NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast as newsroom workers face two competing realities: momentum in organizing and escalating pressure from corporate consolidation.
Schleuss reported that journalists at the Columbus Dispatch and Newark Advocate voted to unionize, adding strength to NewsGuild Local 1 in Ohio. He also outlined how Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers are building Pittsburgh Alliance for People-Empowered Reporting (PAPER), a community-backed reporting initiative, while Washington Post newsroom cuts raise urgent questions about the future of local and national journalism.
The labor movement’s fight for fair treatment is increasingly playing out in America’s newsrooms, where journalists are organizing for stability, benefits and professional respect. At the same time, corporate owners continue to shrink staff and narrow coverage.
On the America’s Work Force Union Podcast, NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss delivered a report that captured both sides of that reality: a major organizing win in Central Ohio and an intensifying struggle to preserve local reporting capacity in Pittsburgh and Washington.
Schleuss said journalists at the Columbus Dispatch and the Newark Advocate have now voted overwhelmingly to unionize, with results tallied by the National Labor Relations Board. The vote brings roughly 40 newsroom workers into the NewsGuild, building the ranks of the union’s historic Local 1 in Ohio.
At the same time, Schleuss described how Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers are working to launch a community-centered reporting alternative called PAPER. He also detailed the scale of job cuts at the Washington Post and the organizing response from workers and supporters.
Schleuss framed the Ohio organizing win as a response to a familiar pattern in chain-owned newsrooms: aggressive cost-cutting that undermines both working conditions and the public’s access to reliable information.
Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the United States, owns the Columbus Dispatch and Newark Advocate. Schleuss noted that workers have faced repeated reductions in staffing and benefits, including changes to retirement contributions.
For newsroom employees, the issue is not abstract. Staffing cuts translate into fewer reporters on beats, less time for verification and fewer eyes on local institutions that affect working families every day.
Schleuss said the union drive in Ohio also reflects a broader shift in the industry. Organizing momentum has grown from small newsrooms to larger outlets, building confidence that collective bargaining can secure baseline protections and restore a measure of professional dignity.
The Ohio win carries added significance because of NewsGuild Local 1's role.
Local 1 was the first NewsGuild chartered Local, dating back to 1934. Schleuss said the Local has been expanding its organizing posture, bringing in new workers and strengthening its ability to bargain across a rapidly changing media landscape.
He pointed to recent organizing efforts that helped build the Local’s capacity, including unionization at a small Ohio newspaper several years ago and the organization of Spotlight Ohio, a nonprofit newsroom.
The Dispatch and Newark Advocate vote, Schleuss said, is a meaningful step in rebuilding Local 1 as an active organizing Local, not simply a legacy institution.
Organizing is the first milestone. Bargaining is the next long campaign.
Schleuss cautioned that negotiating with Gannett can be difficult, describing a management approach that often seeks to standardize benefits downward and resist improvements that workers view as essential.
For the newly organized Ohio journalists, Schleuss said bargaining priorities are likely to center on:
Schleuss emphasized that the workers’ energy matters. He described the organizing win as a morale boost that brings new members into the union with momentum and a clear sense of purpose.
The organizing victory also lands in a region undergoing significant economic change.
Central Ohio is seeing large-scale development and population growth, driven by significant infrastructure improvements and investments coming to the area. In periods of rapid growth, local journalism plays a critical role in tracking public spending, development decisions, infrastructure demands and workforce impacts.
A strong newsroom, labor leaders argue, is part of a healthy civic ecosystem. It helps working people understand what is being built, who benefits and how public resources are used.
From Ohio, Schleuss turned to Pittsburgh, where Post-Gazette workers have been confronting a prolonged labor dispute and now the threat of a major local news gap. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announced it will cease all operations and publish its final edition on May 3. Owners of the 240-year-old newspaper, Block Communications, opted to close after losing the prolonged labor strike that ended in late 2025.
Schleuss said the workers’ legal victories forced accountability for unlawful actions related to benefits. He also said the company’s financial exposure has been estimated in the millions.
Rather than accept a future where a major metro area loses reporting capacity, workers and allies are building a next-step solution: PAPER, the Pittsburgh Alliance for People Empowered Reporting.
PAPER is designed as a community-backed effort to sustain reporting in Western Pennsylvania and to organize the resources needed to pursue viable ownership and operational pathways.
Schleuss directed listeners to https://ourpapernow.org for more information and ways to support the effort.
Schleuss described the recently announced Washington Post cuts as severe, affecting hundreds of workers and significantly reducing coverage capacity.
He said the layoffs and eliminations affected multiple desks and functions, including local coverage, visual journalism and other sections that shape a newspaper’s ability to serve its community and national audience.
For labor advocates, the concern is twofold: the immediate harm to workers’ livelihoods and the long-term erosion of a newsroom’s ability to deliver comprehensive reporting.
Schleuss said workers responded with a large public rally that drew union members, supporters and allies.
The labor response has also included mutual aid fundraising to support laid-off workers. Schleuss reported that fundraising efforts quickly raised significant contributions, reflecting public recognition that journalists are workers whose labor underpins civic life.
While the financial aid can help families bridge a crisis, Schleuss stressed the core demand remains straightforward: protect jobs and preserve the reporting capacity that communities rely on.
Across Ohio, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C., Schleuss’ message was consistent: journalism is essential work, and newsroom workers deserve the same baseline protections that unions have long fought for across other industries.
When owners cut staff and benefits, the damage is not limited to the newsroom. Communities lose coverage, working people lose a watchdog, and public accountability weakens.
The NewsGuild-CWA strategy, as Schleuss described it, is to organize, bargain and mobilize—building power in the workplace while strengthening the public’s understanding that a healthy press requires healthy jobs.