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We are sending 15 Guild members to Labor Notes 2022. The conference will be a great chance for you to meet other activists and leaders in the Guild and across the entire labor movement. It is extremely inspiring talking with workers from different industries about how they build power through collective actions and a democratic union. It’s set to run from June 17-19 in Rosemont, right outside Chicago. Many Guild members will be there and if you’d like help going, we’ll cover the flight, registration and hotel for 15 members. Complete this form by Monday, April 18.
Members of the Timesland News Guild walked a picket line last week to protest contract proposals from Lee Enterprises, the corporate owners of The Roanoke Times and Laker Weekly. After weeks of disappointing proposals from management, union members rallied outside the building that was once home to The Roanoke Times.
“We are fighting not only for ourselves, but for the future journalists who want to work at The Roanoke Times,” said unit vice chair Alison Graham. “Journalists are leaving the profession in droves, and low wages make it difficult to recruit and retain talented journalists.”
Sign their petition calling for better pay and benefits.
A supermajority of staffers at Common Cause asked leadership of the organization to recognize the Common Cause Staff Union on Thursday. Common Cause is a nonpartisan grassroots organization with 1.5 million members and supporters dedicated to building a strong democracy and holding power accountable. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
“Strong, accountable unions are essential to our democracy,” the staff of about 60 said. “As former Common Cause Board Chair Robert Reich said, ‘Every worker deserves a union. Period.’”
They plan to advance efforts that have already begun toward a more equitable workplace, a more just pay scale, and strengthened HR procedures. “Staff at Common Cause work to make our government more open and transparent,” they said. “Every one of us deserves the same of our workplace.”
Workers are asking supporters to sign their petition to make sure they have a good-faith negotiation process.
Journalists of the Record-Courier in Portage County, Ohio, won certification of their union last week, voting 5-0 to join the existing union at the Akron Beacon-Journal through what’s called an Armour-Globe election. The Beacon-Journal newsroom has been represented by the Guild for more than 80 years.
I was on the zoom vote count with the workers and at the end the supervising agent said, “The number of ballots against the union is zero.” You love to hear it!
Members of the Media Guild of the West voted overwhelmingly last week to weigh in on a California bill that would fund “public interest” media.
Spurred by the collapse of the traditional business model for local journalism, California Senate Bill 911 would create a board to “fund and promote independent, local, public service news coverage.”
Journalists are all-too familiar with the need for a new business model: the number of journalists was reduced by half in the 15 years between 2004 and 2020, pay is way too low, and news coverage is suffering. And the crisis in local journalism has left in its wake more corruption, fewer competitive elections, more wasteful government spending, and lower awareness of elected officials.
But California’s SB 911 didn’t emerge from the state’s journalism community.
MGW members wanted to be sure journalists would have input on public policy about journalism and that ethical considerations would be taken into account:
- Public funding should be stable and insulated from partisan control or corrupt influence;
- It should support independent journalism that fills a void in the community;
- Grants to private entities should favor need and ability, not medium or ideology;
- Publicly funded journalism should be free or widely available to the public;
- Publicly funded journalists must expect fair labor standards.
I commend MGW members and encourage Guild members across the country to join similar debates and help advocate for state and federal laws that will ensure the future of vibrant local news. There is active legislation right now to support journalism at the U.S. federal level and in states like California, Wisconsin and Colorado. I know for a fact that the boss and corporate executives are actively lobbying for legislation — we have to engage and make sure our voices are heard too.
Last week I announced two new staffers: Hil O’Connell joined us as an organizer and Danielle Newsome joined us as a staff representative. I had conversations with both of them so you could learn more about them.
Hil’s got a background working in the nonprofit sector and talked about how management used the organization’s mission against the workers pushing for better. The interview was a fascinating look into how similar struggles are for media workers and non profit workers.
“If an organization can’t treat the workers right, then they can’t serve the community right either,” they said. Read the whole Q&A here.
Danielle’s got an interesting background having started as an organizer then going to law school to find more tools for workers to build power. She recently had a daughter and I asked her what world she hoped for her daughter to grow up in.
“One where we’re not excited about celebrating firsts,” she said. “Not the ‘first woman’ or the ‘first Black person’ or ‘first person of color’ — these things need to be the norm. Where there’s the expectation that people of color can achieve things and be in these positions and that she’s not confronted with microaggressions as a response to her existence and success.” Read my conversation with Danielle here.
STRIPPED FOR PARTS: American Journalism at the Crossroads is the story of a secretive hedge fund that is plundering America’s newspapers, and the journalists who are fighting back.
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rick Goldsmith explores the role of Alden Global Capital in destroying local news, the harm it inflicts on hundreds of communities nationwide and the battle being waged by journalists—to prevent the destruction of their newspapers, to educate the public about what is at stake, and to create new ways to preserve, and improve, the vitality of local journalism.
Click here to register for the April 14 panel discussion and click here to help defray production costs.
Here’s some good news: N.L.R.B. counsel calls for a ban on mandatory anti-union meetings. Known as “captive audience meetings,” they’re used by management to stifle union campaigns and provide false information to workers.
Here’s some more good news: The battle against the vulture hedge fund widely known as “the destroyer of newspapers” got a boost when former President Barack Obama “gave a shoutout to McKay Coppins’ reporting in The Atlantic about Alden Global Capital ‘scooping up and destroying newspapers…’” at a talk on Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy last week.
We’ve some great training sessions scheduled through June. Check them out! See all events on our calendar. Next up:
Effective Meeting Facilitation – 6:30-7:30 pm ET, Tues, April 12. Register here.
Steward Training Module 2 – Workplace Organizer, 6-8 pm ET, Tues, April 19. (You can sign up for this and other Steward Training sessions even if you missed Module 1.) Register here.
Finally, Guild members have been in the news since last week — here’s a roundup of articles covering our fights.
In solidarity,
Jon Schleuss
President, NewsGuild-CWA
Photo at top: Labor Notes conferences are always inspiring!