EVERETT, SEPT. 26: The Everett NewsGuild, composed of Herald workers announced that the union secured a contract with owners Carpenter Media Group (CMG) after months of negotiations.
“While the contract isn’t perfect, it’s a first step that guarantees us raises and job protections. Our bosses also agreed that no quotas will be tied to wages, a key piece of our contract fight,” the Guild wrote on X.
Some benefits the union members received are two days of hybrid work, five days of bereavement leave, a salary based on years in the industry, 2% yearly raises, and guaranteed two-week notices.
“The ratification of this contract means that the journalists and photographers at the Herald now have job security and are able to bargain and fight for their wages and working conditions,” Courtney Scott, executive officer for the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, wrote in an email.
Prior to having the union contract none of the benefits were guaranteed, even if they were policy, Scott wrote.
One of the key components disapproved by journalists was a proposal made by CMG tying wages to story quotas. The proposal suggested a $1 an hour bonus for “meeting newsroom minimum standards of 2-3 bylines per day.”
“While the employer may choose to request workers meet a story quota as a performance metric, the raises are no longer tied to meeting quotas. This is important because it means there’s not a financial incentive to write multiple small or poorly written stories just to earn extra money,” Scott wrote.
The union was hoping to increase wages, arguing that minimum wage was not enough to live in Snohomish County. According to MIT’s living wage calculator, a single person with no children would need to earn $30.25 an hour to support themselves.
“The minimum for a first year employee is still below what we had hoped and essentially mirrors minimum wage. But we did win that people can go up in the wage scale if they have more journalism experience…,” Scott wrote.
The Everett NewsGuild’s first contract was ratified on Friday, Sept. 19. Everett Post reached out to CMG for a statement but did not receive a response in time for publication.
“We’re so glad to finally get this contract over the finish line. We couldn’t have done it without the help of the community and the Herald journalists who came before us,” Herald reporter Will Geschke said.
The saga began last year when Sound Publishing’s longtime parent company, British Columbia-based Black Press, sold to new ownership. CMG, now the fourth-largest media company in the country, bought the Herald along with other small newspapers in the Pacific Northwest. They currently own 70 newsrooms across the PNW.
Although the Everett NewsGuild had been negotiating for increased wages and worker rights since its creation in 2022, things came to a head in June 2024 when CMG announced layoffs of nearly half the Herald staff.
Herald employees went on a two-day strike on June 24 and 25, asking CMG to reinstate the jobs among other demands. They finally reached a conclusion in July after multiple bargaining sessions.
Scott said that the PNW Guild is working on a contract for journalists in Bend, OR specifically CMG-owned The Bend Bulletin.
