Maui News Workers Ratify Two-Year Contract

In a near-unanimous vote, workers at The Maui News on Monday voted to ratify a two-year contract with newspaper ownership that runs to April of 2020. The vote was verified Tuesday.
With more than three-quarters of eligible members submitting a ballot, 32 votes were cast for the new agreement, which calls for maintaining wages and keeps nearly all other employment terms intact. No votes were cast against the contract, and two workers abstained.
“Our members, who are part of multiple departments at the paper, are glad to have a deal completed and eager to continue to do award-winning work while having the certainty of a contract in place,” said bargaining committee chairwoman Wendy Isbell, a member of the outside sales staff.
“We look forward to working with the company to continue to provide readers with the best coverage of Maui County.”
Contract negotiations lasted almost two years, but remained amicable during that period, a continuation of the relationship the Guild and the company have had for a long period of time.
“The Guild appreciates that the company was forthright in what it considered important, which is critical for productive dialogue,” said Chris Sugidono, a member of the bargaining committee and a reporter and photographer in the newsroom. “We’d also like to thank publisher Joe Bradley for his professionalism and respect of our members.”
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Pacific Media Workers Guild

We are the Pacific Media Workers Guild, Local 39521 of The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America. We represent more than 1,200 journalists and other media workers, interpreters, translators, union staffs and freelancers.