Category Archives: General

Editor’s note: In July, IndyStar workers delivered a letter to management asking them to come to the table with a fair deal on our health care. After two session of negotiations, we are still waiting for Gannett to deliver a commitment to mitigate the effects of changing our health care. (You can read more about this here and here.)

Gannett also continues to withhold merit raises from its dedicated workers.

After hearing about our situation, some public figures have offered their support to IndyStar journalists and workers. The following is one of those messages.

“A fundamental part of our democracy is the level of accountability in which elected officials are held to by local journalists.

The Indy Star has done a phenomenal job reporting on local and statewide stories over the years and keeping Hoosiers informed on various issues from top to bottom.

The journalists at the Star deserve to be fairly compensated for the irreplaceable work they do on behalf of our city and state, and I proudly stand with them.”

Indiana State Senator Greg Taylor (D-Indianapolis)

Sen. Taylor joins Mayor Joe Hogsett, Deputy Mayor of Noblesville Steve Cooke, the head of the Indiana AFL-CIO, and a former IndyStar editor in supporting IndyStar workers as we fight for a fair deal on health care.

On Monday, the Guild’s bargaining committee met with Gannett lawyers for another round of negotiations, two weeks after the last round and more than seven months since we’ve had a contract.

And once again we’ve walked away without even the hint of a fair offer on health care or wages.

The issue? Gannett wants to move Guild members off of our health care plan onto theirs. A move that we have calculated could cost members anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $1,700 per year.

We’ve maintained all along that any discussion about the possibility of moving to a Gannett plan must include mitigation of these effects. We even provided them with cost data so they could do their own analysis.

Yet, when we met on Monday, Gannett’s lawyer once again proposed that we move onto their health care plan without committing to any mitigation payments in return.

Why should Guild members agree to what amounts to a pay cut? Why, when at the same time, Gannett withholds merit raises in order to force us into a contract?

Last month, we delivered a letter to our newsroom management asking that Gannett come to the table and treat its award-winning, dedicated journalists and workers with basic respect.

It is clear to us now that our request has been ignored.

We continue to ask our community to call on Gannett to give us a fair contract. Send your messages directly to ronnie.ramos@indystar.com or tweet them to @Gannett or @RonnieRamos.

Editor’s note: The Indianapolis Star Newspaper Guild is in contract negotiations with Gannett. We’ve asked our community to submit letters of support as we try to reach a fair deal. You can read about Gannett’s attempts to downgrade our health care, and their decision to withhold merit raises while we are in negotiations.

Local journalists are there to celebrate community milestones and capture pivotal moments.

They lead conversations and encourage self-reflection. Their work educates and informs, connecting residents to valuable resources and opportunities.

Without local journalism, many stories would go untold. And without the talented men and women who capture and report on life in our city, our community would be a lesser place for those who call it home.

Joe Hogsett
Mayor of Indianapolis

Editor’s note: The Indianapolis Star Newspaper Guild is in contract negotiations with Gannett. We’ve asked our community to submit letters of support as we try to reach a fair deal. You can read about Gannett’s attempts to downgrade our health care, and their decision to withhold merit raises while we are in negotiations.

Dear Gannett:

I’m writing this letter in support of the highly talented people from the Indianapolis News Guild who produce the Indianapolis Star each and every day. Yes, people. I know their names. I read their bylines before I dive into each article. I know a few of them personally because they live in our community and our professional lives have at times crossed paths. However, most I’ve never met in person. Still, I know them by the quality of their work, and it’s this quality that defines the Indianapolis Star.

As the deputy mayor for a medium-sized city in Central Indiana, I depend on the Indianapolis Star to help deliver information to residents of my community, and to share our success stories with readers both near and far. I want people to read the truth about what’s happening here and the good work that’s taking place. But, yes, not every story is a positive one. I value the accountability that solid journalism demands of our public officials and community leaders, for the facts behind the stories that take hours to uncover, write and report on in a balanced manner – not to mention the additional effort required of them to garner online clicks and social media shares.

I recently became aware of the contract negotiations between Gannett and members of the Indianapolis News Guild after the Star’s investigation into the allegations surrounding a government official. I stand with IndyStar journalists because the work they perform serves a vital role as watchdog within our democracy that cannot be fully served by bloggers, advertisers and my friends on Facebook and Twitter. It’s thanks to a free press and the hard work of Star staff that local citizens can be better informed about such issues.

My concern is what effect the new contract will have on the quality of the Indianapolis Star when we lose the very people readers like me have come to admire and trust. By refusing merit pay raises and reducing contributions to some employees’ health care over others within Gannett, the professionals whose work we know and respect will start to disappear from the pages of the Indianapolis Star.

Please work in good faith with members of the Guild so a fair contract can be achieved, and so the vital work of IndyStar journalists with their years and in some cases decades of experience can continue.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Steve Cooke
Deputy Mayor
City of Noblesville

We at the Indiana AFL-CIO believe that a strong labor movement is essential for an equitable society. In today’s economy, the rich keep getting richer. We believe that it is the workers who generate that wealth who should reap the benefits.

Which is why we are declaring our support for the workers of The Indianapolis Star, represented by the Indianapolis Newspaper Guild, CWA 34070.

As an organization, we represent nearly 300,000 hardworking Hoosiers across several industries: steelworkers, teachers, electricians, grocery store employees, plumbers, construction workers, and many more. We know the value of solidarity. We know what we can achieve when we stand united.

We were dismayed to hear that the Star’s parent company, Gannett, has been withholding pay raises from their hardworking employees. We were likewise disappointed to hear that Gannett is trying to downgrade the union’s health care options.

We call on Gannett to stop these shameless tactics and to enter into a fair and just contract with IndyStar workers.

Only then will the company have demonstrated its commitment to its readers and customers.

Sincerely,
Brett Voorhies
President

Read more about our fight:

• July: What you need to know about the latest negotiations
• An open letter to Gannett: We want to be treated with basic respect
• May: Gannett tells IndyStar workers it will hold pay raises hostage
• Don’t downgrade our health care: The Guild asks for a fair deal