NEW YORK – Journalists at three newspapers in New Jersey represented by The NewsGuild of New York, have voted 98% to ratify their first contract with Gannett, lifting long-stagnant wages by over 25% on average, and averting a planned walkout.
The Record Guild, which represents 68 journalists at The Bergen Record, The Daily Record and The New Jersey Herald, ratified the deal Sunday night.
The agreement with the nation’s largest newspaper chain is the culmination of more than three years of contentious bargaining, petitions, walkouts and rallies. The union organized in 2021 and began bargaining in January 2022.
“Our members showed Gannett they would not be pushed around by their games and stood up for each other, showing we wouldn’t be cowed by bad contract language, questionable protections and low wages,” said Kaitlyn Kanzler, Record Guild unit chair and courthouse reporter for The Record. “We know our worth as journalists and we’re finally being paid for it.”
Highlights of the deal include:
Pay
- Average salary increase of more than 25% over the life of the two-year contract. Every member of the bargaining unit will get a raise.
- Life-changing raises for the 30 lowest paid in the union; an average of $15,000 raise or 39% upon ratification. Members will see increases adjusting for decades of wage stagnation. Several members will see increases of over $25,000 in the first year of the contract alone.
Wage scale
New years-of-service-based wage minimums for workers, designed to prevent wage stagnation in the future: no less than $50,000 upon hire; $55,000 upon completing 5 years; $63,000 upon completing 10 years
Members who don’t move to a new salary minimum in a contract year will receive a $1.00/hour raise each year (approximately $4,000 added to their base salary over the life of the contract). Those who don’t move to a new salary minimum in Year 1 will also receive a $1,000 ratification bonus.
AI and technology
- Provides a contractual commitment that AI is “supplementary to local news reporting and is not a replacement for it” and requires that the Company comply with its AI policy
- Management must provide 15 days’ notice and bargain over the effects of any new technology
Job security
- No more “at will” employment. Any discipline, including discharge, must be for “just cause” and workers get due process through the grievance procedure.
- Establishes the process for dealing with visas and immigration issues, including time away from work to address immigration issues
Benefits
- Paid parental leave increased to 10 weeks.
- 3 hours minimum guaranteed pay/work for “call-back” (any time you work more than 15 minutes on your day off)
Progress at the bargaining table shifted into high gear after the unit’s March 10 vote to authorize a walkout.
“I’m so proud of all the ways our members at the Record Guild demonstrated—again and again—the power of collective action and solidarity,” said Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York. “These agreements also demonstrate the value of a unionized newsroom. We now have a partner in Gannett that recognizes the value our members bring to the company and to local news in New York and New Jersey.”