Evansville Courier & Press journalists voted unanimously on Wednesday to unionize.
According to a release from the journalists, all nine of the editorial staff—two sports reporters, six news reporters and one photographer—voted yes to unionize.
Courier & Press journalists asked its parent company Gannett to voluntarily recognize its union, which would have erased the need for a vote, but Gannett refused, said the release.
The union campaign was made public Jan. 8, with the staff citing slashed resources and jobs and the prospect that nothing would change without action.
Every member of the Courier & Press newsroom wants to continue to provide the top-notch journalism to which this community has become accustomed, said the release.
The release said that since Gannett bought the newspaper in 2016, Courier & Press journalists have steadily left the newspaper as resources are reduced, and others have been forced out.
Gannett also acquired Henderson newspaper The Gleaner in the 2016 deal. The Gleaner no longer has a Henderson office and there are no full-time reporters dedicated to local news reporting.
Evansville NewsGuild will be a bargaining unit of TNG-CWA Local 34070, which also represents workers of the Indianapolis NewsGuild and Courier Journal Guild, said the release.
The NewsGuild is part of Communications Workers of America (CWA), the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in the US and Canada.
More information is available at the Evansville NewsGuild Twitter – @EvansNewsGuild. The Guild can also be found on Facebook.
