Portside

On the heels of an unprecedented 24-day labor strike late last year, around 20 journalists at the 117-year-old Fort Worth Star-Telegram have ratified the only union contract at a Texas newspaper.

Taking a defiant stand, hundreds of New York Times journalists refused to work Thursday — the largest journalist-led labor action at the nation's leading newspaper in more than 40 years.

Journalists are responding to consolidation and ongoing revenue challenges by joining the unionization wave.

The COVID-19 crisis has triggered a massive uptick in news media unionization efforts.

As destiny would have it, just days after Amazon used illegal tactics to derail a drive by warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama to unionize, journalists in northern New Jersey who work for Gannett are voting on whether or not to form a union.

Hearst joins an ever-growing number of media organizations that have been unionized in the past several years. But Hearst staffers’ decision to unionize across two-dozen publications will encompass more titles than almost any other U.S. media union.

Herald employees say they plan to organize for better salaries and working conditions — and, in essence, fight back when the company announces its next round of seemingly never-ending cutbacks.

Newsroom employees at The Los Angeles Times are trying to form a union, setting up a potential clash with the newspaper’s parent company, Tronc. Cost-cutting measures, including sweeping layoffs, have agitated the staff. Last year, Tronc instituted an abrupt change to the vacation policy that effectively eliminated accrued vacation days, according to several employees interviewed.