Posts tagged NewsGuild-CWA
The strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is now the longest in the nation. And it’s not over.
December 9, 2024 // Zack Tanner, the Newspaper Guild’s president, stood away from the crowd, wearing a Penguins jersey and smoking a cigar. His dog, a 103 lb. Akita named Bella, had been a little too excited by another, smaller dog in the crowd. “This has been elongated to this point solely because of the people inside,” he said. “In a labor battle, there’s strikers and there’s scabs. There’s two sides to a picket line.” As the strike has gone on, tensions between both sides have grown, and it’s unclear how or when the strike will end. On Nov. 13, the first negotiations between the Post-Gazette’s lawyers and the union in over a year ended after Tanner threw a chair at the wall of a conference room in the Omni William Penn Hotel.
Color Of Change ordered to reinstate illegally laid off workers and pay back wages after NLRB Ruling
September 27, 2024 // Color Of Change, one of the nation’s largest racial justice nonprofits, illegally laid off workers in mid 2023, but the NLRB found that the organization, represented by Seyfarth Shaw, did not meet its obligation to notify and bargain with the union before taking action. It’s illegal for organizations to lay off workers after they unionize prior to winning a first contract, a period called status quo.
Journalists and news staff at Anchorage Daily News aim to unionize
September 12, 2024 // Owner Ryan Binkley, who purchased the newspaper out of bankruptcy in 2017, and Editor David Hulen, who has worked as a reporter and editor with the paper for more than three decades, did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday afternoon. Megan Pacer, a digital audience producer for the paper, said ADN employees love their jobs, but want a “supportive and sustainable” work environment.
Statesman employees return to work after strike
April 12, 2024 // Gannett CEO Michael Reed didn't mince words when asked in an onstage interview last month how he's dealing with an uptick of union activity and pressure. "I think the Guild, unfortunately, plays dirty and lies to our employees," Reed told Axios at the annual Mather Symposium on media in Atlanta. In response to his comments, NewsGuild-CWA president Jon Schleuss said in a statement to Axios: "Gannett's last SEC filing showed Mike Reed making 66 times that of a median employee, while paying journalists poverty wages, cutting an average of 2,800 jobs a year and hiring lawyers to stonewall workers at the bargaining table."
Journalists turn to picket lines as the news business ails
February 16, 2024 // At the L.A. Times, where Schleuss got his start as a labor activist, owner Soon-Shiong made deep cuts last June and again last month, saying he is losing tens of millions of dollars a year on the paper. He says the union's refusal to give him greater leeway in making job cuts in January forced him to lay off more journalists. He had offered buyouts in exchange for relaxing protections by seniority. The union instead went out on strike.
IGN Staff Votes to Unionize With NewsGuild-CWA
February 8, 2024 // The move to unionize comes amid widespread layoffs across the video game, entertainment and journalism industries. So far this year, there have been cutbacks at companies like the L.A. Times, Pitchfork, the Messenger, Sports Illustrated, Microsoft, Amazon and more.
The Texas Tribune Is Unionizing
January 25, 2024 // That collaborative environment extends to the organizing effort – the Texas Tribune Guild is a wall-to-wall union, meaning that it will represent not only journalists, but around 50 eligible staff members including photographers, designers, and engineers. “We all feel like none of us can do our jobs without one another.” More than 95% of eligible staff members have signed onto the union’s mission statement; 90% have signed the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) authorization card. Many at the Tribune come from other news organizations that were already unionized, or that they themselves helped organize. María Méndez, the Tribune’s service and engagement reporter, was previously with the Austin American-Statesman, where she saw how Gannett couldn’t pull the rug out from under staff thanks to the Austin NewsGuild. After Gannett suspended 401(k) matching during the pandemic, the union filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the NLRB and was able to get that reinstated, along with back pay, due to status quo protections in place while a contract is negotiated.
New York Times reporters form ‘Independence Caucus’ over concerns about union interference
December 19, 2023 // Dozens of New York Times employees have formed a group to stand up for journalistic independence amid concerns the union representing the Times and hundreds of other news organizations is becoming too much of an advocate for various issues. The newly-formed “Independence Caucus” comprises high-profile journalists like Megan Twohey, Julian Barnes and Emily Bazelon. It would work within the confines of the NewsGuild-CWA, and would be open to staffers of rival publications, the Wall Street Journal reports.
EdWeek Employees Vote to Form a Union
November 5, 2023 // The union will represent 55 employees in the bargaining unit, which includes nonmanagerial reporters, visual artists, digital and engagement specialists, the EdWeek Research Center, marketing and advertising professionals, accounting, and other staff, according to Sarah Schwartz, a reporter at Education Week and a member of the EdWeek Union organizing committee. “We’re thrilled to see that EdWeek employees have voted to unionize. This is the first step in making sure that all of our colleagues have the protections they deserve,” Schwartz said. “We’re really excited to work with all of our colleagues in the unit as we determine priorities for bargaining going forward and we’re also looking forward to working collaboratively with management.”