Josh Cain: Why we need a union

Our management at the Southern California News Group likes to say that “Local. News. Matters.” This is a farce. Every move they've made in the last three years belies that statement. Hollowing out our newsrooms with layoffs and attrition does not improve our ability to cover the news. Buying up every local paper in Southern California, cutting its staff to the bone and plastering wire stories across their front pages does not help our readers. Many of them have noticed these changes and they're not happy about them. I used to take their calls through the newsroom line, so I should know. I don't want to lie to them any more — many of the reporters, photographers, and editors of SCNG also hate what's happening to our newsrooms. With a union, now we know our coworkers have our backs, and we're going to tell our owners exactly what's on our minds.

Josh Cain is a reporter for the L.A. Daily News/SCNG.