Our message to management: One newsroom, one union

Six SCNG journalists testified last week before the National Labor Relations Board as we continue to fight for our right to unionize under one banner and as a united voice at the bargaining table.

After we announced that we were organizing the SCNG Guild, the company pushed for a hearing to delay our union vote. Its argument? Editorial workers should be split into separate unions: reporters and photographers in one and copy editors, page designers, digital producers, graphic artists and social media producers in the other. The company apparently believes that because we bring a diversity of skills and expertise to the newsroom, we should not be allowed to unionize together.

The company’s attorney spent the two-day hearing trying to paint a picture of our newsroom that seemed detached from reality — one in which workers are siloed from one another, with little communication.

In response, two reporters, a digital producer, a social media producer, a page designer and copy editor testified during the hearing, providing a snapshot of what truly goes on in our newsroom: journalists working together toward the shared, daily goal of providing the news to our readers and communities both in print and online. 

In reality, though some of the journalists the company is trying to separate from our team are in different locations, we all function as an assembly line of sorts to create the day’s news. If one person up the line doesn’t do their part, someone else at the other can’t do theirs. You can’t be more integrated than that.

Our news organization can only function effectively because of its interconnected nature. This goal binds our newsroom together. It’s the reason we made the deliberate choice to unionize together. We are one news organization — and that’s why we’re organizing as one union. 

What’s next? 

We’ve always known the hearing was the company’s attempt at slowing our path to an election. And even though the hearing delays our vote, an election is still inevitable. 

Legal counsel to the Media Guild of the West and the company’s attorney will both file closing briefs to the labor board. The regional NLRB director will then decide who belongs in our unit.

As we wait for the board’s decision, all of us will keep supporting one another. Our hearing testimony was strong, and we hope that the election vote will take place soon. #OneNewsroomOneUnion and we can #SaveSoCalNews.