Management changes at the Chronicle announced

The following is today’s press release from Hearst Corp.

HEARST CORPORATION ANNOUNCES NEW LEADERSHIP TEAM AT THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

New Publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson Brings More Than 20 Years of Media Experience;
Digital Trailblazer Joanne K. Bradford Joins as President

After More Than 35 Years of Newspaper Leadership, Frank J. Vega to Retire

NEW YORK, May 23, 2013 – Hearst Corporation today announced new leadership at its leading California newspaper the San Francisco Chronicle. Joanne K. Bradford, 49, has been named president and Jeffrey M. Johnson, 53, has been named publisher. Frank J. Vega, 64, retires as publisher and will continue as chairman through the transition. The San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com are the Bay Area’s most-read source of local and national news.

The announcements were made by Hearst Corporation CEO Frank A. Bennack, Jr., and Hearst Newspapers President Mark Aldam and are effective June 3. Both executives will report to Aldam.

Commenting on the announcements, Bennack said, “Joanne and Jeff will be a great team to take the San Francisco Chronicle to the next level. They have deep publishing and new media experience and believe in the power of great content with a valued brand. We are excited to work with them to redefine the choices for how and where readers can experience the trusted Chronicle content they depend on.”

Aldam added, “Frank Vega has had a highly successful tenure at the San Francisco Chronicle and has been an important part of the transformation of this business into a multiplatform news organization with a suite of print and digital products that serve readers and are important partners for local businesses. We are happy he will continue to support the transition to a new leadership team and wish him all the best.”

“It is a dynamic time for media where new distribution opportunities abound and we intend to make sure the Chronicle and SFGate remain the information leader in the Bay Area,” Bradford said. “The Bay Area has always been my home and I couldn’t be more excited to be back here working with Jeff to further the Chronicle’s important role in Northern California by focusing on our audience’s connection with our content and our important relationships with businesses.”

“With Hearst’s demonstrated support, the Chronicle is a successful and growing brand that is well positioned to continue to serve the Bay Area,” Johnson said. “I am excited to work with Joanne and the entire Chronicle team as we explore new ways to connect to this dynamic region and provide valued news and information to our readers through innovative print and digital products.”

Joanne K. Bradford

Most recently, Bradford served as chief revenue and marketing officer for Demand Media beginning in 2010. In that position, she led Demand Media’s marketing, sales and corporate communications efforts. For two years prior to joining Demand Media, Bradford served as senior vice president at Yahoo!, where she was responsible for North American revenue generation activities and also struck innovative branded entertainment partnerships.

From 2001 to 2008, Bradford was at Microsoft as corporate vice president and chief media officer of MSN Media Network, where she helped grow online revenue to over $2 billion and expanded the company into in-game advertising and self-serve search ad platforms. Bradford began her career at McGraw-Hill, where she was vice president of sales and marketing at BusinessWeek.

Bradford currently serves on the boards of the Ad Council and CARE. She is also an advisor to Greycroft Partners and LeanIn.org. In 2010, Bradford was named to the Mediaweek 50, Adweek Media’s annual list of the most influential people in media. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from San Diego State University.

Jeffrey M. Johnson

Prior to Hearst, Johnson was an operating partner at The Yucaipa Companies focusing on media investments from 2007 to 2013. Before that, he was president, publisher and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Times from 2005 to 2006, where he was responsible for the newspaper’s digital and print operations including editorial, advertising, circulation, consumer sales and marketing, finance and technology. Prior to being publisher, Johnson served as senior vice president and general manager of the Times from 2000 to 2004.

Johnson has over 20 years of publishing experience and has held senior management positions at Landoll Inc., the Chicago Tribune and Orlando Sentinel. Earlier in his career, he held positions at KPMG.

Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Illinois and an MBA from The University of Chicago. He has served as board chair for the United Way of Los Angeles and on the board of the Metropolitan YMCA of Greater Los Angeles.

Frank J. Vega

Vega has been president and publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle since January 2005. He will continue in his role as chairman through the end of the year.

Prior to Hearst, Vega spent 26 years with Gannett Co. Inc., most recently as president and CEO of Detroit Newspapers since 1991. Before Detroit Newspapers, he served in a variety of positions with Gannett, including a tenure at the Bay Area’s Oakland Tribune. Vega was the vice president of circulation for USA Today when the flagship was launched. He was publisher of Florida Today from 1984 to 1991, and was also a regional president, where he oversaw a number of newspapers owned by the company.

