I’m heading to Pittsburgh next week for our strikers’ day in court. After 28 months on strike the National Labor Relations Board is pushing for an injunction against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for violating U.S. labor law. Our case will be heard on Wednesday afternoon in the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals after winding through the NLRB’s process.
If the court grants the injunction in its entirety, the company would have to restore the terms of our previous contract and require the company to bargain in good faith for a successor agreement. If the company violates that injunction they could be held in contempt of court.
“Over the past two years, I’ve struggled to pay bills. I’ve faced scabs driving their cars, trucks and vans into me, and an amount of police harassment and violations of my rights as a striking worker that would be laughable if it weren’t so serious,” Natalie Duleba said when the injunction request was filed in December. She’s a page designer and copy editor on strike.
“All this because the Post-Gazette is more invested in breaking labor laws than treating us with dignity,” she said. “The fact that it’s come to this is a mark against the PG’s name and a vindication of our efforts to hold owners and executives accountable.”
Last week a different judge denied a separate temporary injunction request for workers in three production unions also on strike. Judge Cathy Bissoon issued a disappointing decision, one that continues a pattern of the U.S. government failing American workers, including our members.
But we’re still on strike as these cases wind through different courtrooms. I’ll share more next week.
In the meantime, continue to stand with our striking family in Pittsburgh.
We joined a long list of journalism organizations condemning President Trump’s attacks on press freedom and calling on the administration to lift its ban on the Associated Press. The White House said it was blocking AP journalists from events because the outlet refers to the Gulf of Mexico in its articles rather than the “Gulf of America” Trump ordered in an executive decree last month.
“In a nation founded on freedom of speech, regardless of party or ideology, the government can never compel agreement with its viewpoint as a condition of access to information,” said the letter signed by the Society of Professional Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Writers Union, several Guild locals and the international union.
Earlier this week AP Executive Editor Julie Pace flew to Florida for a meeting with Susie Wiles, Trump’s White House chief of staff, to discuss the administration’s unprecedented decision to ban the AP from covering official events, according to Oliver Darcy. A confidential letter from 40 news outlets called on the administration to reverse course.
The ban was “an escalation of a dispute that does not serve the presidency or the public.” Conservative outlet Newsmax signed onto the letter and said in a separate statement that the AP as a private organization has the right “to use the language it wants to use in its reporting.”
“We fear a future administration may not like something Newsmax writes and seek to ban us,” a Newsmax spokesman said to the New York Times.
Trump’s bar on our members at the AP is an affront to our democracy and prevents the American people from knowing what’s happening inside the federal government. I’m proud we signed on with SPJ and other groups to support America’s journalists and a free press.
Yesterday our friends at the European Federation of Journalists also spoke in support of American journalists. “We cannot remain passive in the face of the attacks on our colleagues,” said EFJ President Maja Sever. “This offensive also has an impact in Europe. We must join forces against the enemies of journalism and press freedom.”
“We want our colleagues to know that we stand with them,” Sever said.
Washingtonian members have been bargaining for nearly four years, and management still refuses to close the gender pay gap and agree to a fair contract. Last year the DC-area magazine didn’t invite its own women staffers to the magazine’s event celebrating women in journalism.
Workers at Washingtonian magazine formed their union in 2021 and have been fighting for a first contract since. As the Washington City Paper reports, women at the magazine earn a median salary of $60,967, while men earn $92,700 – a difference of over $30,000. Workers are demanding a salary floor of $60,00, but Washingtonian’s owner, Cathay Merrill, won’t budge from her ‘last and best offer’ of a $42,500 minimum salary.
“Cathy is really proud that she hasn’t laid anyone off in recent years, but she’s functionally doing layoffs by refusing to replace staff who leave for better pay,” says Sylvie McNamara, a staff writer and member of the bargaining committee.
Other than pay, the Guild’s bargaining members say they’re still negotiating over six major issues, including remote work, bereavement leave, parental leave, floating holidays, sick leave and the use of artificial intelligence as part of “management rights”.
