The Evansville Courier & Press staff has voted to unionize.
The Evansville News Guild said the vote taken yesterday was unanimous in a series of posts on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.
According to the Evansville News Guild, the nine-person editorial staff has spent a year talking with each other and have also listened to anti-union speeches from the Courier & Press’s parent company, Gannett.
Before this week’s vote, they posted on social media, “We feel strongly this move is the right step. It’s not just about nine paychecks and timesheets, although each of us deserves better. The Courier & Press staff wants local news in this community to have a chance to grow again. We want our readers to know we aren’t sitting back and letting corporate change overtake us without a fight. We are standing up and demanding a voice at the table for us, and for the community.”
According to News 25, Evansville News Guild will become a bargaining unit of The NewsGuild Communications Workers of America Local 34070, which also represents workers of the Indianapolis NewsGuild and Courier Journal Guild.
Mass media company Gannett purchased Journal Media Group in 2016, which included The Courier & Press in Evansville and The Gleaner in Henderson.
In the past eight years, both newsrooms have been scaled back, with many jobs eliminated. The former longtime Gleaner building on Klutey Park Plaza was shuttered in the past few years. It now houses the Port Youth Center.
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