New Investment Saves TNG-CWA Jobs at Portland, Maine Newspaper

In a major victory for Guild members at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, a new investor has agreed to pump much-needed money into the company, saving jobs and the union contract.

Just last month, TNG-CWA Local 31128 members were fending off demands from a different investor who wanted to shred the union's contract and strip the union of its seats on the MaineToday Media board.

The new investment from billionaire Donald Sussman will preserve the seats and the employee stock ownership program that the union negotiated in 2009, when the family-owned newspaper was sold. Since then, the Guild has made numerous concessions as it tried to help the newspaper weather one financial crisis after another.

Faced with even more concessions and their company's threat of bankruptcy, the TNG-CWA local took matters into its own hands, getting a message to Sussman that their paper was in trouble. Sussman has deep roots in Maine and is married to Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree. Intrigued, he met with Guild leaders and then pursued a deal with the company.

"It was the longest of long shots," said Local Vice President Greg Kesich, who holds one of the Guild's two seats on the company board. Now, "not only will we still have our ownership stake in a reorganized company, we will be working with a much more union-friendly investor group. We expect to have a voice in important strategic decisions in the company's future."

TNG-CWA President Bernie Lunzer had high praise for the local's leaders and members, saying they have always strived for a responsible balance between their needs and the newspaper's.

"This is a local that has always stayed extremely active, even to the point of getting involved in the business model," Lunzer said. "They are in a position to help control the destiny of the newspaper, and that didn't just happen by accident."