Dayton Newspaper Guild a Model for Solidarity, Determination

Members of the Dayton Newspaper Guild send a silent but strong message to newspaper management.

Newspaper workers who belong to the independent Springfield Newspapers Editorial Association in Springfield, Ohio, voted unanimously to merge with TNG-CWA Local 34157, the Dayton, Ohio Newspaper Guild. The SNEA is a unit of 12 newsroom workers at the Springfield News-Sun; the News-Sun and the Dayton Daily News have the same owner, Cox Media Group. At the Dayton Daily News, TNG-CWA Local 34157 represents more than 90 reporters, photographers, copy editors, web designers and editorial assistants, and about 70 percent of those represented are union members. These members have stood together and stood strong against a management that has worked to bust their union for more than two decades.

Members at that newspaper ratified their last contract nearly 26 years ago, but their solidarity is amazingly strong. Until 2007, the old contract terms remained in place, but then management imposed its terms unilaterally.

This management assault has helped create a different kind of union, one where newspaper activists build community support, hold silent protests during bargaining and aren't afraid to take on management over some very bad decisions. Because there is no dues checkoff, members pay dues using direct deposit from their own accounts and bank drafts.

"We have persevered against amazing odds, against one of the wealthiest and most powerful companies in the country. We have made sure that there are basic rules governing our working conditions that the company can't change at a whim. We haven't won everything, but no one does. Our members have come out ahead of the non-union employees time and time again," said Local President Lou Grieco.

Most recently, DDN workers rallied behind their leaders to protest a comment by the newspaper's editor-in-chief, who called union leadership "short-sighted and selfish" for bringing public attention to the paper's plans to send advertising production work overseas. TNG-CWA members packed an area outside the editors' 4 p.m. news meeting, all holding signs stating "I am a Guild Leader." They took that same message to the bargaining table where management is trying to cut more jobs by replacing professional newsroom workers with freelancers.