Monday, June 16, 2008

One big Bay Area union!

Congratulations to the folks at Bay Area Newspaper Group, who voted on Friday to unionize their newspapers.

The vote means about 200 reporters, copy editors, clerks and editorial employees at the Oakland Tribune, Contra Costa Times and East Bay newspapers will be covered by the Northern California Media Workers Guild. They'll begin negotiations on their first contract with MediaNews management soon.

This is a big win for workers there, who had organized in order to ensure greater employee input as MediaNews seeks to consolidate operations at the Bay Area newspapers.

You can learn more about the vote and background, but in the meantime, here's a big hurrah for the guild and workers in the Bay Area.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

One Big Newspaper Union in the Bay Area

On June 13, employees at nine newspapers owned by MediaNews in the East Bay will vote on whether they want to be represented by the Newspaper Guild.

This is a big vote and it comes nearly a year after MediaNews consolidated operations in the East Bay and revoked recognition of the union at the Alameda Newspaper Group. Rather than roll over, the workers organized, reached out to their colleagues at the Contra Costa Times and launched an effort to create a bigger, more powerful union.

What do they want? A seat at the table with management and the opportunity to have some input on the decisions that affect their jobs and the quality of their journalism.

You can learn more about their effort and sign a petition in support of their vote to create a new guild for the East Bay Newspaper Group.