Have a question? Reach out to nbcdigital@nyguild.org!

How do I sign a membership card?

You can join the union by signing the digital union card here (select NBC News Digital from the Employer dropdown menu).

Why are you organizing a union?

We’re organizing to have a voice in our newsroom. The industry is constantly changing, and without a union contract, management can legally change our working conditions or terminate employees for any reason or no reason. A union gives us a seat at the table and a unified voice to speak up when decisions are made that affect our livelihood. By forming a collective voice, we can advocate for better scheduling, pay equity, transparency, diversity in the newsroom, career-growth opportunities and job security. We have more power together than as individuals.

Will we have to “start from scratch” or “bargain from zero” once we are unionized?

After we won our election and our union was officially certified, a legally protected period called “status quo” began, which requires that all of our current working conditions and regular company practices continue. From that point, NBC has to bargain with us over any changes we’d like to make. Our current health plan, 401k, PTO, and other benefits must continue while we bargain from that status quo. At other newsrooms that are bargaining first contracts as part of the NewsGuild, none of those employers have introduced proposals that are worse than the existing status quo — they have built from the existing working conditions. 

How will we decide what changes to propose in a contract?

What we propose changing will be informed by the results of a bargaining survey, which will be distributed to everyone who is eligible within News Digital. Proposals based on this information will be drafted and negotiated by a team of our colleagues. If our members are happy with the current healthcare options or another part of our current benefits package, we can simply propose to lock them in. Anecdotally, we have heard interest across all teams in addressing pay equity, diversity, career development opportunities, comp time procedures, job security through just cause protections, guaranteed severance in the event of layoffs, fair scheduling, and protected avenues for reporting harassment. 

What will happen to our current health care, PTO, and 401k?

We will decide that together. In some newsrooms currently bargaining a contract, like The New Yorker/Conde Nast, members are proposing to lock in the existing health plan. Several other past contracts also locked in the existing plan. At The New Republic, members proposed and agreed to change to a health plan that the Guild has access to through a partnership with the United Furniture Workers and Blue Cross Blue Shield, resulting in savings of hundreds of dollars per month per employee and better quality care. Every newsroom is different, so each makes their own decisions about what to put in a contract.

There is no Guild multi-employer 401k provider, so other newsrooms have either negotiated different providers, higher matches, or locked in the existing match and provider. These are all decisions we will make as a group and will be a part of our bargaining survey.

Can NBC afford all these things we want to improve?

NBC managers have announced that our division quadrupled profits in 2018, with revenue up 41% and costs up only 15%. If we make a proposal that NBC claims they cannot afford, they are legally required to open up their books and show proof so we can adjust our proposals accordingly. A scarcity mindset only benefits NBC and Comcast's bottom line—we know they can absolutely afford reasonable, meaningful improvements. With a smart bargaining strategy, and more importantly a united newsroom willing to stand behind our bargaining team, we can not only lock in things we like about our current benefits but also win improvements to what we have.

How will merit pay work under a union contract?

The “annual merit raises” that the company currently awards are often described as a regular 3% increase, but management has also stressed (and we have seen) that they vary in amount. Some of us receive less of an increase in order for others to see more. As a profitable company with a majority of employees in cities like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, cost of living increases at NBC should be guaranteed. In addition, there’s nothing that prevents a union member from receiving merit pay on top of an annual contractual increase, as is the case at other NewsGuild represented newsrooms.

Now that we have a certified union, we are able to submit information requests that the company is legally required to respond to. Our bargaining team will be able to see concrete accounting of previous merit increases so we can ensure we are proposing a meaningful improvement over that past practice. We have yet to see a NewsGuild contract that leads to a decrease in pay for any member.

How does approval of the contract work?

The bargaining committee will develop a survey that gathers quantitative data from our entire bargaining unit on our group’s top priorities and the details of the changes we’d like to make or things we’d like to lock into a contract. The bargaining team will be supported by Guild representatives, lawyers, and organizers, but the committee leads the entire process and updates our newsroom after every bargaining session (which will be open to observers). Once they have arrived at a complete agreement, the committee will send the contract to the entire bargaining unit for ratification.

Our contract can only be implemented if a majority of eligible members vote to ratify it. If we are not satisfied with the agreement that the bargaining committee reaches with management and vote it down (which is rare), the contract is sent back to the table for further negotiation until an agreement is reached that the majority of staff is happy with. Again, during the bargaining period, status quo prevails; that means NBC can't make changes to our benefits or working conditions without negotiating with us first. If we can't come to an agreement on a specific contract as a group, we keep negotiating until we do. And in the interim, everything is protected.

Are there other membership fees besides the 1.3846% dues rate? 

