To Our Colleagues, April 11, 2018
On April 11, 2018, Chicago Tribune Guild launched our public organizing effort with a letter to the newsroom:
Dear Colleagues:
In the past few weeks, we've talked to most of you about our hopes for the Chicago Tribune and its community publications. Those conversations have convinced us: It's time to form a union. We're hoping you'll join us.
A wide range of the newsroom is represented in this effort. Our organizing committee includes veterans and newcomers, among them many prize-winners, all dedicated to providing our readers with the first-rate coverage of local, state and regional news they expect.
But a series of corporate owners — Tronc being only the most recent — has jeopardized our ability to do great work.
Regular raises, cost-of-living adjustments and job security are non-existent. The cost of our healthcare benefits has significantly increased. Our maternity and paternity policy is inadequate.
Development opportunities — the kind that allow us to achieve professional goals and to enrich our news coverage — are rare. We have lost many talented colleagues to higher-paying jobs that offer better protections and more possibilities for advancement.
And although we live in a racially and ethnically diverse city and state, diversity is not well-reflected in the newsroom. A more diverse staff will help guide coverage that fully reflects the lives of the many types of communities in and around Chicago. We can do better.
Our primary goal in forming a union is to give us, the Tribune's journalists, a voice in setting the course for the publications we hold dear. This includes the Aurora Beacon-News, Daily Southtown, Naperville Sun, Elgin Courier-News, RedEye and Hoy.
In the coming days, we'll ask you to join this effort by submitting signature cards signaling your support for representation by the NewsGuild-Communication Workers of America. The guild represents thousands of journalists and media workers at respected papers such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Baltimore Sun and — as of this year — the Los Angeles Times.
This would be the first union for editorial employees in the Tribune's 170-year history, and we know you may have questions. We did too. Please feel free to approach any of us. We would love to talk to you.
We believe the union is an investment — in our work, in ourselves, in our readers, in our city and state.
For the Chicago Tribune. For Chicago.