Category Archives: Ongoing Issues

January 28, 2022 · 2:59 pm

Gannett reduces parking costs for IndyStar journalists for most of 2022

Today, we have cause for celebration.

IndyStar’s parent company, Gannett, has agreed to lower monthly parking rates for members of our bargaining unit starting in March through the end of 2022, slashing costs for some of our members by more than half. It’s a win nearly two years in the making.

While reporting through a public health crisis, when the company barred us from working from the office, our journalists collectively spent over $13,000 for parking spots they didn’t need. At the same time, Gannett paid out bonuses to CFOs that could’ve paid our parking expenses 127 times over.

But Gannett’s greed didn’t just affect our members who paid for parking. The company also chose to get rid of company cars that allowed flexibility for our members without cars onsite to go to assignments or cover breaking news.

So, we filed expense reports. We taped our parking receipts to our news director’s office window. We threatened mass cancellation.

Indianapolis News Guild members deliver a letter informing Gannett leadership of plans for members to cancel parking on November 29, 2021. Photo: Ko Lyn Cheang

We spoke up and IndyStar leaders listened. Through collective action, we’ve reached a compromise that will boost morale, encourage in-office collaboration and save our members hundreds of dollars they would have paid to come to work.

This is what union power can do. This is a product of the community we’ve built in the Indianapolis News Guild.

Congratulations and good work, colleagues.

Now, let’s keep up the momentum. It’s been almost two years since our contract expired – let’s get the fair contract we deserve.  

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October 5, 2021 · 11:09 am

Pay our pandemic parking expenses, Gannett.

An important part of our job as journalists is the ability to be nimble, to pick up and go at a moment’s notice and get somewhere quickly.

This requires reliable transportation, which we know isn’t feasible for every single employee or intern on their own.

Gannett, IndyStar’s parent company, has taken multiple steps that have made this harder for everyone.

The company saddled hardworking journalists with fees for the office parking garage even as they were barred from working in the office for 17 months, while fire-hosing two Chief Financial Officers with more than $1.7 million in bonuses.

And those who are now returning to the office face yet another transportation challenge: The company stripped IndyStar of its vehicles that staff who walk or bike to work could use during the work day to get to assignments or breaking news quickly. 

In the same breath, CEO Mike Reed told his employees this in a July 2020 email: “It’s critically important that we manage our expenses conservatively through the pandemic, enabling us to position our business for greater success as the economy rebounds.”

Why can’t they give us, their bottom line, what amounts to a drop in the bucket?

That’s why earlier this month, members of the Indianapolis Newspaper Guild filed expense reports for what we’ve paid in unnecessary parking expenses over the course of the pandemic. Our members who walk or bike to work or were recently hired filed reports requesting a penny to show solidarity.

In total, we filed at least $13,340 in parking expenses. Those bonuses paid to Gannett executives could have paid for that 127 times over.

And without the company vehicles, we have members who will have to take expensive Ubers or be forced to pay the costly parking fees to have a personal vehicle on-site, once we are required to return to the office full time.

Obviously, transportation is just one issue of many we’re fighting as we continue contract negotiations. But we feel it’s important not to let the company off the hook when they needlessly nickel-and-dime the very employees whose work they’ve praised endlessly during a once-a-century catastrophe.

But, unlike the combined salaries, stock options and bonus payouts to two CEOs, talk is cheap. It’s time for Gannett to support its journalists.

Read our letter to IndyStar and Gannett leadership, sent September 16, 2021:

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May 3, 2019 · 6:09 am

‘The destroyer of newspapers’ is coming after IndyStar’s parent company. Here’s why you should care.

The future of local journalism in Indianapolis and beyond could be in danger if a vulture hedge fund gets its hands on Gannett, IndyStar’s parent company.

Digital First Media, otherwise known as MediaNews Group (MNG) owned by the Alden Global Capital hedge fund, has gained a reputation in recent years for buying newspapers and stripping them of their already scarce resources.

Earlier this year, MNG attempted a hostile takeover of Gannett, which failed. Since then, they’ve nominated six members to Gannett’s eight-member board of directors in another attempt to takeover the company.

Although DFM’s recent reduction from six nominees to three was good news for Gannett in the company’s efforts to resist a hostile takeover by DFM, it’s unlikely the three remaining nominees would help the cause of the Indianapolis NewsGuild, IndyStar, or local journalism in more than 100 cities across the country.

The three remaining nominees have strong ties to Alden and MNG. Heath Freeman is Alden’s president. Steven B. Rossi is MNG’s former CEO. The third nominee, Dana Goldsmith Needleman, serves on the board of directors for Fred’s discount stores — a company that’s seen its share price fall 80 percent since Alden’s handpicked directors joined Fred’s board in 2017.

As the Communications Workers of America wrote in a letter to Gannett shareholders, Freeman, Rossi and Needleman “are hopelessly conflicted by close professional ties to MNG … If elected to the board, these nominees could not credibly negotiate a transaction with Alden, given that they would stand to benefit personally from a deal that unfairly favors MNG/Alden.”

What happens to newspapers acquired by Alden/MNG/DFM? Workers are greeted by a sharper staff-cutting knife than we’ve encountered in Indianapolis.

From 2016 to 2018, Digital First Media laid off workers at twice the rate of other national newspaper chains. The New York Times has labeled Alden “the destroyer of newspapers.”

The publisher at The Denver Post resigned abruptly, saying he was “ready for something a little less stressful” after working under DFM.

Wait, there’s more. In April, we learned the Department of Labor is investigating accusations that Alden took almost $250 million in employee pension assets and channeled the funds into its own accounts.

And now, Alden Global Capital is facing heat after the collapse of Payless Shoes. In court filings, a committee called the Payless catastrophe an “18-month free fall … into one of the largest liquidations in retail history,” according to industry press.

