NewsGuild-CWA Journalists Take On Media Giant Gannett in the Northeast

Workers at two Gannett-owned newsrooms represented by the NewsGuild of New York (TNG-CWA Local 31003) have been fighting for fair wages. Gannett operates the USA Today network and controls hundreds of local newsrooms across the United States.

Editorial staff at The Bergen Record in Bergen, N.J., voted overwhelmingly last week to authorize a walk-out, citing Gannett’s chronic union-busting and unwillingness to reach a fair first contract after three years of bargaining. “Gannett continues to bargain in bad faith and insult us at the bargaining table. Our members’ walkout vote shows we won’t let Gannett bully us into submission,” said Kaitlyn Kanzler, Unit Chair of The Record Guild and courthouse reporter for The Record.

Currently, over half of the staff at The Bergen Record are paid salaries below the average living wage for the area, and nearly a quarter of the staff are paid poverty wages. The NewsGuild of New York has filed numerous unfair labor practice complaints against the company.

At the same time, journalists at six Gannett papers in New York and New Jersey, also represented by the NewsGuild of New York, recently ratified first contracts after threatening to walk out.

The APP-MCJ Guild represents editorial staff at the Asbury Park Press, Courier News, and the Home News Tribune, and the Hudson Valley NewsGuild represents editorial staff at The Journal News, Poughkeepsie Journal, and Times Herald-Record.

“We fought for Gannett to invest in our communities and in us,” said Journal News reporter Nancy Cutler, acting Unit Chair of the Hudson Valley News Guild. “And we won.”

Gains include strong salary floors for new and current employees, many of whom will see life-changing raises; annual guaranteed wage increases to combat inflation; and policy updates to include ethical guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence with a stipulation that new technology must be bargained over in future contracts.

 
Members of the APP-MCJ Guild (TNG-CWA Local 31003) celebrated their contract win earlier this month.