Dayton Newspaper Guild

We are the members of the Dayton Newspaper Guild and we're fighting for a fair contract. Whether you are a Guild member or rely on the Dayton Daily News as a subscriber or advertiser you can get involved and make your voice heard.

Site Note

Please refer to the Guild blog, Deep Background, for more on the latest news.

Upcoming

Tuesday

7.31.12

Front of Media Center, noon

Dayton Newspaper Guild President Lou Grieco will be discussing the contract agreement at a noon news conference in front of the Cox Media Center, 1611 S. Main St.

Taking Notice

Active Guild

Historic vote comes
after quarter-century standoff with Cox

Members of the Dayton Newspaper Guild’s newsroom unit voted Monday, July 30, to ratify a historic contract agreement with Cox Media Group Ohio. The agreement between the Guild and the company breaks one of the longest labor standoffs in the nation. The two last came to terms in 1986, when the Guild was represented by an independent union.

“There are many people who said this dispute would never be settled, but it has been,” said Lou Grieco, president of the Dayton Newspaper Guild. “This contract balances the company’s need for flexibility in a changing media environment against traditional protections our members count on.”

The one-year deal for newsroom workers at the Dayton Daily News comes with union concessions but includes arbitration. For years, the company had resisted agreeing to any meaningful language that would allow terms of a contract to be enforced.

“This is a victory for everyone involved, management and employees alike,” Grieco said. “Because we can finally move forward, put this dispute behind us and work together to continue the innovative journalism that the Dayton Daily News does so well.”

The two sides last negotiated in 2007, when the company declared impasse and posted work rules. The company requested a return to the bargaining table late in 2011. As negotiations continued, Guild members never rested in pursuit of a contract, holding numerous rallies outside the Cox Media Center and silent protests inside. The Guild also leafleted area events and sent letters to the newspaper’s advertisers to gain the public’s support in asking management to keep middle-class jobs in Dayton. The effort gained strength from the many readers and area union proponents who responded with letters and emails to company management in support of the Guild.

Union-represented workers in Cox’s Ohio operation still face a number of challenges. Earlier this month, the Springfield Newspapers Editorial Association merged with the Dayton Newspaper Guild as a separate bargaining unit. The new Springfield Unit is currently in protracted bargaining talks with the company. Also, due to company restructuring, Guild-represented copy editors became a separate unit of the Guild. Those employees are now working under a transitional agreement and will be seeking a first contract within the year. So the difficult work of gaining fair contracts for members continues unabated.

“Many copy editors worked hard to get a contract for those remaining in the traditional bargaining unit,” Grieco said. “We will not rest until those copy editors, and our Springfield brothers and sisters, are under contract.”

The Dayton Newspaper Guild represents more than 100 reporters, photographers, copy editors and editorial assistants who work for the Cox-owned Dayton Daily News and Springfield News Sun. Cox Media Group Ohio also owns WHIO-TV and radio and other newspapers including the Hamilton JournalNews and Middletown Journal.

Blog: Deep Background

July 30, 2012

Contract vote unanimous

In a historic, unanimous vote, Guild members ratify contract agreement with Cox Media Group Ohio.

Posted by daytongu | Read more >

July 18, 2012

Never say die

Nearly 26 years since negotiating the local’s last contract, the never-say-die Dayton Newspaper Guild has reached a tentative agreement with the Dayton Daily News, writes Janelle Hartman at Newsguild.org.

“Wow,” summed it up Tuesday afternoon for local President Lou Grieco as he and his co-negotiators shared a bottle of champagne after the talks wrapped up. “We’ve been close for a week, but it still hasn’t quite sunk in.”

Posted by daytongu | Read more >

June 22, 2012

Guild leaders all

Members of the Dayton Newspaper Guild supported their bargaining team on Friday, June 22, with another silent protest. Members lined both sides of a conference room outside the Dayton Daily News’ 4 p.m. news meeting holding signs reading, “I am a Guild leader.”

Posted by daytongu | Read more >

June 14, 2012

Cox Media Group
takes different tack
for Flag Day 2012

On this Flag Day, Cox Media Group is preparing to send advertising production jobs offshore to low-wage countries like the Philippines, according to a Dayton Business Journal article. And the company continues to insist on the power to replace Guild-represented newsroom jobs that can’t be offshored with low-paid freelancers.

Posted by daytongu | Read more >

May 25, 2012

Report: Cox Media Group
to send jobs overseas

The Dayton Business Journal reports that layoffs are likely in Dayton as Cox Media Group, publisher of the Dayton Daily News, begins outsourcing some advertising design and production work overseas. The article, citing a May 24 internal company memo, reports the work restructuring will begin in August.

Posted by daytongu | Read more >

Site Note

Upcoming

Taking Notice

Recent news coverage of DNG

July 18 Tentative agreement

July 12 DNG/SNEA merger

April 11 Leafleting

March 28 Rally

March 16 Rally

Dayton Copy Desk

Active Guild

Historic vote comes
after quarter-century standoff with Cox