POLITICO and E&E News Guild reach agreement on first contract
ROSSLYN, Va. — Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, the POLITICO and E&E News (PEN) Guild reached a tentative agreement for its first-ever collective bargaining agreement after 20 months of negotiations.
Covering three years, the tentative contract includes numerous improvements for the company's journalists, including higher pay that helps close inequities in the newsroom, stronger benefits and layoff protections — including enhanced protections against adoption of artificial intelligence, some of the industry’s first contract language regarding the use of AI.
“We formed this union because our colleagues were overworked, underpaid and lacked basic protections,” said Unit Chair Tanya Snyder, a transportation reporter for POLITICO Pro. “This contract will benefit our journalists and lead to a healthier, stronger newsroom.”
Members of PEN Guild, which represents over 270 journalists, must still ratify the contract.
The contract will guarantee raises for the unit and increase the salary floor for key positions such as reporter and digital producer to competitive rates: $75,000 and $63,000, respectively. In addition, lower-paid employees will get raises as high as 6 percent in the first year, while employees hitting anniversaries of five, seven or 10 years at the company will see additional pay bumps. Crucially, the contract also promotes work-life balance by giving salaried employees comp time and hourly employees paid overtime.
Wage inequity was a top issue for many in PEN Guild. The union’s study of newsroom salaries found wage gaps for journalists of color and women and non-binary employees. The contract will take significant steps toward closing those gaps.
Other achievements in the contract include 5 percent caps on insurance premium increases and coverage of IVF and fertility treatments; 24 weeks of paid parental leave; faster vesting of 401(k) matches; automatic transit stipends; a strong policy regarding the treatment of trans and non-binary employees; and just cause protections for the disciplinary process.
POLITICO journalists unionized in October 2021 with over 80 percent support of the newsroom and were formally recognized by the company shortly thereafter.
PEN Guild is part of the Washington-Baltimore Chapter of NewsGuild-CWA.
Contact PEN Guild at politicoeenewsguild@gmail.com.
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Click below to read a fact sheet about the tentative agreement.
POLITICO Paybook: Union pay study finds newsroom inequity
Washington, D.C. — On Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, the POLITICO and E&E News Guild released “POLITICO Paybook.” The union’s newsroom pay study found chronic inequity among the journalists at this company — and doubles as an homage to our signature product, Playbook.
Using salary and demographic data shared by the company, PEN Guild’s data analysis found that journalists of color and women and nonbinary staff on average make significantly less than their white male colleagues.
Here are some topline statistics:
— On average, Black employees make 78 cents for every dollar earned by white staff. That figure is 80 cents for Asian staff and 81 cents for Latino employees.
— Women and nonbinary staff make 93 cents on the dollar compared to male colleagues.
— Pro reporters who staff POLITICO's policy verticals make 78 cents on the dollar compared to main site staff. For E&E News, that figure is 85 cents.
Read more in POLITICO Paybook:
PEN Guild in May proposed a fair pay structure that would significantly reduce these pay gaps and make it easier to attract and maintain a diverse newsroom. Management so far has declined to share its counter-proposal after six months at the bargaining table.
Two weeks ago, 166 employees sent newsroom-wide emails asking management to bring their proposal to the table and begin bargaining in good faith for fair pay.
Contact:
Politicoeenewsguild@gmail.com
POLITICO and E&E News employees elect first unit council
PEN Guild is excited to announce that its members have elected its first unit council, an important step in building the structure for a strong union. The unit council members will serve a one-year term. In an election process that concluded on December 19, members of the POLITICO and E&E News newsrooms elected the following positions:
Unit Chair
Tanya Snyder
Vice Chair, POLITICO
Alex Guillen
Vice Chair, E&E News
Arianna Skibell
Steward Chair
Alice Miranda Ollstein
Secretary
Sean Reilly
PEN Guild announces elections for leadership team
The Politico - E&E News Guild will hold its first-ever election for officers this week after winning voluntary recognition from Politico LLC, a unit of Axel Springer.
The guild conducted a week long open call for nominations, and five employees announced their intention to run for the union’s leadership team.
Tanya Snyder, a transportation reporter for Politico, will run for unit chair, the guild’s top position.
Alex Guillen, energy reporter for Politico, is running for vice-chair for Politico.
Arianna Skibell, a transportation and climate journalist at E&E News, will run for vice chair for E&E News. Skibell is also a member of PEN Guild’s 10-person bargaining committee.
Sean Reilly, air quality and science reporter at E&E News, is running for secretary.
Alice Ollstein, a healthcare reporter for Politico, is running for vice-chair for stewards.
Although the elections are uncontested, PEN Guild members will be asked to cast their ballot affirming the slate of candidates. The guild plans to announce the final results on Monday, Dec. 20.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the POLITICO/E&E union?
A democratic organization composed of your colleagues at POLITICO and E&E News, looking to collectively negotiate fair pay and secure benefits -- all to voice the newsroom’s view in business decisions that affect us.
Who’s involved?