Denver Guild leaders got the Colorado Senate to pass the Worker Protection Act, which updates the state’s labor laws. Currently, workers in Colorado must win two elections to form a strong union. No other state has this barrier. The first election is a simple majority for union recognition. The second requires a supermajority vote for workers who want to negotiate union security, a contract provision that requires every worker benefiting from the union to pay their fare share of representation fees.
The Worker Protection Act (SB25-005) removes that second election and is championed by CWA and the Denver Newspaper Guild. Denver Guild President Madison Cassels said the passage through the senate was a huge step forward. She was at the senate this week supporting the bill. A coalition of unions and supporters launched Colorado Worker Rights United to fight for this legislation.
Our members at Cobalt went on an unfair labor practice strike this week, staying out for three days. Workers at the reproductive rights nonprofit unionized as Cobalt Workers United last year with the Denver Newspaper Guild and since then management has illegally fired two employees and undermined the union’s bargaining efforts.
Under U.S. labor law employers are required to maintain status quo while negotiating a first contract and can’t make changes without worker approval. Workers struck to demand the nonprofit reverse the illegal layoffs and restructuring, reinstate the wrongfully terminated employees and commit to bargain in good faith on a first contract. They’re asking supporters to send a letter to management and donate to their strike fund.
Workers at Equis Research have announced their intent to unionize with the Guild, aiming to ensure that the organization’s mission of Latino political empowerment extends to its staff. Over 80% of the workers across various departments have signed cards to establish the Equis Staff Guild, seeking voluntary recognition with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild Local 32035.
In a letter announcing the union, workers said, “By coming together as a union, we hope to solidify the positive working environment we currently enjoy, ensuring that all employees have a voice in shaping the future of our company.”
In an earlier newsletter, I told you about the loss of our own Kiah Duggins in the tragic mid-air collision of a military helicopter with American Airlines Flight 5342. Those interested in an additional way to support the Duggins family and honor Kiah’s legacy should consider donating to Kiah’s Princess Project.
Here’s a message from Kiah’s mom, Ms. Gwen Duggins:
Although she is no longer physically present with us, Kiah’s love and light live on. Many have asked what they can do to support us. If you feel so compelled, you can donate to Kiah’s Princess Project, which she started at 20 years old. It’s a mentoring program that serves underrepresented middle and high school girls of color to give them the mentorship, support, and social capital they need to lead successful lives. If you want to learn more, please watch her Tedx Talk about the project.
Yesterday Kiah’s boyfriend Adrian Ma, a host and reporter at NPR, spoke to NPR about Kiah. It’s an emotional and sweet interview remembering Kiah for who she was. She loved Disney musicals and she loved to ask you “what was a magical moment from your day?”
The federal government has frozen legal services for unaccompanied children, leaving more than 26,000 kids without legal counsel and putting over 125 of our union members at RAICES on stop-work orders. Another 60 members are also facing layoffs as a result. The members are part of Washington-Baltimore News Guild and won a first contract last July.
These attorneys and advocates provide life-saving legal aid to children fleeing violence, trafficking and abuse, ensuring they are not left to navigate immigration courts alone. The nonprofit Acacia is mobilizing to restore funding – take action to support our members and demand Congress reinstate these critical services.
Join us Tuesday evening to hear more about how our union has built more member-led programs. A few years back we started the Member Organizing Program, which empowers rank-and-file Guild members to run and support organizing campaigns that help more workers unionize with us. The effort is featured in a new book by Eric Blanc, a Rutgers University labor professor.
“It’s strange that so many people have suggested that worker-to-worker unionism can’t win first contracts, since the NewsGuild for many years now has proven this to be false,” Blanc writes. “Reversing decades of decline, the union won seventy-one first contracts between January 2021 and February 2023. And many of these have not been easy fights.”
Join Blanc and Guild members in a virtual conversation at 6 p.m. ET Feb. 25 about his book and learn how we continue to build a democratic, member-led union that’s growing at a historic pace. RSVP here.
Have a good weekend and continue to take care of each other.
In solidarity,
Jon