Join MGW

Make a difference in your workplace.

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Join your industry peers

Media Guild of the West is a local union of The NewsGuild-CWA, which represents more than 25,000 journalists and media workers across the United States and Canada, including at the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, BuzzFeed News, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, Quartz, and more.

MGW represents workers at the Los Angeles Times, the Arizona Republic, Phoenix New Times, the Desert Sun, the Southern California News Group, the Dallas Morning News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and the Austin American-Statesman.

See a list of Guild-represented newsrooms and Guild-negotiated salaries here.

Take a seat at the table

When you form a union, your employer is required to bargain with you over your wages, hours and working conditions. That means that if your company wants to change your retirement plan or healthcare provider, they need to talk to you about it first. If the company wants to add or change a policy, from the dress code to your wages, they have to negotiate it.

When you form a union, you and your co-workers combine your efforts — and your leverage — in order to fight for what you want to preserve and protect in your workplace and for the change you want to see. You also gain a legally protected channel for voicing your workplace concerns.

Negotiate a contract

The Guild helps its members negotiate strong contracts with wage scales, benefit packages, just-cause employment, guaranteed severance, seniority in layoffs, ethical protections for journalists and more.

At the Los Angeles Times, MGW was able to negotiate:

  • An immediate 12.5% increase to overall payroll, with an average raise of more than $11,000.

  • A $250 signing bonus.

  • Wage scales establishing pay minimums and guaranteeing step raises that extend to 21 years of industry experience.

  • Raises of 5% in Year One of the contract, and raises of at least 2.5% in Years Two and Three.

  • Job protections including a disciplinary standard of just cause, seniority in layoffs, and limits on the company’s ability to subcontract or outsource work.

  • Limits to healthcare cost increases.

  • A stronger version of the NFL’s “Rooney Rule,” requiring the company to interview two people from underrepresented backgrounds for every union job.

  • Much more.

Ready to get started?

Contact an organizer today. Your message will be kept strictly confidential: