Reviewed Union Pledges to Strike After a Year of Bad Faith Bargaining with Gannett

By Beryl Lipton, Newspaper Guild of Rochester

The Reviewed Union issued a strike pledge Wednesday in response to unfair labor practices and bad faith dealings at the bargaining table with parent company Gannett Co. Inc. 

For the past 12 months, union efforts to move forward with Gannett on a contract by the Reviewed Union have stagnated, leaving the 45 unionized employees of USA Today Network’s consumer review publication without an agreement on living wages, standards of editorial integrity, and protections against AI. 

“At every turn we have faced stalling, regressive language, retaliation, and hostility, at the bargaining table and in the workplace,” the unit’s members asserted in its strike pledge. “Management has been unwilling to propose anything beyond status quo wages. Our DEI proposal was dismissed as ‘extreme.’ Management has repeatedly failed to bargain in good faith.”

The Reviewed Union will halt their work if Gannett doesn’t schedule time to negotiate the contract and make progress on a deal. Their members join newspaper unions across the country and the Gannett network in demanding improved pay and job protections. 

The largest newspaper chain in the United States, Gannett controlled more than 550 newspapers after  a 2019 merger with Gatehouse Media. Since then, the company has cut its newspapers and workforce by approximately half. At the end of March, Gannett announced it would be further cutting costs by ending its subscription to articles from the Associated Press, which have been featured in Gannett papers for more than a century. Meanwhile, many employees haven’t seen any wage increase, even as coverage expectations and costs of living have grown. 

As Monday’s total eclipse shrouded their cities in darkness, journalists from the Newspaper Guild of Rochester, representing the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, and the Austin News Guild, representing journalists of the Austin American-Statesman, continued striking against Gannett, which owns both papers. In Rochester, workers have been without a contract since 2019. Their strike is now on day seven. 

Wednesday’s statement from the Reviewed Union shares a sentiment with other striking and strike-ready journalists: “We are committed to doing what it takes to achieve a fair contract.”