As E&P Reported in our February 2023 cover story, "Labor puts it all on the line,” 2022 was a very active year for union membership, walkouts and strikes. And perhaps no one knows this more than Jon Schleuss, the president of The NewsGuild - Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA).
Schleuss grew up in rural Arkansas, as he admits, in a "very republican world," where the idea of unions and strikes was far from the political discourse he and his family would ever discuss. Schleuss entered journalism at a young age at his college radio station. After graduation, he worked for Wehco Media as the online editor of their second-largest newspaper, The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Later, he joined the Los Angeles Times as a data and graphics journalist, becoming involved in organized labor by being one of a small group that helped unionize the Times in 2018. In 2019, Schleuss ran for and won the presidency of the NewsGuild, where he has led their membership of more than 25,000 workers within over 200 media organizations throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
Jon Schleuss keeps an office at the union’s headquarters in Washington, D.C, but spends much of his time "on the road," where many management vs. labor disputes are happening within our industry.
In the E&P cover story, Schleuss admitted, "I've spent much of my time working around the country, advocating for local unions and lobbying for legislation. In the last year, we had more strikes and one-day walkouts (or longer) than ever in the Guild's history."
When asked what he attributes to that growth and the particularly contentious year between news business owners and labor, Schleuss cited consolidation, "bad owners," and the startling number of jobs lost over a decade or more.
On May 23, 2023, Schleuss joined several Gannett/ Guild employees on a NewsGuild-CWA hosted webinar, where they discussed the “damage Chairman / CEO Mike Reed has done to the company." They stated, "Mike Reed's tenure has been a disaster for investors, communities and employees."
During the broadcast, Schleuss stated: “Mike Reed has been an utter disaster for Gannett. Rather than investing in the journalists at the heart of Gannett's success, Reed is destroying newsrooms and alienating readers while raking in millions. It's no surprise that Reed's slash-and-burn management style has sunk Gannett's stock price and driven talented journalists into the arms of its competitors. It's time for shareholders to show Mike Reed their disapproval — or risk even further damage to local newsrooms across the country."
In this episode of "E&P Reports," we go one-on-one with The NewsGuild - Communications Workers of America's President Jon Schleuss on why the past 12 months have had more strikes and walkouts than in the history of the Guild. He also offers insights on how hedge fund owners' entry and subsequent downsizing of so many news media properties today are hurting the workers they employ, the communities they serve and our democracy as a whole.
119 Auto ad dollars are up for grabs, per Borrell's latest study
118 Reporters share insights into reporting on January 6th attack and domestic extremism
117 6AM City takes a bold move into the digital news future
116 A preview of Borrell Miami
115 An update on the antitrust case against Google & Facebook
114 A home page with over 100 ads
113 States starve publishers of ad dollars if they refuse to pledge political allegiance
112 Alden Global Capital's bid for Lee Enterpises, what the heck does it mean?
111 TV Sales Expert, Jim Doyle's book, "Selling with a Servant Heart"
110 Urgent and Sustained Advocacy Needed for the LJSA
109 From TV network news producer to editor of 90 local, online only news sites
108 Fighting for a Native American free press
107 Prognostications, predictions and prophecies from industry execs
106 With 27 community papers meet Cherry Road Media
105 Behind Raw Story’s Progressive Mission
104 Fighting PIO chokepoints
103 Word in Black: Helping the Black Press Survive & Thrive
102 One File Helps Distinguish Between Real & Fake News
101 Radically Rural: Focusing on small-town America
100 What You Need to Know About Launching a News Website
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