DFM workers

DFM management said it would present a wage proposal to representatives for 13 NewsGuild-CWA bargaining units at a bargaining session in Denver on July 14.

Thirteen Guild-CWA bargaining units representing newsroom, advertising, circulation, and production departments at Digital First Media opened joint negotiations for a wage increase Thursday in Denver. Union negotiators proposed a $1 per hour raise for all employees effective July 1. Management offered no proposal, stating that budgeting is under way for the next fiscal year that begins July 1, and that managers won’t be prepared to begin serious negotiations until June.

Leaders of 12 Guild bargaining units reached an unprecedented tentative agreement with Digital First Media today, including the first across-the-board pay increase many DFM workers have seen in years.

One thousand NewsGuild workers at 13 newspapers nationwide stand united today as we begin a new, more public phase of the Guild’s #NewsMatters campaign for fair contracts with Digital First Media.

Nearly 1,000 news workers at Digital First Media have launched a nationwide revolt against job cuts and profiteering they say are threatening local journalism at the nation’s second-largest newspaper company.