Los Angeles Times journalists move toward first-ever strike vote
Journalists at the Los Angeles Times are poised to hold a strike vote, a historic first for the West Coast’s largest newspaper.
Eighty percent of the L.A. Times Guild, the union that represents Times journalists, have pledged to vote yes in a strike authorization vote, the Guild’s Unit Council announced Thursday. Such a vote would give Guild leadership and bargaining committee members the power to call a strike.
“Our members produce the award-winning journalism that the Times relies on to bring in readers and revenue, yet management has taken us for granted for too long,” said assistant editor and Guild officer Hugo Martin (he/him), a 38-year Times veteran.
Times management and the newsroom union, a unit of Media Guild of the West (The NewsGuild-CWA Local 39213), have been bargaining over a new contract for nearly three years. Journalists at the newspaper have not received a cost-of-living increase for nearly four years — a period when inflation drove up the price of food, housing and other essentials.
During negotiations, the Guild accused the company of trying to intimidate Guild members out of participating in collective bargaining or other union activities, an unfair labor practice under the National Labor Relations Act.
In April, the National Labor Relations Board found merit to the Guild’s allegations and issued a complaint against the Times. A hearing will be held in September.
The protracted negotiations, which began in September 2022, have also been marked by several rounds of layoffs and buyouts, resulting in the departure of roughly 200 union members. The Guild now counts just over 200 L.A. Times journalists in its ranks.
“We didn’t reach this point lightly,” said reporter Matt Hamilton (he/him), chair of L.A. Times Guild. “But Guild members are doing more with less every day after several rounds of layoffs, while management continues to drag its feet in negotiations and insists on extreme positions that would roll back job protections. This supermajority of Guild journalists shows that we want a fair deal, and are ready to do what it takes to get one.”
Key issues left on the table include wages, layoff protections and guardrails to prevent Guild work from being outsourced to freelancers, temporary employees, newsroom management and third-party companies.
A strike vote has not yet been scheduled.
“Our members will not stand idly by and allow management to decimate our ranks and gut our job protections,” said reporter Jaclyn Cosgrove (they/them), vice chair of L.A. Times Guild. “We are standing together to fight for better times at a better Times.”
L.A. Times journalists formed the union in early 2018, when the newsroom was owned by Tronc, now known as Tribune Publishing. Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a biotech billionaire, purchased the Times shortly after, promising staff that he would “ensure that you have the tools and resources to produce the high-quality journalism that our readers need and rely upon.”
Guild members negotiated their first collective bargaining agreement the next year. The groundbreaking agreement included an average raise of more than $11,000 per person in its first year, just-cause job protections, limits on increases in healthcare costs, and provisions aimed at increasing staff diversity.
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Media Guild of the West is a local union of The NewsGuild-CWA, representing roughly 700 journalists and news workers at the L.A. Times, Arizona Republic, Dallas Morning News, and other outlets across Southern California, Arizona and Texas.