Staff at the Fort Worth Report, a nonprofit news outlet, voted overwhelmingly to form a union, they announced Monday.
A secret ballot election was triggered due to the nonprofit’s leadership declining to voluntarily recognize the Fort Worth Reporters Guild in late January. At a vote of 11-1, journalists and non-management staff were in favor for union representation. The Fort Worth Reporters Guild will be part of The NewsGuild-CWA and the Media Guild of the West.
Through this unionization, staff can now negotiate as a union for contracts governing their working conditions and pay.
“These results were not based on mob rule, but rather a reflection of every single unit member who has been heavily involved in this process since its launch,” the Guild’s organizing committee said in a statement. “This is the next and vital step for our community newsroom, and we look forward to steering trusted news forward in Tarrant County together.”
Chris Cobler, the Fort Worth Report’s founding editor, publisher and CEO, wrote a response to the unionization on Monday, where he said leadership respects their right to organize and they will start negotiating a collective bargaining agreement.
“Throughout this process, our organization’s commitment to Fort Worth and its residents will not change,” Cobler wrote. “We will continue delivering free, fair and independent local reporting that supports an informed and engaged civic life in Fort Worth.”
The Fort Worth Reporters Guild accused management of several union-avoidance measures in recent weeks, such as hiring a third-party labor relations firm specializing in keeping workplaces “union free.”
Improvements the union will advocate for, it says, include regular raises, a transparent pay scale and protections against unjust firings and layoffs.
“The Guild looks forward to working with the Report’s management and board of directors to establish a fair and constructive bargaining process in the near future,” the union said in a statement.