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The Guild congratulates nine members who have received Excellence in Journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California chapter: Gary Richards, Julia Prodis Sulek, LiPo Ching, Karl Mondon, Thomas Peele, Marisa Kendall, Jose Carlos Fajardo and Lisa M. Krieger, all of the Mercury News/East Bay Times, and Joe Eskenazi for work at Mission Local and the San Francisco Public Press.

Alden Global Capital founder Randall Smith recently sold one of his many Palm Beach mansions for $5.5 million, according to the Palm Beach Daily News. The $1.9 million profit on the sale – purchased in a mansion-buying binge that began in 2013, after Alden became majority owner of DFM – would cover an annual raise of more than $3,900 for the 487 Guild-represented employees at 12 DFM newspapers nationwide.

For Alden Global Capital, $160 million in profits is not enough. Management for Digital First Media, speaking for its corporate masters at the New York vulture fund, rejected a modified wage proposal Thursday by the unions that comprise the DFM Caucus during wage negotiations in Philadelphia.

Union representatives will press management to increase the pay of workers at Digital First Media newspapers nationwide when wage negotiations resume on October 11 in Philadelphia. The message will be simple: Our award-winning employees deserve their share of the massive profits that DFM is earning from their work. Most DFM employees only have received one raise in 10 years.

Jolie Brenes currently attends Diablo Valley College. She will pursue an Allied Health major, and plans to transfer to San Francisco State University. Her goal is to become an Ultrasound Technician.

Union leaders representing the Denver Call Center served notice on Purple/ZVRS management this week of our intention to move our ongoing talks for a new labor agreement to Denver. The company — recently found guilty of multiple violations of federal labor law — threatened to file even more time-consuming legal appeals to keep that from happening.

The 2018 Bay News Rising class delivered a series of compelling articles tackling some of the more intractable issues of our time, including immigration, mental health and police shootings.

On a motion by Guild First Vice President Gloria La Riva, the San Francisco Labor Council’s Committee on Political Education voted 58-21 to oppose San Francisco Proposition B, a measure on this November’s ballot that would, among other things, empower the Board of Supervisors to tamper with the city’s Sunshine Ordinance, the nation’s strongest local government transparency law, which the voters passed in 1999.

After 14 months of negotiations, the Chronicle and the Pacific Media Workers Guild on Wednesday reached tentative agreement on a four-year labor contract that offers an average annual merit-based pay raise of 2 percent and – for the first time – a 401(k) employer contribution and match of up to 2.5 percent of annual salary.

College reporters, who are paid for their work, dive into weighty subjects under the guidance of professional journalists and union officials.