Your colleagues -- the editorial employees in these publications. Some members have volunteered to organize and coordinate the effort. You are always welcome to join the organizing committee.
Are you doing this because you hate management?
We’re doing this because we care about our coworkers and we want our voices to be represented in decisions that affect our lives. The vast majority of comparable news organizations have unionized newsrooms. It is a normal, healthy feature of a well-functioning company culture.
What’s the legal process leading to a union?
We’re working to secure signatures from a supermajority of newsroom employees from E&E and POLITICO. Once that happens, we’ll ask management to voluntarily recognize us. They have already strongly suggested they are unwilling to do that. If they don’t, we’ll have an election six to eight weeks after we announce our union publicly and file for an election with the National Labor Relations Board.
You’ll sign a mission statement describing our values and a union authorization card. That’s a card in which you write your name, work information, contact information, sign and date. These are submitted to the National Labor Relations Board to trigger a Representation Certification election. It’s anonymous.
What happens during the election period?
We expect management will attempt to dissuade us from forming a union. Their arguments will be misleading, reliant on emotional manipulation and falsehoods. You can get more detail about that during specially tailored information sessions.
What happens next?
The union will be certified by the National Labor Relations Board when a majority of employees from POLITICO and E&E vote to support it. Representatives from our union — not necessarily the same people who are on the organizing committee — will then negotiate a contract with management.
Once the union is certified, even before a contract has been finalized, management will be legally required to notify us in advance and bargain over most changes to our working conditions. This is called "status quo."
What will be negotiated in the contract?
It depends on what the newsroom wants! During organizing, we’ve heard frustrations about a lack of transparency and equity around pay; unevenly applied benefits; and burnout. We’ve heard fears that new ownership could draw back on commitments made by management.
We will also negotiate to lock in the parts of the job we like and secure job protections. Ultimately, the precise issues and remedies are up to us.
What have other newsroom unions negotiated?
Minimum pay for a given level of experience. Pay equity studies to determine whether journalists from underrepresented backgrounds are paid fairly. Standards for severance pay in the event of layoffs. Book leave.
Are you guys the woke police?
No. We are trying to get people paid fairly and protect their benefits.
How will management try and block the union?
Similar to any election: a lot of propagandizing. To get slightly more specific, they’ll probably portray a union as something that will shackle reporters and organizers as a bunch of no-fun nudniks. But a union is about a newsroom collectively making its voice heard about the terms of its employment -- so that we can all look out for each other in matters of pay and benefits.
Is it true management won't be able to give out raises during the status quo period?
No. Nothing in labor law would prohibit giving raises. During the status quo period, management must inform the bargaining committee every time it seeks to give an employee a raise and the bargaining committee must approve it. If we are fighting for fair wages and monetary recognition of a job well done, why would a bargaining committee ever not approve a raise? Management will always come up with reasons not to give raises, which they do already. The difference with a union is you'll have a voice to fight back and challenge supervisors who might be willfully misconstruing labor laws.
When are you going to go public?
When we have a supermajority of the newsroom signed on as part of the union. We can’t do it without you.
Journalists of POLITICO and E&E News announce union organizing campaign
Washington, D.C. — The award-winning newsroom staff of POLITICO and E&E News took a major step Friday toward giving a voice in the workplace to more than 250 journalists who dedicate each day to informing Americans on the inner workings of their democratic system.
More than 80 percent of the collective POLITICO and E&E reporters, producers, copy editors, page designers, audio engineers, videographers and more have signed cards and a mission statement indicating their intent to form The PEN Guild, which will become part of The NewsGuild-CWA. “PEN Guild” stands for Politico and E&E News Guild.
The PEN Guild formally requested on Friday that the owners of POLITICO and E&E News — Axel Springer — voluntarily recognize the union, and submitted cards from newsroom employees to the National Labor Review Board calling for an election if Axel Springer does not do so.
When our union is certified, PEN Guild will begin negotiating with Axel Springer on a labor contract.
The PEN Guild’s broad support includes members from every department, reporting team and medium within the newsroom, and spans from recent college graduates to long-tenured newsroom stalwarts with decades of journalism experience. They all believe that the newsroom employees of POLITICO and E&E News deserve to have a voice in decisions that affect us all.
The PEN Guild seeks equitable pay, a diverse and inclusive workplace and job protections for everyone — which we believe will make the newsrooms of POLITICO and E&E places where we are able to do our best work possible.
Read our mission statement here.
About The NewsGuild-CWA:
The NewsGuild-CWA represents more than 25,000 journalists and other media workers in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico at publications and digital sites that include The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, The Indianapolis Star and Consumer Reports. The Newspaper Guild was founded by journalists in 1933 and merged with the Communications Workers of America in 1995. The CWA is one of America’s largest and most diverse unions, including workers in the communications and information industries, broadcast and cable television, airlines, public service, higher education, health care, manufacturing, high tech and more.
Contact:
Politicoeenewsguild@gmail.com
(202) 695-7860