Desert Sun journalists vote overwhelmingly to unionize

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Journalists of The Desert Sun on Wednesday won a resounding victory in their unionization campaign, forming a union with a vote of 13-1, well surpassing the simple majority needed. A regional office of the National Labor Relations Board oversaw the vote, which was completed by mail-in ballot and counted in a video conference due to the pandemic.

The vote count came exactly two months after the newspaper’s staff went public with their effort to form a union. At the time, they released a mission statement calling for fair treatment, diversity in hiring, pay equity and protections for veteran journalists. Ninety percent of eligible employees signed union authorization cards indicating they wished to be represented by the NewsGuild, but Gannett — the newspaper’s parent company — declined to voluntarily recognize the union. Instead, through local management, they informed staff that they “respect the right of each of you to choose for yourself whether you do or do not wish to unionize.”

That choice has now been made.

“This win is big because it reaffirms what I already know: our reporters, photographers and producers are united behind our steps to better the newsroom,” photographer and videographer Vickie Connor said. “I’m excited because I know we will bring this winning energy to the bargaining table to fight for the changes we want and need.”

The Desert Sun NewsGuild and Gannett will next begin bargaining their first contract. The Desert Sun NewsGuild is now a unit of Media Guild of the West, a local of The NewsGuild-CWA, the nation's largest union for news industry employees.

“I'm grateful to my colleagues who worked incredibly hard to achieve this victory," said Janet Wilson, senior environment reporter. “Now, we can work collectively on issues like equitable pay and scheduling, job security and a diverse newsroom that represents the entire Coachella Valley. Hopefully, Gannett will speedily recognize these shared goals with a fair contract.”

The successful effort at The Desert Sun is part of a surge of organizing drives in newsrooms across the country, including at Gannett, which merged with GateHouse Media in a private equity-funded takeover in 2019. The company has laid off workers and frozen certain benefits throughout the pandemic. Consolidation has hit close to home, as several dozen employees of The Desert Sun were laid off last year when the newspaper’s printing press was shuttered.

Elsewhere around the company, The Arizona Republic voted overwhelmingly to organize in 2019. Four Gannett newsrooms in Florida — the Palm Beach Post, Palm Beach Daily News, Naples Daily News and Ft. Myers News-Press — voted to unionize only hours apart last June. Three Gannett-owned newsrooms in New Jersey — the Bergen Record, the Daily Record and the NJ Herald — jointly announced a unionizing effort earlier this month.

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Media Guild of the West, TNG-CWA Local 39213, represents more than 500 workers, including at The Los Angeles Times and The Arizona Republic. The NewsGuild-CWA is the largest union of media professionals in the country, representing more than 25,000 journalists and other news industry employees in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.