About the San Francisco Chronicle
The San Francisco Chronicle is the largest newspaper in Northern California and the second largest on the West Coast. Acquired by Hearst Corporation in 2000, the San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 by Charles and Michael de Young and has been awarded six Pulitzer Prizes for journalistic excellence. Combined with its online home, SFGate.com, the San Francisco Chronicle reaches 1.7 million Bay Area adults each week.

About Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) is one of the nation’s largest diversified media and information companies. Its major interests include ownership of 15 daily and 36 weekly newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union; hundreds of magazines around the world, including Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, ELLE and O, The Oprah Magazine; 29 television stations, which reach a combined 18 percent of U.S. viewers; ownership in leading cable networks, including Lifetime, A&E, HISTORY and ESPN; significant holdings in automotive, electronic and medical/pharmaceutical business information companies; a 50 percent stake in global ratings agency Fitch Group; Internet and marketing services businesses; television production; newspaper features distribution; and real estate. Follow us on Twitter @HearstCorp.

Contact:
Paul Luthringer, 212-649-2540, paul@hearst.com
Lisa Bagley, 212-649-2337, lbagley@hearst.com

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Angered Chronicle journalists use Twitter and Facebook to tweak Hearst Corp

SAN FRANCISCO — Scores of reporters, editors and workers at the San Francisco Chronicle are using the social media tools of their trade — including Twitter and Facebook — in an unusual protest against the move by Hearst Corp., their paper’s privately-held parent firm, to force employees into a management-dictated health system that dramatically raises costs for the employees.

Some staffers changed their social media profile pictures to a red box, calling attention to the protest. By mid-day, tweets from Chronicle and SFGate staff had reached more than 110,000 people.

The workers launched their efforts Monday as the paper, the flagship of the Hearst Corp., initiated a major move to introduce a paywall for “premium content” to its readership.

Reporters, editors and other staffers say they’re being asked to increase work loads online and in the print publication for the new paywall system, in which readers will now be charged $14.99 monthly for “premium” content.

But the same workers at the 150-year-old paper, after months of negotiations with Hearst executives, remain without a contract.

Many were angered at a recent Hearst move offering a health care package estimated to cost employees additional hundreds to over $3,000 per year.

The Chronicle’s reporters and editors, who voluntarily tweet their stories on Twitter and post them online on Facebook to help reach larger audiences, have now vowed to use Twitter to get out their own message about the actions of Hearst, the media giant, in the coming weeks.

Said one Tweet:

Wealthy @HearstCorp wants to gut healthcare plan at @SFChronicle @SFGate Help us fight back! http://on.fb.me/14jlHic #makesussick #hearst

A message posted on the Chronicle employees Facebook page urges “Likes” and says:

“We love this newspaper, and we’ve worked hard since the layoffs of 2009 to help keep it afloat. We’ve done everything Hearst demanded: sacrificing pay raises, giving up seniority, losing vacation time and holidays, even working through what used to be our paid lunch hour.

For years, we’ve been working twice as hard with a smaller staff — doing everything needed to keep this paper afloat, relevant and great.

And this is how the highly profitable Hearst Corporation pays us back.”

An open letter explaining the social media campaign is posted at:
http://on.fb.me/ZnwaRY and at: http://mediaworkers.org

Employees detail how they will be affected by the health cuts at:
http://mediaworkers.org/tag/healthprofile/

Details on Chronicle employees’ efforts to secure a fair contract is posted at:
http://mediaworkers.org/fight-for-a-fair-contract/

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Unions unite for worker-centered immigration reform

Immigration Reform Leaders Arrested 5

Immigration Reform Leaders (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

OAKLAND – Unions and community groups who represent or work with immigrants gathered on Thursday to strategize about how to ensure any potential immigration reform plan benefits all workers.

Some 50 staffers from unions and community groups attended the meeting, organized by the Alameda Labor Council, an AFL-CIO umbrella group of unions, and SEIU-USWW, which represents janitors, security officers, airport workers and other property service employees, organized the meeting. It’s one of several being held by Labor Councils’ throughout California as part of the AFL-CIO’s push for comprehensive, worker-centered approach to immigration reform.

“We now have an opportunity we need to seize,” said Josie Camacho, executive secretary-treasurer of the Alameda Labor Council, one the meeting’s organizers.

President Obama and members of Congress have said they want to overhaul the nation’s immigration system by passing a bill this year, renewing the immigration discussion in Congress.

Unions want any plan to include stronger protections for immigrant workers against exploitation and abuse by employers who take advantage immigrant labor to drive down wages and workplace standards for all.

Many of the unions at the meeting represent garment workers, janitors, longshoremen and home care workers — jobs with a large contingent of immigrant workers.

They’ve seen their members lose their jobs following U.S. Immigrations and Customs enforcement audits and have their families divided by deportations. Other unions, such as those representing educators and non-profit employees, serve immigrants and refugees.

During the meeting they brainstormed local, state and federal actions to gain visibility for immigration reform, mobilize community members and lobby lawmakers. Attendees signed up for working groups and agreed to continue meeting to gear up for a series of upcoming events in support of immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and family reunification.

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Health Care 2013: will the Chronicle be fair?

Heather Smith

I am Heather Smith. I have worked in the Prepress Department as a Graphic Designer for the San Francisco Chronicle for almost 13 years. In that time, the co-pay for a visit to my doctor has gone from $10 to $30 per visit. If it gets much higher, I will not be able to afford to get sick.

Uncertainty over health care causes me stress and there is a well-studied correlation between stress and diminishment of well-being. A healthy workforce is a more productive, efficient workforce. But the workers at this paper won’t be able to stay healthy if we cannot afford the routine check-ups and doctor visits that are a sign of a pro-active community of workers taking charge of their health.

Moreover, with a history of chronic migraines (as many as four a month), affordable health care allows me to maintain a supply of the pain medication that makes it possible for me to make it to work even on my pain-laden days.

With the proposed options that the union was given, my pay would effectively be reduced by over $1,500 per year, an amount I cannot afford in the high-priced Bay Area economy. And that is WITH the proposed annual raises factored in.

The workers took a pay hit during the last negotiations. It took me three years to just get back to my previous pay, and does not account for the yearly cost of living increases.

I sincerely hope Hearst will see the benefit of maintaining affordable health care, not only for its workers but for the economic health of the newspaper as a whole. A company thrives when its people thrive. And people thrive when they are well-cared for and healthy. I believe the staff has worked for the health of this newspaper and now it’s time for the newspaper to work for the health of its staff.

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Guild member Jeremy Hay on battling mental health issues

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Jeremy Hay, a staff writer at The Press Democrat and a Guild member, shares his struggle with a mental disorder, and notes the positive role of a union contract which provided support amid his challenges with severe mental illness.

“Imagine not having the personal support I have: the rudimentary working knowledge of the health care system; the inclination or ability to negotiate that system; the employer willing and able to work with me while I struggled; the union contract that installed a net of protections I was able to rely on. All those things meshed to carry me through to a safe shore. I can’t imagine how hard it is or would be for others not so blessed.”

Check for the full story here.

Follow Jeremy on twitter @jeremyhay

Filed Under: Local News, Opinion, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Uncategorized

Bay Media credit union merges with Fire

Leo Smith, CEO of Bay Media Federal Credit Union, at the last Bay Media board meeting Wednesday night at SOMA Restaurant. Board chair Ross Hawkins is in background. Photo by Media Workers Guild/cth 2012.

After more than 50 years serving the financial needs of San Francisco news workers, the Bay Media Federal Credit Union is calling it quits as an independent institution.

Bay Media members voted to merge with the much bigger San Francisco Fire Credit Union, effective Dec. 31. The branch in Mint Plaza will remain along with the ATM inside the Chronicle Building. A new sign should be in the front window for the new year.

Leo Smith, 68, Bay Media CEO for the past 12 years, departs for retirement. All other employees have been offered new jobs with SF Fire, including veteran teller Maria (“Mayte”) Moreira, a familiar face at the front counter known to hundreds of San Francisco Chronicle Guild members.

The Bay Media board — on which I have served the past two years — and management tried to stay independent by reaching out for new members to upstart South of Market employers. But the effort failed to keep pace with the loss of members caused by declining newspaper employment.

In the highly competitive San Francisco banking market, financial experts advised cutting-edge mobile banking and aggressive growth strategies. But the slide in members and assets continued. One reason: Many members, and potential members, assumed the credit union was part of the Chronicle, despite marketing to the contrary.

Bay Media now has only about $12.5 million in assets. At the peak, assets were around $28 million. Membership has plunged from more than 2,000 to about 1,400 today.

Those numbers moved down along with newspaper employment at Fifth and Mission as Teamsters, Press Operators, Mailers and other crafts departed. The Guild remains, but now represents about 250 S.F. newspaper employees, compared with more than 1,100 at the Chronicle, Examiner and San Francisco Newspaper Agency during the heyday of the old Joint Operating Agreement.

By contrast, SF Fire is growing, with assets topping $750 million, led by President and CEO Darren Herrmann. Its 61-year history includes service to fire crews based at 418 Jessie St., where a fire station occupied a site that’s now an upscale residential building and restaurant close to the current Bay Media credit union site.

The Fire Credit Union is moving its call center upstairs in the Bay Media building, where Smith has had his office.

“Our members will be served by one of the best-loved local credit unions in the Bay Area,” Smith said. “This is a plus for everybody.”

The transition has been under way since October when the Bay Media membership voted in favor of the merger by better than a 2-to-1 margin. Letters are arriving now at the homes of Bay Media account holders. Most will see little or no change in their checking or savings accounts, other a “2” added at the beginning of each account number.

Automatic bill paying authorizations have to be renewed in mid-January. Other changes are outlined on the Bay Media website.

The last Bay Media board meeting was held during an Italian dinner Wednesday night a few days before Christmas at SOMA Restaurant. Smith, a wine fancier, brought along a few special bottles from his private stock. Board chair Ross Hawkins thanked his colleagues –Diane FitzGibbon, Danita Hinton, David Johnson, Geoffrey Bauman and me – for their service.

There was some discussion about an auditor’s report, but nobody saw much reason to take any votes since the recommendations will be up to the new SF Fire board and management to implement. FitzGibbon took notes for the final set of board minutes.

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Court interpreters hold historic meeting with Chief Justice

English: Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Chief Justice of...

English: Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

SACRAMENTO _  Representatives from the California Federation of Interpreters had a historic meeting Monday with state Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye to discuss interpreter services and language access in California, marking the first time the organization met with the head of the Judicial Council.

Top Administrative Office of the Courts leadership also attended, including Chief of Staff Jody Patel, Administrative Director of the Court Steve Jahr, Chief Operating Officer Curt Child, Office of Governmental Affairs Director Cory Jasperson and AOC attorney Tracy Kenny.

CFI representatives at the meeting _ which included CFI President Michael Ferreira, legislative advocate Ignacio Hernandez, legislative committee member Mary Lou Aranguren, and staffers Brandon Scovill and Anabelle Garay _ offered to work with the AOC on interpreter services and language access issues.

“Look at us as part of the solution,” Aranguren told the group.

Cantil-Sakauye echoed CFI’s interest in working together to efficiently use existing resources and grant greater language access. Such a move would put California on the forefront and even make it a model for interpreter services, Cantil-Sakauye said.

During the meeting, CFI detailed how courts in some counties have stopped providing desperately needed interpreters for domestic violence matters and other civil proceedings. In other courts, interpreters no longer work interpreting the jail or probation interviews that they once did.

Courts officials around the state have told CFI they fear their requests for interpreter service reimbursements could be denied, leading them to roll back the types of proceedings for which interpreters are provided. Other court administrators have simply said they think savings in interpreter expenses will translate into money to offset other court expenses or that they’re uncertain funds will remain available, CFI representatives explained.

Cantil-Sakauye, who listened intently and took notes, said she wants to clarify to California courts that money for interpreter services is available.

“We obviously want to clear up these misunderstanding, urban myths … that deny people access,” she said.

The chief justice proposed establishing a forum of interpreter services stakeholders, referring court administrators to AOC staffers for clarification and future meetings with CFI to tackle these issues.

CFI is looking forward to collaborating with Cantil-Sakauye and her staff to improve interpreter services.

CFI represents more than 900 interpreters who work in California courts and is a unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild.

 

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Guild vote critical to locals’ purchase of
Press Democrat

Unit chair Derek Moore, investor Steve Falk, and unit vice-chair Lori Carter celebrate the Press Democrat sale. Photo by Kat Anderson/Freelance unit ©2012

A remarkable experiment in quality local journalism emerged Thursday from the turmoil of ownership changes at the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

Guild members played a pivotal role as absentee corporate owners relinquished the 115-year-old North Bay daily to a local investment group led by political operative Darius Anderson, former U.S. Representative Doug Bosco and ex-San Francisco Chronicle CEO Steve Falk.

Anderson’s Sonoma Media Investments partnership completed its purchase just in time for a noon announcement Thursday, minutes after the Press Democrat Guild membership ratified a new contract. Bankers demanded the new labor deal be done as a condition of financing the partnership’s takeover.

It was a unanimous Guild vote but the outcome was hardly a sure thing.

The membership had to accept deep pay and benefit cuts, including loss of all further company contributions into a beloved pension plan. In exchange, the Anderson purchase group agreed to an unprecedented three-year contract with guarantees against layoffs, expanded Guild jurisdiction and the promise of a fresh start for quality journalism.

A sense of optimism and solidarity spread beyond the news staff in Sonoma County. Santa Rosa has a chance to become one of the most exciting journalism ventures anywhere, evidence perhaps that a dismal era of corporate cost-cutting may at last be over in at least a few media markets.

Press Democrat reporter Derek Moore, the Guild unit chair in Santa Rosa, sent an email to the membership at 11:41 a.m. Thursday announcing the unanimous secret-ballot vote result. The announcement capped a dramatic two-day rush to ratification, including two unit meetings and participation by nearly all 50 Guild members at the paper.

“This decision did not come easy and obviously it involves real sacrifice,” Moore wrote. “But with this showing we send a powerful message to our new owners that we are committed to doing our part to make this business thrive and to meet our mutual goal of quality, local journalism.”

He noted the contract bans involuntary layoffs for the entire term of the agreement. It also includes a 5 percent one-time cut in pay, rollback in vacation accrual and the end of night shift differentials. But the agreement also protects high-quality health benefits, keeps the 37.5-hour workweek intact, and adds $1 an hour into employee retirement accounts – almost balancing the pay cuts after taxes are factored into the equation. The Guild gains, for the first time, jurisdiction over online newsgathering, adding about four jobs to the unit right away, and more expected as print gives way to digital news delivery.

“The gains we made with this contract cannot be overstated. At the top of that list is job security for the next three years. In many significant ways this contract far exceeds our own expectations, regardless of who owns us or how it was produced. On that score this is a day of celebration,” Moore said.

He and the other Guild members were asked to stand and accept a round of applause during the downtown coming-out meeting convened by the new owners. Anderson’s young child played in the aisles as his partners and management team were introduced. Veteran Guild member and columnist Gaye LeBaron, a key player behind the scenes during the run-up to the sale announcement, sat with her husband and friends in the audience.

Beloved Press Democrat columnist Gaye LeBaron. Photo by Kat Anderson/Freelance unit ©2012.

The new owners bought the Press Democrat, as well as an affiliated Petaluma daily and business weekly, from the Daytona Beach, Florida-based Halifax Media. The Florida group had only owned the North Bay properties since January, when Santa Rosa’s previous owner, The New York Times Co., sold its regional holdings.

Nobody in Santa Rosa had any doubt about Halifax’s intentions to sell its operations in Wine Country as soon as a deal could be struck. One early possibility had the Press Democrat going to another owner, which intended to cut 43 percent of payroll – dozens of local jobs – as soon as it took over.

That prospect only added to the anxieties in Sonoma County during 10 months of demoralizing absentee ownership. On Thursday, after the Guild vote and 11th-hour thumbs-up from the bankers, Anderson’s group got joyous applause from a couple hundred employees, spouses and community leaders gathered in the Unitarian Universalist Glaser Center downtown.

Anderson showed up wearing blue jeans to make clear that a new style of journalism was back in town. Halifax had imposed a deeply unpopular ban against blue jeans as part of its corporate dress code, a poor fit in a community known for creative talent and low-key lifestyle. Anderson declared, “My first order of new business is: the dress code is dead.”

Press Democrat Publisher Bruce Kyse, who gets to keep his job, choked back tears when he thanked his staff for enduring the uncertainty of two sales in less than a year.

Members of the Santa Rosa Guild unit have been anything but pushovers in past contract battles. Two years ago, the unit decided to refuse the company’s demand to roll pay back 2.5 percent, among other concessions, even though non-represented employees had been forced to take the cuts.

Now, by contrast, the unit membership voted to take nearly $500,000 out of its own yearly compensation – 17 percent of the annual Guild payroll – without a single dissenting vote.

