Hilton Head Island Packet, Beaufort Gazette

Last week, journalists at The Hilton Head Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette announced that they are forming the Packet/Gazette Guild. More than 80 percent of eligible reporters, photographers, and producers at the newspapers, both owned by McClatchy, signed cards authorizing union representation by the Washington-Baltimore News Guild/CWA Local 32035. Two days later, President and Editor Brian Tolley announced the company would voluntarily recognize the union – the first voluntary recognition by a McClatchy publication in recent years.

"I'm proud of the work that I do at the Packet, and I'm equally proud of the efforts my colleagues and I are making to improve our workplace," said Rachel Jones, an education reporter and a member of the union organizing committee. "Creating these protections for our newsroom will ultimately lead to better coverage of Beaufort County, and it's an honor to lead the way in organizing for the Carolinas."

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People Magazine

Digital employees of People Magazine voted last week 45-3 in favor of joining the NewsGuild of New York/CWA Local 31003. As a result of the vote, digital workers at People will join their print colleagues, who have been represented by the NewsGuild for decades.

Digital staffers are seeking to close the arbitrary "print-digital divide" and negotiate a contract that extends the same robust benefits and protections the magazine's print staffers have enjoyed for years to everyone in the newsroom.

"The experience of People digital working together as a group to help secure a future for ourselves – and our publication – has been an inspiring and rewarding process," said Staff Crime Editor Laura Barcella. "We're all looking forward to finally securing a strong contract with Meredith."

Greg Hanlon, Crime News Editor, said, "We're proud we came together as a newsroom to secure the future of People. As a staff, we feel empowered – and we believe an empowered, united staff is one that will produce the best-quality work."

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Ewing-Lawrence Sewerage Authority

On August 31, CWA Local 1032 won card check recognition for 32 operators, mechanics, and laborers employed by the Ewing-Lawrence Sewerage Authority. Workers reached out to CWA because they wanted the solidarity and support of a union with experience representing public sector workers in New Jersey.

Alden Global Capital, the hedge fund known for pillaging newspapers, plans to expand its ownership stake in Tribune Publishing as soon as January 1, and is shifting its business strategy to focus on digital subscriptions, according to internal company documents obtained by DFMworkers.org. The news of Alden's planned expansion comes on the heels of a new Hedge Clippers report that details Alden’s long history of gutting newsrooms in communities across the country.

As the report makes clear, throughout the last decade, Alden and its president, Heath Freeman, have engaged in a sustained campaign of gutting newsrooms, cutting employment by more than 75%, while lining investors' pockets.

"Private equity's tenure in journalism has been disastrous," NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss said. "The obsessive focus on short-term profits has put countless journalists out of work and left millions of Americans without access to quality local news. We need a bold new vision for funding news organizations. We can't afford to wait any longer to revitalize local news."

The NewsGuild-CWA, as a part of its broader #SaveTheNews campaign for federal support of newsrooms, has proposed a slate of policy solutions that would allow newspapers to remain independent, help them survive the current economic downturn and enable them to provide quality news coverage in the future. Learn more here.

The votes that we cast as union members will be crucial in ensuring we have pro-labor candidates elected at the local and state levels, all the way up to the White House.

We know Joe Biden is the clear choice to fight for union members. But this election will be close and we have to do all we can to make sure we defeat Trump in November!

Join hundreds of volunteers across the country to get out the vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris during CWA's National Nights of Action: Sept. 22, Oct. 6, Oct. 13, Oct. 20, and Oct 27. Join us wherever you are – we will send you information on how to connect online after you RSVP.

We'll kick off each phone bank via Zoom with a brief training and Q&A before making calls together.

Click here to sign up: CWA.org/GOTV2020.

You will receive information to connect via Zoom from 2020 Victory/Mobilize after you RSVP.