NewsGuild Organizes L.A. Times

Los Angeles, Calif.—A majority of newsroom staff at the Los Angeles Times have signed union cards, the NewsGuild announced Oct. 4. The organizing campaign, which began last fall, escalated after Tronc, the 135-year-old newspaper’s parent company, cut vacation time and fired several top editors. “Yearly raises have become a thing of the past,” the Guild said in a letter to staff. “We have few job protections at a time of high uncertainty in our industry.” The union said its goals were “to keep the benefits and conditions we like and protect them from unilateral change by Tronc” and win annual staff-wide raises, equal pay regardless of race or sex, and “fair notice of layoffs, guaranteed severance packages, and recall rights.” Management responded by distributing fliers that said it had the legal right “to offer reduced wages and benefits in bargaining” and that if the workers voted for Guild representation, “you could be STUCK with the [Union] for a long time.” Read more