Unionization in the American Newsroom, 1930 to 1960

Abstract

This study of the material benefits brought to American news workers from the 1930s through the 1960s builds on previous work by media labor-studies scholars such as Bonnie Brennen, Daniel

Happiness in newsroom contracts: communicative resistance for digital work and life satisfaction

“…Concerning RQ1, WGAE CBAs illustrate how bargaining units incorporate language on workplace rights, newsworkers’ benefits, and limits on management rights, revealing the relative weight of different union solutions to newsworkers’ digital-era grievances. The research suggests that unions extend to digital newsworkers many language provisions earlier generations have gained: for instance, antidiscrimination; a discipline and discharge process; a grievance process; filling of job vacancies; schedules and hours of work; overtime; shift and other pay differentials; health and safety; health benefits; retirement benefits; leaves of absence; transit and parking plans; pay raise systems; training and professional development; and employee involvement in workplace decisions (Cohen and de Peuter, 2020, 2022; Leab, 1970; Mari, 2018; Rosen, 1951). Yet WGAE CBAs also secure new digital-era language protecting workers: for example, anti-harassment online; freelance, temporary contractor, and/or intern support; remote work; minimum workload and productivity targets; job security (e.g.…”

“…Founded in 1933, the ANG became an early leader in obtaining collective agreement language, establishing a model contract by 1936 that served as the basis of the Guild's demands, which could arguably improve newsworkers' life satisfaction. The ANG initially secured language for paid vacations, sick leave, hospitalization plans, opportunities for newsworkers to do outside work, leaves of absence for fellowships, and royalties to reuse journalists' works (Mari, 2018). The ANG also advocated against gender and racial discrimination and pay inequities (Ayers, 2014).…”

We’ve Got a Union, Now What?

“…Reporters, aware of the precarity of their positions, preferred to organize under the label of professionals, for example, in press clubs or associations around beats, such as the Baseball Reporters Association of America (Mari, 2018, pp. 159–160), rather than unionize (Nerone & Barnhurst, 2003).…”

“…The decades following the establishment of the American Newspaper Guild brought power struggles and strikes, as well as significant achievements that affected labor relations and practices in the newsroom (Scott, 2009). Wages were increased and stabilized, and journalists worked shorter hours and enjoyed several workplace protections and, importantly, severance pay (Mari, 2018). Importantly, the gap between perceived blue- and white-collar allegiances within the newsroom was beginning to narrow (McKercher, 2002).…”

Labor Reporting and Its Critics in the CIO Years

“…At the same time critics were lambasting the press for antilabor bias, journalists were coming to know unionism firsthand through the growth of the American Newspaper Guild. The birth of the Guild in 1933 was the most significant development in the newspaper industry in the 1930s, changing the dynamics of labor–management relations wherever an organizing campaign took place, whether successful or not (Brennen, 2004; Glende, 2012a; Kuczun, 1970; Leab, 1970; Mari, 2018; Salcetti, 1992; Scott, 2009). The Guild was part of a broader range of personal experiences and ideological inclinations that drove those covering the labor beat and their colleagues in the newsroom.…”