From Maine to Southern California, NewsGuild-CWA Scores Major Victories

After six long years of negotiations, journalists at the Chicago Tribune (TNG-CWA Local 34071) won their first contract. Reporters, photographers, and other journalists formed their union in April 2018, but negotiations stalled after the Tribune Publishing Company was bought out by hedge fund Alden Global Capital.

The Chicago Tribune contract includes a signing bonus, provides raises for journalists who haven’t seen a raise since 2018, retains the 401(k) match, raises minimum salaries, and puts the newsroom on a path to pay equity. The contract also provides protections against misuse of artificial intelligence and many standard benefits found in Guild contracts.

Eight other Tribune newsrooms ratified their first contracts in June. All groups coordinated with each other throughout bargaining, and journalists in several newsrooms went on a 24-hour strike in February.

“We won because we fought, and we fought because we believe in the work we do for Chicago,” said Unit Chair Jake Sheridan. “The world needs people to push for truth right now. That’s what we do. This contract gives us a little more stability and a little more pay so we can keep doing it.”

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Southern California News Group Guild members voted to approve their first contract, with 93% voting in favor of ratification. The Southern California News Group Guild are members of the Media Guild of the West (TNG-CWA Local 39213) and represent roughly 125 journalists at 11 newspapers owned by the Southern California News Group, which is itself owned by Alden Global Capital.

The ratification vote comes after two years of negotiations and weeks after 94% of members voted to authorize the first open-ended strike against Alden Global Capital. Alden Global Capital owns more than 200 daily newspapers across the country, and their business strategy is simple: aggressively cut costs and reduce staff to extract as much profit as possible.

Under the contract, some experienced, underpaid members will see wage increases of up to 48%. Other highlights include protections that honor time worked, such as a procedure for layoffs in inverse order of seniority, just cause protections, and guardrails around management performing Guild work, including the use of AI, freelance contracting, and involuntary changes in beat assignments for reporters.

“This is a first step in repairing some of the damage that Wall Street has done to local journalism and to Main Street here in Southern California,” said Matt Pearce, president of Media Guild of the West. “These journalists stood up, demanded what was fair, and now the Southern California News Group is set to add at least $700,000 of new investment into their journalism serving our communities at a time when many of our other local newsrooms have been making cutbacks.”

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In Maine, journalists at the Bangor Daily News voted unanimously to accept the terms of their first, two-year contract. Bangor Daily News Union (CWA-TNG Local 31128) gained voluntary recognition on May 11, 2022, and is the first union to represent the newsroom after two failed campaigns in the 1980s and 1990s.

Under the terms of the contract approved on Nov. 1, Bangor Daily News Union members will see average wage increases of 3%-4%, improved paid time off, equipment stipends for photographers, improved parental leave, and improved health care.

“This first contract was a labor of love and many, many hours of hard work,” said Christopher Burns, the Bangor Union’s Council Chair and a member of the Bargaining Committee. “It represents a positive step forward for us. The Bangor Daily News’ hardworking journalists will see improved compensation, and our contract terms will provide for a better work-life balance.”

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Full-time faculty members at Point Park University—represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh (TNG-CWA Local 38061)—voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new three-year contract.

Highlights of the contract include 3.6% annual, across-the-board wage increases; increased just-cause protection for nontenure-track faculty; more pay for overload courses; an established pathway for nontenure-track faculty to be considered for promotion to tenure track; and more. Throughout bargaining, which occurred from May to October, Guild members were supported by students who expressed their solidarity with staff.

“Without the union and its ability to engage in collective bargaining, I don’t know where we would be,” said Fred Johnson, Point Park Unit Chair of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh and a Professor of Cinema. “If we were getting raises at all, they would be minuscule; there would be no benefits accruing whatsoever. I am grateful to be represented by a union in the higher education landscape that we’re facing today.”

Read more on Pittsburgh Union Progress, the publication run by striking Pittsburgh-Post Gazette workers.