No. There are no initiation fees and no additional fees to a national or international union. We simply pay 1.3846% of our base pay to the NewsGuild of New York, whose contributions to our parent union (NewsGuild-CWA) are already factored into that rate. Dues are not deducted until we have negotiated and ratified our contract.

The NewsGuild of New York allows any new member without a contract who has signed a membership card to vote in elections for their bargaining unit and the local. 

What are some improvements that other unionized newsrooms have won? 

Every NewsGuild contract includes “just cause,” which eliminates at-will employment status, where we can be fired for any reason or no reason at all. Under just cause, there must be sufficient reason in order to terminate a member.

There are a whole host of improvements in each NewsGuild contract beyond raises—overtime and comp time systems; premium pay for working late night, early morning, or weekend shifts; funds for professional development per person per year; more comprehensive policies around sexual harassment and discrimination; rights for transitioning employees and time off for immigrants navigating the visa process; more affordable health care; a fair process for layoffs; and more. From the small staff at The New Republic to the 500-person newsroom at the LA Times to the mid-size staff at Law360, organized journalists have won meaningful improvements to their quality of life.

At the Los Angeles Times, over 200 people won raises of more than $10,000, and the average raise per person was $11,000 per year. The Guild was also able to successfully convert Aerotek subcontracted employees to regular LA Times staff and won language in their contract that limits the use of subcontractors to eliminate a two tier newsroom. The staff also secured a contractual requirement to interview at least 2 people from underrepresented backgrounds for every position and the right to pursue personal book projects and retain intellectual property rights to those books.

At The New Republic, the staff who are currently at the bargaining table have secured competitive pay minimums, savings on health care, some of the most ambitious diversity language in the industry, a progressive sexual harassment policy, and industry-leading protections for privacy and intellectual property.

At Law360, the union won an immediate 21% increase in total Guild member salaries, up to 4% across the board raises per year in addition to merit pay from the company, a wage premium for night shift, overtime, severance pay, a cap on health care rate hikes, a professional development and mentorship program, and the elimination of onerous daily story quotas and a one-year non-compete agreement.

Will a union prevent layoffs?

No, we cannot prevent layoffs. But we can as a union negotiate for fair notice, severance pay, recall rights, a volunteer process, and health coverage for those who get laid off, which mitigate the impact of losing your job. None of this is currently spelled out in a standardized, guaranteed policy for News Digital.

How can we as a union improve diversity and pay equity at NBC News Digital?

Diversity at all levels of the newsroom is an issue in our entire industry, including at NBC. We know this is a top concern for many in our bargaining unit, and it is disappointing that NBC claimed it was not an issue for us after our roundtables earlier this year. We will fight as a union to improve diversity in hiring and pay equity, not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it also improves the quality of our journalism. 

We can propose language in the contract that can meaningfully improve diversity and equity at NBC News Digital. It is unlawful to require a hiring quota, but other newsrooms have reached agreements with employers to interview a set minimum of applicants and ensure they get past at least the first stage of the hiring process. This is key to ensuring more qualified underrepresented applicants are not screened out of the early stages of the process due to implicit bias. 

We know from our own conversations and from the salaries that people have shared with one another during the organizing process that there is a pay equity issue at NBC. Our bargaining team will have the right to pay data as part of the bargaining process, and we will be able to conduct our own pay equity study and publish anonymized, aggregated results with the newsroom. Documenting the extent of the problem is just the first step—we fix the issue by instituting contractual pay minimums that will start to close the gap.

How will a collective bargaining agreement affect job growth and job descriptions?

We are the union, and we decide what to propose in our contract. We know career growth is a top concern for our bargaining unit, and we will craft contract language that meets our specific needs as a digital staff. We want to make it easier to transfer internally within News Digital, which some people have been retaliated against for pursuing in the past. 

Will we have to clock in and out every day?

Time clocks track when you arrive, take breaks, and leave. Journalists at other NewsGuild newsrooms who have overtime or comp time in their contracts do not clock in and out. Instead, if those journalists want to collect pay for extra time worked, they fill out timesheets, which log if and when you’ve worked extra hours in order to collect additional compensation. 

Can you be fired or retaliated against for supporting a unionization effort?

The National Labor Relations Act gives workers the right to organize a union in your workplace, and it is illegal for an employer to retaliate against its employees for coming together to improve their working conditions. NBC management is barred from threatening employees or coercing them to oppose a union drive. We are serious about protecting our rights as workers, and we have been trained on what those rights are and how to enforce them.

Why the NewsGuild?

The NewsGuild represents some of the most prestigious newsrooms in the country as well as some of the fastest growing digital media companies. We have been able to benefit from their institutional knowledge, while still maintaining total freedom as we build our own union for our unique newsroom.