-member organizing is at the heart of that success: workers who’ve won their own drives are helping others organize, bargain and strike. Read more here.
In solidarity,
Jon Schleuss
President, The NewsGuild-CWA