President of the NewsGuild-CWA, Jon Schleuss, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to talk about recent police incidents involving news agencies. Schleuss discussed the raid of the Marion County Record, the ongoing Pittsburgh Post Gazette strike and the TVO public broadcasters strike in Toronto.
A recent Marion County Police Department raid on the Marion County Record newspaper in Kansas has generated national media attention. This has been called a drastic overreach in power and a direct attack on freedom of the press. Schleuss described the events that resulted in the raid on the local newspaper. The NewsGuild is asking for proper punishments for the police department.
The Pittsburgh Post Gazette strike is ongoing, approaching 11 months of picketing. There have been different police jurisdictions in the Pittsburgh area that have been hampering the ability of the picket to protest peacefully. Schleuss outlined the number of issues and NLRB violations happening with the strikers and their use of different police departments to break up the picket line. It is now approaching the point where many in the labor movement are questioning the ability and education of the local police departments.
The 75 TVO public broadcasters in Toronto went on strike Aug 21. During the pandemic, TVO workers could put together old content to provide educational content to assist with virtual education. A law was passed a few years ago that restricted public employees from getting more than 1 percent raises, but thankfully, the high courts in the Ontario province overturned this. Workers at TVO are seeking fair and equitable compensation along with proper funding for the public access reporters.
Hear more about the strikes and attacks on journalism by playing the episode above