We’re calling on Tribune Publishing to work with the Guild to create a more equitable work environment for all - regardless of race or gender - and to take concrete, measurable steps towards increasing diversity and inclusion across our newsrooms.
Solidarity shining a light on inequity
It’s no secret that journalists across the U.S. are overworked and underpaid, and, when looking at compensation through the lens of race and gender, inequities are plain to see.
In the spirit of working to rectify this, NewGuild-CWA members have created a pay equity study encompassing 11 unionized Tribune Publishing newsrooms across the country.
The results, compiled from data including 384 members’ wages and based on anonymized data obtained from Tribune and survey responses, show that Tribune does not equitably compensate workers, employees are taking on more work while being denied raises, that collective bargaining has made a positive impact, and much more.
We’re calling on Tribune to create a more equitable work environment for all - regardless of race or gender.
We're asking the company to take concrete and measurable steps to address the lack of diversity in our newsrooms and make good on its talk about its commitment to diversity and inclusion. These include tracking and reporting on the state of diversity at its newspapers, concerted efforts to recruit and hire diverse candidates and working with Guild members on issues of diversity and inclusion at each newspaper.
We also expect that when the subject of wages is on the bargaining table, Tribune will bargain in good faith and accept the Guild’s proposals for a pay scale that puts all unionized employees on equal footing with regard to the type of work they do and their experience in their fields.
Key findings
White members have a higher median pay than non-white colleagues, earning about $4,000 more than Hispanic or Latino members, $7,500 more than Black members and $9,000 more than Asian members.
Median pay for women is about $8,000 less than for male colleagues across the company’s unionized newsrooms.
Average pay is significantly higher at the Baltimore Sun and New York Daily News, where members have benefited from collective bargaining for decades.
More than two-thirds of members said they are under compensated for their work.
About a third of members said they work unpaid overtime most weeks and nearly 15 percent said that happens every week. In some newsrooms, more than half of members said they work overtime most weeks.
Women report they are assigned more work than men and non-white members reported they were assigned more work than white colleagues.
