U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown will join The Dayton Newspaper Guild for a rally Tuesday from noon to 1 p.m. in front of the Dayton Daily News Media Center, 1611 S. Main St.

Brown will urge the Dayton Daily News to bargain fairly with the Guild to finally resolve its contract talks after 21 years of stonewalling. He will also speak in support of the Employee Free Choice Act, an effort he is supporting in Congress that would help local unions to get fair play from companies like the Dayton Daily News.

Brown will be one of several local political leaders at the rally, including Jane Mitakides, Mike Turner’s opponent in the 3rd congressional district, and Victoria Wulsin, who is running against Jean Schmidt in the 2nd congressional district.

The Guild last week announced the launch of an extensive public awareness campaign over the coming months. The first phase of the campaign, which includes billboard, radio and print advertising, was funded in part by more than $50,000 in contributions from The Newspaper Guild, Communication Workers of America and Guild locals from across the country.

The Dayton Daily News declared impasse and walked out of contract talks after 11 months of negotiations on Dec. 6. The Guild continues to press an unfair labor practice charge against the Dayton Daily News for unilaterally declaring impasse.

The Dayton Daily News has been stonewalling the Guild for 21 years since it last ratified a contract. Minimum base pay has not increased for 14 years. Unresolved issues are: the company’s desire to freeze wages in a time of strong profits, deny part-time workers affordable health care and rig arbitration in its favor, among others.

The Guild represents 147 reporters, copy editors, photographers, online workers, artists and editorial assistants. The Newspaper Guild is a sector of Communication Workers of America.

The Dayton Newspaper Guild today announced the launch of a campaign to raise awareness about the Dayton Daily News’ unfair treatment of editorial workers.

The campaign will formally kick off with a rally featuring U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) along with other state and local leaders in front of the Dayton Daily News Media Center, 1611 S. Main St., on Tuesday, March 18 from noon to 1 p.m.

The campaign’s first phase will be mostly funded by more than $50,000 in contributions from our partner unions — The Newspaper Guild and Communication Workers of America — along with donations from other newspaper Guild locals across the country.

The Dayton Daily News declared impasse after 11 months of negotiations on Dec. 6 and imposed its last contract offer. The Guild continues to press unfair labor practice charges against the Dayton Daily News for unilaterally declaring impasse, an action the Guild contends was illegal.

The Guild is asking for community support for its effort to persuade the Dayton Daily News to return to the bargaining table and offer its workers a fair deal. A strong majority of Guild members signed a petition telling the Dayton Daily News its last offer was not good enough. Guild members delivered the petition to Editor Kevin Riley last week. Visit our website at daytonguild.org for more information or to learn how to write a letter to the editor in support.

Senator Brown will be a featured speaker at Tuesday’s rally, addressing the Employee Free Choice Act. The act would even the playing field for workers like us when companies like the Dayton Daily News refuse to play fair.

The Dayton Daily News has been stonewalling the Guild for 21 years since it last ratified a contract. Minimum base pay has not increased for 14 years. Unresolved issues include: the company’s desire to freeze wages in a time of strong profits, deny part-time workers affordable health care and rig arbitration in its favor, among others.

Last week, the Dayton Daily News announced it will have a new publisher soon. We welcome Mike Joseph, look forward to working with him and urge him to join in partnership with editorial workers to resolve these remaining issues so everyone at the Dayton Daily News can focus on the challenges ahead for our company and our industry.

The Guild represents 147 reporters, copy editors, photographers, online workers, artists and editorial assistants. The Newspaper Guild is a sector of Communication Workers of America.

We wanted to share some fantastic news from Providence, R.I., where The Newspaper Guild held its sector conference during the last week of February. What happend there should tell our membership plenty about the support we have across the country.

We didn’t send anyone to Providence, but we were clearly on people’s minds. On the last day of the conference, March 2, Detroit Newspaper Guild President Lou Mleczko gave an impassioned speech on our behalf, urging locals to show their support by making pledges and sending contributions to Dayton to help us fight for a fair contract.

All told, Guild locals from across the nation pledged $5,925 to support our struggle. And after that, the delegates passed a hat and raised an additional $1,000 for us!

So that’s nearly $7,000 coming our way to help with mobilization, much of it from people our members have never met. How cool is that?

We didn’t ask them to do any of this. They just did, which tells you a lot about the Guild, and why the Dayton Daily News never wanted us to affiliate with an international partner union. We were represented by only a local independent union until 1986, when we affiliated with the Guild.
As many of you know, Communication Workers of America is already providing legal assistance for our unfair labor practice complaint, which is currently under appeal. The Newspaper Guild (which is a sector of CWA) has given us $40,000 to start our public awareness campaign. And now comes these unsolicited gifts directly from our Guild brothers and sisters.
What this should also tell our members, and the company, is that our international partner unions are aware of our struggle, are supportive and are watching closely.
Independent unions don’t have friends and supporters like this. And that is why the company prefers independent unions.