Bargaining Update

Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald, and Bradenton Herald

Journalists at the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald, and the Bradenton Herald held a one-day work stoppage on April 1 to demand a fair contract and respect from McClatchy, the publications’ parent company. The workers are members of CWA Local 3108.

“For more than two years, journalists at McClatchy’s three Florida newspapers have worked to continue to produce quality journalism through crisis and conflict, as the company has refused to complete a fair contract, repeatedly asking its staff to do more with less,’’ said Mary Ellen Klas, co-unit chair for One Herald Guild, which covers workers at the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald.

A lunchtime rally on Zoom with supporters from around the country was exuberant, with messages of support from journalists at other McClatchy-owned publications and other CWA members. Workers attended an afternoon bargaining session in big numbers, decked out in union T-shirts.

Unresolved issues include pay equity between English and Spanish-language journalists, experience-based salary floors, protections against outsourcing, and improvements to the retirement plan. Benefits that the One Herald Guild and Bradenton Herald NewsGuild units are fighting for have been offered to non-union workers, but have been withheld from unionized workers across the news chain. The withheld benefits include paid parental leave, minimum salaries, and mileage reimbursement at the IRS standard rate. Management admitted during negotiations that it was withholding the benefits as a “bargaining chip,” said Sarah Blaskey, an investigative reporter at the Miami Herald.

Journalists at the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald, and the Bradenton Herald, members of CWA Local 3108, held a one-day work stoppage on April 1 to demand a fair contract and respect from McClatchy, the publications’ parent company.

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Frontier North

Bargaining opened yesterday for the Frontier North contract, which covers workers in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

In an interview with Wisconsin television station WKPW, CWA Local 4671 President Steve Kotel said that workers have made sacrifices over the past few years and are fighting for family-supporting pay and benefits now that the company has emerged from bankruptcy.

"A lot of our members really held on for several years and tried to get the company through the bankruptcy and through COVID," Kotel said. "[We had] six-day, mandatory work weeks to try to get this company to stay on track so that when they come out of it, everyone would be better off.”

CWA Local 4671 members mobilized in advance of bargaining at Frontier North.

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New Flyer

Over the weekend, CWA Local 7304 members who work at the New Flyer bus manufacturing facility in St. Cloud, Minn., voted 415 to 12 to authorize a strike, should it be necessary. The workers are fighting for a new contract that includes fair wage increases to account for inflation, paid sick leave, and paid time off for religious holidays.

“Most of the issues we brought to the table are about time,” said CWA Local 7304 President Matt Lelou. “We do not have any paid sick time. We are often barred from using vacation time when we need to because of production demands, and people are forced to work too much overtime. It’s about time New Flyer realizes that paying better wages is not just good for employees, but it’s good for the company, too.”