The unionizing wave: How they did it, what they wish they had known

Jan. 27, 2019 – The one thing Tessa Duvall wishes she had known before she got involved in the campaign to form a union at the Florida Times-Union was how emotional it would be.  Continue reading “The unionizing wave: How they did it, what they wish they had known”

Guild Members Ratify First-of-its-Kind Agreement with GateHouse

Feb. 22, 2018 – Guild members at 17 separate bargaining units overwhelming ratified a first-of-its kind “global settlement” with GateHouse Media that improves wages and protects health benefits at the GateHouse-owned newspapers. Continue reading “Guild Members Ratify First-of-its-Kind Agreement with GateHouse”

Guild Reaches First-of-its-Kind Agreement with GateHouse

Updated Dec. 21, 2017 to reflect that 2018 benefits and premiums will remain at current levels, whether employees’ premiums are currently based on 2017 levels or 2016 levels.

Dec. 14, 2017 – In a first-of-its-kind agreement, The NewsGuild-CWA reached a “global settlement” with GateHouse Media on Dec. 12 that improves wages and protects health benefits at 16 GateHouse-owned newspapers. Continue reading “Guild Reaches First-of-its-Kind Agreement with GateHouse”

Bargaining & Settlements – Bytes & bits: Sarasota

Sarasota Herald-Tribune Interim Agreement

September 2017 – In August, members of the Guild unit at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune ratified an interim agreement with their employer, GateHouse Media, resolving issues that required a quick turnaround. Continue reading “Bargaining & Settlements – Bytes & bits: Sarasota”

Bargaining & Settlements – Bytes & bits: Pekin

Pekin Workers Ratify Contract

September 2017 – Guild members at the Pekin Daily Times ratified a two-year contract with the paper in July that will continue a wage freeze that has been in place for more than a decade and reduce severance payments. The Illinois paper is owned by GateHouse Media.  Continue reading “Bargaining & Settlements – Bytes & bits: Pekin”

Bargaining & Settlements – Bytes & bits: Utica

Utica Minimizes Impact

September 2017 – The Utica Guild entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in September that minimizes the impact of outsourcing copy editing and design work from the Observer Dispatch newsroom in New York to the GateHouse Center for News and Design (CND) in Austin, TX, effective Oct. 9. Continue reading “Bargaining & Settlements – Bytes & bits: Utica”

Guild Conference Calls for Action

Aug. 21, 2017 – With President Trump’s attacks on journalists as a backdrop, the Guild’s August conference took on a sense of urgency. Delegates discussed the best ways to respond, approved a resolution to Defend the Right to Report, and urged its adoption by the CWA convention that followed. Continue reading “Guild Conference Calls for Action”

GateHouse Workers Launch Coordinated Strategy

Workers at the Peoria Journal Star on May 3, World Press Freedom Day.

July 12, 2017 – The battle for fair contracts at GateHouse Media newspapers has intensified in recent months. Workers at the 16 Guild-represented publications engaged in joint actions, developed a coordinated campaign to take on GateHouse and its parent company, and scored a stunning victory at a meeting of shareholders.

Continue reading “GateHouse Workers Launch Coordinated Strategy”

When hedge funds own newspapers…

Just a week after the East Bay News staff was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for “relentless” coverage of the deadly Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland, Digital First Media, owner of the Bay Area News Group, announced plans to move copy desk work to Southern California, triggering 20 more layoffs from a shrunken roster of 92 Guild-represented employees in the East Bay.

 

DFM, GateHouse Workers Target a Different Threat to Press Freedom — Asset-Stripping Hedge Fund Owners

Workers at the Trentonian paused to mark World Press Freedom Day.

Nearly 1,500 NewsGuild members in 28 bargaining units joined together on World Press Freedom Day to focus attention on an often-overlooked threat — the damage done to newspapers by profiteering hedge fund owners. Continue reading “DFM, GateHouse Workers Target a Different Threat to Press Freedom — Asset-Stripping Hedge Fund Owners”