You have questions.
We have answers.

WHY UNIONIZE?

The newsroom staff of the Austin American-Statesman are forming the Austin NewsGuild in order to strengthen our newsroom, improve our pay and benefits, and increase staffing so we can better tell the stories of our community. We are organizing as a unit of the NewsGuild, which is part of the Communications Workers of America.

We want to safeguard the Statesman as the trusted daily news outlet for Central Texas. A union would help us remain a vibrant and vigilant source for our readers in the face of cuts to our resources and staff, which has drastically increased the workload for those who remain.

WHY CAN’T WE DO THAT WITHOUT A UNION?

Our parent company, Gannett, consistently makes decisions about our workplace without our input. Establishing a collective bargaining unit ensures that we have a say in the decisions that affect our livelihoods. We know that the industry is facing unprecedented challenges, which makes forming a union even more important to preserve what works in the newsroom and advocate to change what doesn’t work.

WHO IS LEADING THIS?

The journalists of the Austin American-Statesman. We’ve been working together on this for months and have gathered a strong majority of support across the newsroom.  

IS THIS A COUP AGAINST MANAGEMENT?

Absolutely not. When we ask for basic workplace protections, our managers have told us again and again that their hands are tied. We want to work with management in our effort to create a workplace that is better for everyone. We see the guild as the best way to help the current leaders at the Statesman to improve the quality of journalism we create every day by improving the working conditions of the newsroom.  

HOW MUCH ARE DUES? 

Dues are 1.3846 percent of annual salary. Our goal is to negotiate a contract with raises that offset union dues, and our union won’t collect dues until we successfully negotiate our first contract. Union members will have the chance to review and vote on our contract. Dues are used to support NewsGuild and to pay for contract negotiations and organizing. It is a small price to pay for the benefit we receive from having a seat at the table.

TEXAS IS A ‘RIGHT-TO-WORK’ STATE. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

Being in a “right-to-work” state means you can’t be forced to pay union dues. But it doesn’t prevent us from forming a union! Many unions exist in Texas and other right-to-work states, and federal law still prohibits management from retaliating against workers who form unions.

I’VE HEARD THAT A UNION PREVENTS ME FROM ASKING FOR A RAISE.

Although a bargaining unit works on behalf of the entire newsroom, individual employees can still go directly to their managers to ask for raises, accommodations, schedule changes, etc.

BUT MY BOSS SAID A UNION WOULD PREVENT ME FROM TALKING TO MY SUPERVISOR ABOUT A PROBLEM I HAVE. IS THAT TRUE?

A union doesn’t prevent you from talking to your supervisor about a workplace issue. You can resolve workplace issues in the same way as you do now. Many of us have found that the current protocol of one-on-one meetings hasn’t led to those issues being addressed. If you don’t want to speak to management alone, a union allows you to stand with your colleagues about issues that matter with you. This is the heart of collective action. Our voices are stronger when we speak together.

WHAT WILL WE BARGAIN FOR? 

No one outside our workforce will decide what we will bargain for. We are the union, and we are the bargaining unit. The NewsGuild offers assistance when we need legal advice, but we as a group will decide what is most important to fight for.

Generally, our guiding principles are: 

SAY: We want local input into what happens in our newsroom and to our newspaper. We believe that if we have a strong voice in how our newsroom is run, we will be better able to tell our community’s stories.

PAY: We know our industry is under financial strain, but we also see top Gannett executives paid millions, either in their salary or as part of corporate buyouts. Some of our staffers work second and third jobs to make ends meet, and many of our top younger talent leave for higher paying jobs so they can pursue dreams of buying homes and starting families.

BENEFITS AND SEVERANCE: We will work to bolster our current benefits, and we will fight for better severance packages. Some of the benefits wouldn’t cost the company any money, such as the ability to roll over paid time off days.

COULD I LOSE MY JOB OVER THIS?

Retaliation for organizing a union is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act, and no one will know how you vote in the election. Companies are legally prohibited from firing employees for supporting or organizing unions.

DOES GANNETT WORK WITH UNIONS?

Because several other Gannett newspapers have unionized recently, we have seen the anti-union campaign that they will likely launch to try to discourage us from unionizing. They haven’t voluntarily recognized a union that has shown wide support, which means we’ll eventually have an election that will force them to the bargaining table. The NewsGuild stands ready to fight for anyone who is targeted for union involvement.

It’s important to note that those who are involved in organizing and publicly support the union are more protected from retaliation. If you’re a silent supporter and experience retaliation, it’s harder to prove management was aware of your union support and punished you because of it.

WHAT IS THE UNION’S STANCE ON DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION? 

The Austin NewsGuild is committed to building an anti-racist workplace, which prioritizes diversity, equity and inclusion in all of its efforts. Anti-racist is a term that means one makes conscious decisions to make frequent, consistent, equitable choices daily. You can read our diversity letter here and read more about anti-racism here.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO NEGOTIATE A CONTRACT? WHAT HAPPENS BETWEEN FORMING A UNION AND SIGNING A CONTRACT? 

Negotiations take time, and more than a year is not uncommon for first contracts. Once our union is certified, we’ll have status quo protections. That means our current working conditions must be maintained, and changes to wages, benefits and working conditions must be negotiated first. We also would receive notice of layoffs and could bargain for a better severance package. Those protections exist until we ratify our first contract, which establishes a new status quo.

WHO GOES TO THE BARGAINING TABLE? 

After we win the election or are recognized, we’ll select a bargaining committee made up of our colleagues. They’ll seek newsroom input on what guild members want to negotiate for, and they’ll receive help from both the local and national NewsGuild, who are experts in facilitating negotiations. A majority of employees will have to vote in favor of any tentative agreement in order for it to go into effect. 

WHAT’S THE NEWSGUILD-CWA?

The NewsGuild-CWA represents more than 24,000 journalists and other communications workers in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The Communications Workers of America represents 700,000 people and is the umbrella organization for the NewsGuild. In the last two years, the NewsGuild has helped 30 news outlets around the country unionize including the Los Angeles Times, Arizona Republic, Chicago Tribune, Palm Beach Post and Omaha World-Herald.

HOW CAN A UNION HELP THE STATESMAN STRENGTHEN ITS BOND WITH READERS? 

Like so many institutions around the country, the Statesman is undergoing major changes to how it operates and how it creates a safe space for employees. Although Gannett has been pushing its own diversity initiative, we feel that it could do more, and by creating our own diversity committee, we can help ensure that the newsroom can more accurately represent the communities we cover and those employees can feel like their voices are heard.

A union won’t give us hiring power, but it will allow us to advocate for an advisory board and an editorial review process that can help hold ourselves and management accountable to our own diversity goals.

We also want to create an environment where employees want to stay. Having so many staffers coming and leaving weakens our ability to cover our communities through breaking news, investigative coverage, in-depth profiles and the everyday stories that matter to the people who call Central Texas home.

The Austin NewsGuild will help us gain the protections we need to do this work even better.