PRESS RELEASE

LAKELAND (FL) LEDGER NEWSROOM STAFF TAKES STEP TO UNIONIZE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 19, 2016
Contacts:
Ledger reporter Gary White at lakelandguild@gmail.com.
Ledger reporter John Chambliss or lakelandguild@gmail.com.
(See more contacts below.)
LAKELAND, Florida The newsroom staff of The Lakeland Ledger took a major step this week
toward forming a union dedicated to preserving high-quality journalism amid cutbacks and mounting
financial pressures in the newspaper industry.
Reporters, photographers, copy editors and other employees in The Ledgers newsroom signed
cards stating their desire to be represented by The NewsGuild-CWA.
The cards, filed Monday at the Tampa regional office of the National Labor Relations Board, will
trigger an NLRB-monitored election among Ledger staff in the next 20 to 40 days. If a majority of those
voting casts ballots in favor, the newsroom will unionize and begin working with The Ledgers corporate
owner, GateHouse Media, to negotiate a first labor contract.
If the organizing drive is successful, The Ledger (theledger.com), with a daily circulation of 45,900
and Sunday circulation of 61,000, would become the only paper in Florida, and the first in modern memory,
to have a unionized newsroom. The NewsGuild would represent 25 to 30 Ledger employees.
The hard-working news staff deserves to have a voice in the decisions that will determine whether
The Ledger continues to exist as a valued news source and a viable business, said Gary White, a Ledger
reporter for 14 years. In forming a union and negotiating a good first contract, the newsroom staff hopes to
preserve the journalistic quality and integrity that Polk County residents have relied upon for 92 years.
John Chambliss, a 15-year veteran of The Ledgers reporting staff, said he and his colleagues are
deeply concerned about the direction of The Ledger under the GateHouse business model. Unionization
introduces democracy into the workplace, giving the employees a voice in their working conditions.
GateHouse Media, based in Pittsford, New York, is one of the largest publishers of newspapers in
the country. It is part of New Media Investment Group, a publicly traded company that is managed by an
affiliate of Fortress Investment Group.
Chambliss said its been more challenging to provide the coverage that Ledger readers have come
to expect since GateHouse acquired the paper in January 2015.
Since then, at least 21 newsroom employees have been laid off, at least six other unfilled positions
have been eliminated, and the papers Winter Haven bureau, which produces stories for GateHouses News
Chief newspaper, has gone from four employees to one.
The Ledger has found it hard to retain experienced journalists when newsroom employees have
gone more than eight years without pay raises, Chambliss said.
A mission statement drafted and signed by newsroom employees interested in affiliating with The
NewsGuild, formerly known as The Newspaper Guild-CWA, says they recognize that The Ledger is a
business, and we want it to succeed. For that to happen, newsroom employees need a role in how The
Ledger is operated. A good contract will give us that essential voice. (See attached mission statement.)
The following journalists at NewsGuild locals representing GateHouse newspapers are available for
interviews:
Jeff Gordon, president of the St. Louis-based United Media Guild, which represents journalists at
The State Journal-Register in Springfield IL, the Register Star in Rockford IL, and the Pekin Daily Times in
Pekin IL. Email jdavidgordon@charter.net.

John Hill, president of the Providence Newspaper Guild, which represents staff members at the
Providence (R.I) Journal, the Telegram and Gazette in Worcester, MA, and the Enterprise in Brockton MA.
Email jghthird@gmail.com.
An interview with Bernard Lunzer, president of The NewsGuild-CWA in Washington, D.C., can be arranged
by contacting Dean Olsen at (217) 836-1068 or newsguildflorida@gmail.com. Olsen also can set up interviews with all
other contacts.
About The NewsGuild-CWA
The NewsGuild-CWA represents 25,000 journalists and other media workers in the United States, Canada
and Puerto Rico at publications and digital sites that include The New York Times, The Guardian, The
Washington Post, Chicago Sun-Times, Denver Post and Consumer Reports. Formerly known as The
Newspaper Guild, the union was founded by journalists in 1933. The Guild merged with the 700,000member Communications Workers of America in 1995.