NewsGuild of NY-represented journalists in Utica, NY agree to two-year contract with Gannett

NEW YORK – Unionized journalists at two Gannett newspapers in New York have ratified a two-year collective bargaining agreement that will correct long-standing wage stagnation, set salary minimums for the first time and improve time off and job security. 

The Utica NewsGuild – which represents the journalists at the Observer-Dispatch and the Times-Telegram – voted 100% to approve the deal on Sunday. The union is a bargaining unit of The NewsGuild of New York, the labor union representing nearly 6,000 media workers including three other Gannett unions. 

“It took three years, but we forced Gannett to  finally acknowledge that local journalists deserve to be paid and treated decently in exchange for the work they do to keep their readers informed,” said Amy Roth, interim unit chair of the Utica NewsGuild. “This contract, won through solidarity with other regional Gannett newsrooms in the NewsGuild, will make it easier for the Observer-Dispatch to retain and recruit journalists, and to produce strong journalism for our readers.” 

Highlights of the deal include: 

 Pay

• Guild members will see an average 47% raise over the life of the two-year contract.
• Glaring wage inequities have been corrected and unit members will see raises of between $11,386 and $28,390 over the two-year agreement.That’s a percentage increase range of 28% to 86% for unit members over the life of the contract. 

Job security 

• Editorial Integrity and Protection of Journalists and Sources - Language to protect news integrity as well as confidentiality protections for journalists and their sources 
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - Protections against discrimination and provisions promoting equity and inclusion
• Just cause, no exceptions 
• Improved layoff protections and increased severance in the event of a layoff

Benefits 

• Added MLK Day and Juneteenth to list of holidays and gained an additional float holiday 
• Improved vacation allotments
• Increased bereavement leave
• 10 weeks of paid parental leave 
• Severance in the event of a layoff increases to 3 weeks minimum and 28 weeks maximum plus a $1,500 transition bonus.

AI 

• Artificial Intelligence - Provides a contractual commitment that AI is “supplementary to local news reporting and is not a replacement for it” 

The contract caps nearly three years of bargaining with Gannett, including two 24-hour walkouts by the Utica NewsGuild, collective petitions pushing back on advertorial assignments and a community town hall calling attention to the plight of local news. 

“The Utica NewsGuild is a small but mighty union that looked the nation’s largest newspaper chain in the eye and stood firm in their belief that they are worth more than Gannett’s union-busting tactics,” said Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York. “Their persistence resulted in a contract that is truly life-changing.”