We did it: Indy News Guild just ratified a two-year contract. See what we won.

After more than 3 years of bargaining, the Indianapolis News Guild has reached a two-year collective bargaining agreement with Gannett.

Our agreement invests $200,000 in giving our members long-deserved raises and updating our woefully outdated wage scale. This was a priority among our 39 members, whose input also guided our decision-making in non-economic areas.

The contract includes a new seniority-based wage scale, plus across-the-board pay increases in both years of the contract, which will benefit every member of our unit and help with pay equity in our newsroom. 

We also won a higher mileage reimbursement rate, an added holiday, a severance floor and a better cell phone reimbursement policy than non-union Gannett newsrooms.

We’ve established a labor-management committee and added a section that outlines the company’s commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion, which will help us hold them accountable. 

We fought off a proposal that would have made it easier for Gannett to implement artificial intelligence and proposals that might have weakened our jurisdiction. 

We did what we set out to do every day, as a union: We demanded autonomy and a say in our work lives. We demanded more and remained loud about it. We did not back down until we got there. 

With 91% voter turnout, members unanimously voted to ratify the contract Monday, Jan. 22. 

We’re thrilled about our contract win, but the fight doesn’t stop here.

Our members will continue to stand in solidarity with fellow Gannett union newsrooms whose fights continue to ramp up, any way we must.