NJ Newspapers Try To Unionize; Reporters Have Demands For Gannett

NEW JERSEY — Reporters and other editorial staffers at three large newspapers in North Jersey are trying to unionize in the name of better job security and greater workplace diversity.

On Wednesday, staff at the Bergen Record, the Daily Record and the NJ Herald, as well as NorthJersey.com, announced they’re forming a union affiliated with the NewsGuild of New York. Nearly 90 percent of eligible employees – about 66 workers in total – have signed on to the effort, the New Jersey Globe reported.

The workers are asking Gannett, the company that owns the publications, to voluntarily recognize their union. If the Gannett refuses, the workers can petition the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election.

Patch reached out to Gannett seeking comment about the campaign. We’ll update this article with any reply we receive.

The workers, who have dubbed themselves “The Record Guild,” explain why they’re trying to unionize on a website:

“With increasing workloads and dwindling resources dedicated to local news, Gannett expects the staff will continue to accomplish more with less. All of this leads to a newsroom that is constantly bleeding talent and struggling to effectively report on the news that matters. Our health care benefits are poor and give us few options and our retirement plans have been cut. We deserve higher wages, well-defined minimum levels of pay and a transparent and standardized system for promotion and pay increases. We have unionized to reverse this trend by ensuring that we are fairly compensated for the work that we do, improving health care benefits that we and our families depend on, putting an end to unilateral changes and cuts to our retirement plans, and opposing unreasonable workloads and demands.”

The group continues:

“Since 2016, we have seen more than half of our colleagues lose their jobs, with cuts of over 250 people at The Record, the Daily Record and the NJ Herald. Staffers who were unceremoniously laid off include a reporter nearly nine months pregnant and a 30-year-veteran reporter who was forced to take a buyout after missing a single email to opt out of the process. By forming a union, we are taking a stand for respect and dignity, and greater protections against unjust terminations and reductions in force. We are uniting with NewsGuild members around the country in a movement to save local news and ensure a seat at the table when decisions are made that affect our paper and the news coverage we provide. There is no journalism without journalists.”

As jobs disappear, newsrooms at the three papers have “lost an alarming number of reporters and editors of color,” the workers alleged, adding that “greater diversity in hiring, coverage and interaction with communities” is needed.

Several high-profile elected officials in New Jersey offered the workers support on Wednesday.

“Congratulations to [The Record Guild] for organizing to create a stronger, more equitable workplace,” Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted. “Gannett should recognize the union without delay.”

Both of New Jersey’s U.S. senators, Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, also tweeted their support for the union.

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. said he “loudly opposed” the sale of the Gannett chain to GateHouse Media in 2019, which he called a “hedge fund that has a history of firing reporters and imposing pay cuts.”

“Incisive local journalism forms the foundation of healthy communities,” Pascrell said. “We can draw a straight line from deteriorating independent media to our growing national divisions.”

“We desperately need more local journalists covering our communities and holding power accountable – the future of our democracy actually depends on it,” Pascrell added.

• See related article: Gannett Purchases North Jersey Media Group Publications
• See related article: Massive Newspaper Merger Puts NJ Jobs At Risk, Senators Say

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