On Wednesday June 24 staff at High Country News (“HCN”) based in Colorado ratified their first collective bargaining agreement after unionizing in early 2024. The agreement covers 13 workers including writers, editors, photographers, customer service specialists, membership development managers, finance and payroll employees and more.
The 44-page contract locks in dozens of wins at the 56-year-old nonprofit magazine, including:
- just cause protections providing job security and requiring due process in discipline and terminations
- Ensured paid sick time, vacation, and time to take care of a family member who is ill
- Up to 12 paid weeks of family leave
- The right to refuse unsafe work assignments
- Ethical AI protections for workers and readers
- Prohibition on the employer installing surveillance on personal devices
- A 4.5% wage increase in the first year of the contract
- Establishment of a labor-management committee
- A 3% employer 401(k) contribution plus up to an additional 1.5% match if employees contribute at least 3% of their salary
- A protected grievance and arbitration procedure to handle disputes
- Strong legal protections for employees writing for High Country News
“I keep telling everyone that working with the rest of the bargaining committee over the last few years has been one of the best experiences of my professional life and my time at HCN. It’s been inspiring to come together with a shared sense of what we hope for for the organization, in a workplace, and in terms of how to support each other,” said Bear Guerra, High Country News’ visuals editor. “I believe wholeheartedly that HCN is a better, stronger organization with a union. This is a step to professionalizing HCN and ultimately creating a workplace where people will feel valued and empowered to do their best work.”
“This is a HUGE milestone!” said Tanya Henderson, a customer service specialist. “I am a relatively new employee and was honored to be a part of the bargaining committee to negotiate the contract this last year. It was not an easy process, but we have a solid collective bargaining agreement! I’m so grateful for all the years of work that preceded this and excited to continue making sure all employee voices are heard.”
Workers won a significant “Technology” article in the collective agreement that protects employees from layoffs if management implements artificial intelligence. It also prevents worker-produced content from being used to train AI systems.
The agreement includes an article on “partisan political activities” and states that the employer “encourages its employees to become involved with the political process and will not discriminate against any employee because of identification with, or support of, any lawful political activity.” While listing out that workers should not pose to represent the political views of the news organization, this is an improvement to the ethical line that’s sometimes drawn by news employers trying to limit the opinions, free speech and association rights of journalists.
Workers at the nonprofit magazine cover communities in the Western U.S. and unionized with the Denver News Guild (TNG-CWA Local 37074), which also represents workers at the Denver Post, Salt Lake Tribune and many other workplaces.
