‘Enough’: Indianapolis Star journalists picket to ‘demand a fair contract’ from Gannett

Indianapolis Star journalists picketed round Monument Circle on Thursday to name consideration to a union contract dispute with father or mother firm Gannett.

“Our contract proposal is fairly massive. However, we have been at it for a pair years,” mentioned Jenna Watson, photojournalist and Indianapolis NewsGuild president. “And we’re right here to say ‘sufficient is sufficient.’ We wish Gannett to cooperate and present up with respect and make motion towards us in getting our subsequent contract ratified.”

The Star’s union alleges Gannett has delayed or proven up “unprepared” to negotiating classes and “belittled” proposals associated to office security and variety, resulting in a two-year hole with no contract.

Gannett declined a request for an interview and wouldn’t clarify why. However, in a brief written assertion, a spokesperson mentioned the corporate “values and respects” IndyStar’s workers, negotiates in good religion and expects to have a contract “quickly.” They didn’t reply additional questions.

The union is asking for an up to date pay scale, yearly value of residing raises, extra protections for office well being and security, a greater severance bundle and practices for variety in hiring and retention, Watson mentioned, amongst different issues.

“We wish the corporate to do a pay research, as a result of we consider there’s some pay inequities amongst completely different journalists, notably of various racial backgrounds, gender identities,” she mentioned.

This contract dispute ought to matter to individuals who don’t work within the newsroom too, Watson and others mentioned, as a result of “after we’re supported, we are able to do higher work, we are able to report on our communities higher.”

“If we are able to enshrine higher pay in our unions, and in our workplaces, we are able to preserve native journalists right here for an extended time frame. They’ll get to know the communities,” mentioned Kayla Dwyer, transportation reporter and guild steward. “And communities need that. They’re sick and bored with all this turnover and folks continuously leaving.”

READ MORE: South Bend Tribune information employees transfer to type union

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Gannett CEO Mike Reed made $7.74 million together with a large bonus in 2021, in keeping with the Boston Enterprise Journal, 160 occasions greater than the corporate’s median worker wage of $48,419. That has been some extent of rivalry for NewsGuild members across the nation.

“Typically you simply must take a extra seen step and have the neighborhood see what is going on on, as a result of then the neighborhood may also put stress on the corporate,” mentioned Jennifer Proffitt, Florida State College communications professor. “And I feel it may be very efficient.”

A part of Proffitt’s analysis has centered on labor in newspapers. Gannett owns 10 newspapers throughout Indiana. In response to Poynter, an August spherical of layoffs hit three of these papers: Courier & Press (Evansville), The Herald-Instances (Bloomington) and Instances-Mail (Bedford).

Nationwide, greater than 400 reporters had been laid off and one other over 400 open positions had been reduce as Gannett reported losses within the second quarter of 2022. It’s not the primary time jobs had been reduce by the corporate previously few years. In a 2019 lay-off spherical, the Star misplaced 4 journalists.

The Star was not amongst those who misplaced employees this time, seemingly as a result of it was nonetheless in contract negotiations. Of the over 100 newsrooms the place Poynter has tracked layoffs, probably the most had been non-union.

Collective bargaining efforts are rising throughout Gannett’s papers. The South Bend Tribune voted to unionize in February 2020 and employees on the Courier Journal in Louisville introduced they plan to join the Indianapolis NewsGuild Local on Tuesday. Greater than 20 Gannett newsrooms have at the least began to unionize since 2020, in keeping with Poynter.

“There are fewer and fewer newspapers, fewer and fewer positions due to the consolidation of possession occurring throughout the U.S.,” Proffitt mentioned. “[Unionized journalists] need to make their newsrooms a spot the place individuals need to keep, that they’re able to cowl the communities in a manner that’s helpful … However having that seat on the desk is basically necessary. As a result of let’s face it, the proprietor’s main job is to earn cash for shareholders or for traders. It is not essentially offering the most effective journalism for a neighborhood.”

Proffitt mentioned the layoffs and excessive turnover because of restricted pay and upward mobility is probably going driving this unionization wave throughout many information organizations owned by massive companies or personal fairness companies. Although the development isn’t restricted to journalists employed by such teams.

“Simply continuously watching your colleagues leaving is basically demoralizing. And, after all, that additionally impacts the type of content material you possibly can present,” she mentioned. “When there’s fewer individuals making an attempt to cowl varied beats, one thing has to get dropped, proper? You’ll be able to’t cowl every part. And in order that impacts … the flexibility to do investigative information reporting and so forth.”

The Star’s newsroom has damaged main tales over time, together with being the primary to uncover the intercourse abuses of convicted USA gymnastics physician Larry Nassar and incomes a Pulitzer Prize in 2021 for its function in an investigation into police Okay-9 items, whereas additionally reporting on many day-to-day political and neighborhood occasions in Indiana.

Indiana Public Broadcasting’s Violet Comber-Wilen contributed to this story.

Contact reporter Adam at arayes@wvpe.org or observe him on Twitter at @arayesIPB.