In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, CWA/NETT Academy is funding more than $50,000 in training scholarships for CWA members. CWA recognizes the need to assist members in a variety of ways, including in their personal and professional development. Each award will permit the member to participate in an online course from our catalog of courses.

To qualify, you must be a CWA member in good standing or currently furloughed. You must enroll in a class within one month of receiving notification of your scholarship award and complete the course. Each course is 6 weeks in length.

Apply online anytime between now and July 31, 2020, at cwa.org/cwanett-scholarships.

On Monday, the NewsGuild-CWA launched a new advocacy campaign called Save The News to make the case that local newsrooms must be included in future federal recovery efforts to support essential industries.

Although journalists are covering the biggest story of their lives, the news industry is fighting for survival. Local news outlets have been damaged for years by tech giants that have siphoned away advertising revenue and by private equity owners that have hollowed out the industry with extreme cost-cutting measures.

Since 2004, the U.S. has lost approximately 1,800 newspapers, many of them small papers outside of major cities. Each of these losses hurts communities deeply, taking away the important functions local news plays in residents' lives.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the devastation. Advertising revenue has dried up as businesses shuttered to combat the virus. This has led to layoffs, furloughs, and pay cuts for tens of thousands of journalists. At the same time, readers are turning to local news outlets in record numbers in search of accurate, up-to-the-minute information about how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their communities.

The Save The News campaign calls for recovery measures that will keep reporters on the streets, ad representatives working the phones, digital production staff posting online, press operators churning out papers, and drivers delivering them to readers' doors.

"I am humbled to see so many members of our industry unite under one cause: protecting local journalism," said NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss. "Americans need access to information about their local communities more than ever, and yet layoffs and furloughs are only increasing as this pandemic continues. Congress needs to act to save the news before it's too late."

Read more at SaveTheNews.org.

The AFL-CIO has filed a petition to compel the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue an emergency temporary standard to protect U.S. workers against the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

The petition demonstrates that thousands of workers have been infected on the job through exposure to infected patients, co-workers, and unscreened members of the public.

Even with overwhelming evidence that additional protection is needed, President Trump's Secretary of Labor, Eugene Scalia, has insisted that a standard specifically addressing the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic is not necessary.

Read more here: https://aflcio.org/press/releases/afl-cio-sues-osha-emergency-temporary-standard-protect-workers.

Wondering about recommended health and safety protocols at your workplace? Looking for information on state and federal benefits for workers affected by the pandemic? Check CWA's COVID-19 resource page for answers.

Your local leadership will have the most up-to-date information on policies in place at your work location to address the COVID-19 pandemic and what action you should take if you believe you are being asked to work under unsafe conditions.

Remember, if you have been exposed to COVID-19 or are experiencing symptoms consistent with infection, contact your healthcare provider immediately and follow reporting procedures established by your employer. Also notify your CWA Local or District as soon as possible.