That was mainly the result of the outstanding leadership and solidarity of Santa Rosa Guild members. It also happened because the new owners tried to forge common ground with the Guild, negotiating what otherwise could have been seen as mere concessions into a joint investment in quality jobs and journalism.

From my own perspective, this is a new start important not only for the Press Democrat, but for the entire news industry. We have to get past the death-spiral approach that has ruined so many other great newsrooms.

Anderson repeatedly promised to steer clear of the newsroom, despite concern that his partnership of local “power brokers” may try to turn Press Democrat journalists into their own PR machine.

“I am not that stupid to think I can meddle in the newsroom,” he said.

The ownership group includes some of the most famous names and favorite sons of the region. Besides Anderson, who grew up in Santa Rosa, and Bosco, who once employed Anderson as a congressional intern and driver in Washington, D.C., the investors include Jean Schulz, widow of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz; financier Sandy Weill; Norma Person, whose family had owned the Press Democrat for years before the New York Times took the helm; staffing-firm magnate Gary Nelson; and Bill Jasper, former CEO of Dolby Sound.

Falk, who headed business and circulation operations for years at the San Francisco dailies, moves to Santa Rosa after running the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. He has a long track record dealing with the Guild and many other Bay Area labor unions. He returns to that role in Santa Rosa, where he will serve as CEO of the new Sonoma Media investment group.

Falk offered to forge consensus moving forward.  His biggest challenge will be to keep that promise, and the sense of budding good will, in the face of shrinking revenue trends and a weak national economy, troubles keenly felt even in the prospering heart of California’s world-famous wine country.

Freelance Unit member Kathleen Stewart Anderson contributed to this story.

 

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Court interpreters union cheers defeat of Prop. 32

The California Federation of Interpreters is among the groups elated about the defeat of Prop. 32, a measure that sought to prevent unions from using member dues for political purposes.

Vote counts show 56 percent of California voters said No to Prop. 32.

CFI members helped get the word out about this detrimental measure. Interpreters throughout the state wore buttons, distributed materials, volunteered to phone bank or knocked on doors to defeat Prop. 32.

“Every type of union, from police to firefighters to us … the guild, people all pulled together for this one,” said CFI president Michael Ferreira.

CFI President Michael Ferreira signs in during a visit to Sacramento.

 

Essentially, Prop. 32 would have prevented unions like CFI from carrying out any kind of political activity using member dues, Ferreira said. Sending CFI leaders to speak to the Judicial Council or hiring a lobbyist to advocate for interpreters in Sacramento would have required donations from members separate from their dues during a time of economic hardship.

“It was a bold face attempt at anti-unionism that would have hurt us,” Ferreira said.

CFI is a unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild and represents nearly 1,000 language interpreters in California, making up a tiny fraction of unionized court employees statewide.

 

Staff and leaders carry out political activities regularly to benefit CFI members, such as commenting at Judicial Council meetings and going to lobby officials and lawmakers in Sacramento regarding funding, professional standards and other interpreter issues. Dues money and matching funds from our parent union pay for things like travel and hiring a lobbyist to advocate for us.

These activities have yielded great results for interpreters. For example, one of the biggest victories gained by court interpreters happened in the Legislature. SB371 made interpreters court employees and afforded us the right to bargain with the courts.

“A very small group of people are able to affect change through our access to political activity,” Ferreira said. ”That’s why it was so important. This is the only way that a small group like ourselves can get our needs met.

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Guild Responds to Sale of Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Santa Rosa Guild members Julie Johnson, Martin Espinosa, Kevin McCallum, Paul Payne and Lori Carter digest the announcement Thursday of the Press Democrat’s sale to Sonoma Media Investments.

Guild members at The Press Democrat read today’s sale announcement with great interest and optimism.

We appreciate the efforts of our previous owners and wish them well, but we believe local ownership offers the best chance to achieve what we all want, and that is for The Press Democrat to continue being the North Bay’s premier source for quality local journalism.

We understand the newspaper and its online operations may form the core of an exciting new venture that includes other media outlets serving Sonoma County and the North Bay. This regional approach under new ownership promises a bold fresh start for all of us.

For several months, we have engaged in negotiations for a new Guild contract. We believe it’s best to leave the details to the negotiators. But we intend to do all we can to reach terms quickly with the new ownership group to ensure a sustainable future for our members and for the company.

 

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