Journalists At 11 Southern California Dailies Seek To Unionize

LOS ANGELES, CA — Journalists at 11 daily newspapers and more than a dozen weekly publications across the Southland announced plans to unionize this week, putting their hedge fund ownership on notice.

Protesting what they describe as low-pay, layoffs and the overall slashing of resources, journalists at some of the oldest local papers in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties petitioned for a union election. Among them are reporters, editors, photographers and designers at the Southern California Media News Group, which is owned by Alden Global Capital, the same group rumored to be a potential buyer of the Los Angeles Times.

More than three-fourths of the editorial staff at the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, (Riverside) Press-Enterprise, (Long Beach) Press-Telegram, (Torrance) Daily Breeze, San Bernardino Sun, Pasadena Star-News, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Whittier Daily News and the Redlands Daily Facts voted to pursue unionization. Combined, they serve about 18 million print and digital readers per month, according to the Southern California News Group Guild.

According to Josh Cain, a Los Angeles Daily News reporter and an organizing committee member for the Southern California News Group Guild, Alden and the Southern California Media News Group have decimated the staff at the papers that readers depend on for their local news.

“Conditions at Southern California News Group have been bad for a long time, and a lot of people are fed up with it,” Cain said.

Journalists are working two jobs and gig jobs just to make ends meet, and some are in danger of losing their homes, he said. They have endured attrition and layoffs and have gone without raises for years, effectively accepting pay cuts as the cost of living rises, he said. Perhaps hardest of all, added Cain, is seeing the erosion of resources impact local news coverage, he added.

He noted that his own paper no longer has a building in the San Fernando Valley, where it’s long been part of the lifeblood of the community.

“I think these communities lose a lot not having someone dedicated to covering their communities day in, day out, Cain said. “We believe that by unionizing it will help stabilize these papers.”

Through a spokeswoman, Southern California News Group executives declined to comment to Patch.

The decision to unionize will likely go to a formal vote in about two months, Cain said. A simple majority is required to unionize. Union organizers plan to prioritize pay raises while halting staff cuts.

According to union organizers, Alden Global Capital is known for slashing newspapers.

“Buying up every local paper in Southern California, cutting its staff to the bone and covering the same number of communities with even fewer resources does not help our readers,” according to a statement issued by the group.

“I've worked at the Orange County Register for more than two decades, through knuckle-busting news wars. Of course the business has radically changed, but what Alden has done to my newspaper breaks my heart,” said Teri Sforza, The Orange County Register's government watchdog reporter. “We have only a few dozen reporters now — a fraction of what we had when Alden acquired us in 2016. It was always hard to do all that needs to be done, and now it feels impossible. Mind you, the editors in our organization are great journalists committed to producing the best product we possibly can. The owners of our organization appear not to care, so long as the money is rolling in.”