Stephanie Stutzman: Why we need a union

I joined the SCNG team in January 2017, and in just 4 years, I’ve seen my team dwindle due to layoffs and budget cuts. My editor and publisher have done everything they can to mitigate what we’ve lost by working insane hours and helping the reporters under them find the support we need to cover as many stories as we can. These are trying times simply created by new ownership whose bottom line has been to create revenue and not in “saving local news.” 

I make $17.50 per hour, which is hardly enough to cover rent in Southern California, and I’m not the only reporter in this position. If Media News Group management truly cared for its boots-on-the-ground employees, we would know it because we would not have spent time out of our already busy days to pursue this unionized effort. We need survivable wages that do not require a second job to supplement our income. We need more reporters to accurately provide a wide range of news coverage. We need more editors so that our existing editors are not working longer hours for no extra pay. 

We understand that the newspaper world is changing — and will continue to change — but having a hedge fund decide how it changes is far from what we expected to witness.

Stephanie Stutzman is a reporter for the Grunion Gazette/SCNG.