Editor's Note: This story has been updated to more accurately explain where the unionizing process stands.
Journalists at local Gannett-owned newspapers have filed notice with the National Labor Relations Board that they want to vote on unionizing. The new bargaining unit is called the Southwest Florida News Guild and is under the umbrella of the News Guild Communications Workers of America, which has unions in more than thirty Gannett newsrooms. A vote will happen in the next thirty days.
This morning’s announcement comes one week after the last paper was printed at the Naples Daily News building on Immokalee Road. The News Press, Naples Daily News, The (Bonita) Banner, and Marco Eagle, all Gannett’s papers in Southwest Florida are now printed at the company’s Sarasota facility.
David Dorsey has been a reporter at the News Press since 1994 and says since the Naples and Fort Myers newsrooms began working together a year ago, they started to talk about banding together when dealing with management at Gannett. He talked with WGCU's Julie Glenn earlier today.
Dorsey: This is really a grass-roots movement that was maybe five months in the making. It is a national trend, the Arizona Republic really inspired us last year when they announced the same type of union out that way.
WGCU: Have you seen them reaping benefits from having unionized like this? Or what do you anticipate happening here locally.
Dorsey: It’s too early to say with them. Because they are new to this. It’s also too early to say with the Mimai Herald they announced their unionization earlier this year. But in researching this like the reporter that I am and loking at both sides of it. I mean, I was lucky to be able to get ahold of some of the corporate information that they handed out at other gannett sites that have been unionizing and was able to compare that with information from papers that were unionized papers like the LA times. The Minimum pay raise for reporters there was 10% and the average was 20%. And that just sort of fueled into my desire to get this done. But, you know, let’s be honest. Everybody wants a pay raise, but I’m more interested in preserving and sustaining local news journalism here in Southwest Florida.