If you care about local news and the value it brings to your community and our democracy, we urge you voice your opposition of a board with MNG-backed members.
Here’s what you can do:

  • Sign The NewsGuild’s petition to oppose Alden Global Capital’s hostile takeover bid for Gannett and, in so doing, join the launch of our broader effort on World Press Freedom Day to #SaveLocalNews – an essential pillar of local democracy: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/save-local-news
  • If you are a Gannett shareholder, vote FOR ALL on the WHITE proxy card, which includes Stephen Coll, the dean of the Columbia University graduate school of journalism and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. Forget about the blue proxy card, where you’ll find the folks who dismantled Payless shoe stores and Fred’s.
  • Share this post with the hashtag #SaveLocalNews on Twitter or Facebook.

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Filed under Ongoing Issues, Save The Star

September 6, 2010 · 11:59 am

Keep It Local campaign begins in Indy

Keep It LocalGreetings to all of you on this Labor Day 2010.

This week, the Indianapolis News Guild will distribute new signs that we hope you will all hang/showcase/display, on your desks.

The sign says “Keep it Local” … and this will kick off our publicity campaign against the Gannett hub concept that threatens to break apart our newsroom. We believe that consolidated hubs are a mistake and that the best way for journalists to serve readers is by having journalism done locally.

Similar outreach efforts are being coordinated or are planned this week at the other Gannett properties that have unions including Rochester, St. Louis and Detroit and Sheboygan.

Attached is a copy of our flier — locally produced, of course, by one of our expert designers. They’ll match in color and attitude our desk tents and lanyards.

We hope all of you will participate with us.

In solidarity,
The Indy News Guild leadership team

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Filed under 2009 Contract Negotiations, General, Layoffs/Buyouts, Ongoing Issues

April 22, 2010 · 12:33 pm

New grievance filed, Kronos, callback language, differential, election, vacation requests

New grievance filed
We officially notified the Star on April 19 that the Indianapolis Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA 34070, is filing a grievance over the outsourcing of work performed by our members in the news room in violation of the contract. On Monday, April 5, The Star began using a page of baseball content that is produced by USA Today. This is work that previously has been done by page designers, copy editors and paraprofessionals represented by The Guild. This is a violation of the contract as stated on Page 1, “Jurisdiction of the Guild, Local No. 34070, shall include all work presently performed by the unit covered by this contract. Performance of this work … shall be assigned to employees of the Employer covered by this contract, provided that employees exempt from the bargaining unit pursuant to Article I below may perform bargaining unit work.”

The Guild MUST step in and defend our jobs — otherwise “free” and preproduced copy makes its way into the paper, not unlike the “News From You” stuff that runs in our zones sections. We hope everyone will read a Gannett blog piece on the arrangement between Gannett’s six N.J. newspapers and an employee of the New Jersey Devils who is providing coverage of the team for the newspapers. That may be a coup for the pro hockey team, says The New York Times, but it “puts the papers in the odd position of publishing news coverage supplied by the entity being covered.”

Kronos is coming
The Guild told the company today that it bregrudgingly accepts the implementation of the Kronos “fingerprint representation” scanner, which will be put into use in the coming months (likely June) to keep track of employees’ work hours. This will replace the time cards employees currently fill out and submit every two weeks. The company says this system cuts the amount of people and time required to keep track of employees’ work time and issue paychecks. The company’s human resources department and Star editor Dennis Ryerson have said it will take about 45 days for employees to get used to the system and then it functions without problems. After several meetings with the company, the Guild asked that all reporters, and all newsroom employees, who don’t have a set schedule in the Downtown office, be exempted from being required to use the Kronos system. (Those who don’t get OT are already exempted.) That request was rejected. About 100 IC folk will have to begin to “register” themselves in coming days to get inputted into the system. Zones and photogs are some that won’t have to fingerscan but will still have to record their hours in the new system. The Guild has asked editor Dennis Ryerson to have managers hold department meetings to address individual concerns and we’ve asked HR to ensure that e-records that contain personal details be deleted promptly to protect privacy. Those are matters under advisement. And, for better or for worse, all of us in the unit are going to be paid for all the time we put in the job.

Callback language, differential
Although the company has challenged a grievance filed by the Guild and related to the July 2009 layoffs, there is a provision in the contract related to layoffs that requires the company to give those who were laid off first preference for two years for any new jobs. The contract is not specific on the issue of a guaranteed rehire, and the Guild and the company have agreed on language for a call-back procedure. The Guild and the company also agreed to language that will set up a flat $20 per shift differential to be paid to those Guild-represented employees who fill in regularly in managers’ timeslots starting May 1.

Another election
Officers (five of them) are selected by the News Guild every three years, per bylaws, for three-year, unpaid terms. Your choice to become involved is certainly encouraged, and there are many rewards that come with being an officer — leadership, a chance to assist your coworkers, and the forum to make the workplace better. All five spots are “up” July 1, and we could really use your help — this is your union. Representation is especially welcome from photographers and building services, in particular. Anyone interested in finding out more about becoming a Guild officer should contact any of the Guild officers by June 9 — that’s 21 days prior to the June 30 election, as per our bylaws.

Vacation requests
According to the contract (Article VII, Section 2), vacation requests filed by April 1 should be approved or rejected by April 15. After that, supervisors have two weeks after a vacation or PL day request has been made to inform employees if their request has been approved. If you made your request before April 1 and have not been told whether your request has been approved, or if you make a request and are not told within two weeks, contract a Guild officer or steward.

As always, tune into indynewsguild.com for the latest.

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Filed under Events/Meetings, General, Grievances/Arbitration, Ongoing Issues