Southern California News Group Journalists Win Union Vote 64-19

LOS ANGELES, CA — Journalists at the Southern California News Group, a collection of daily and weekly newspapers owned by hedge fund group Alden Global Capital, have voted to form a union.

The National Labor Relations Board tallied the results Friday, and workers voted 64-19 to be represented by the NewsGuild-Communications Works of America.

The SCNG Guild will represent around 140 employees of the Southern California News Group, which is made up of the Daily Breeze in Torrance, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Press-Telegram in Long Beach, Los Angeles Daily News, Orange County Register, Pasadena Star-News, Redlands Daily Facts, Press-Enterprise in Riverside, San Bernardino Sun, San Gabriel Valley Tribune and Whittier Daily News.

“This is a momentous day for the workers of the Southern California News Group,” Josh Cain, a reporter at the Daily News and an organizer with the newly formed union, said in a statement. “Some of these newspapers are unionizing for the first time. This means their staff, who have endured years of low pay as their newsrooms shrank around them, will now have a seat at the bargaining table.”

The union will become a unit of the Media Guild of the West, a local of the NewsGuild. The Media Guild represents employees at several other unionized publications on the West including the Los Angeles Times and the Arizona Republic.

An attempt by Patch to reach MediaNews Group, Southern California News Group’s parent company owned by Alden Global Capital, was not immediately returned.

The controversial hedge fund owns more than 70 daily newspapers across the United States and has taken criticism for its cost-cutting measures that have lead to the downsizing of many newsrooms.

Staffers at the Alden-owned Denver Post even published an editorial calling the company "vultures."

Staffers at the Southern California News Group went public with their organizing efforts in February after decrying the devastating treatment they received from Alden Global Capital that has impacted their ability to cover their communities, according to a statement the guild made on Twitter at the time.

“Media News Group and Alden Global Capital have cut our newsrooms to the bone. Layoffs and turnover have devastated our workforce,” the guild said. “We face historic staffing shortages, and the exodus of journalists with decades of experience has hollowed out our newspapers.”

The Southern California News Group denied to voluntarily recognize the guild after its public announcement, and argued with the NLRB that the union should be split into separate bargaining units — reporters, clerks and photographers would be in one unit while other positions, including copy editors and page designers, would be in another. The labor board eventually shot down the company's argument.

“Every worker at SCNG deserves fair treatment. They deserve to be paid a good wage,” the SCNG Guild tweeted Friday. “Local news is more critical than ever, and we think our coworkers should be compensated accordingly.”