Longview NewsGuild

The Longview NewsGuild has officially and unanimously passed a new two-year contract!

We have been at the table with Lee since July to negotiate this deal. Getting a two year deal in place, with guaranteed pay increases for both years, is a great way to build stability for our workers. The Guild is ready to take on whatever comes next in Longview.

As the chair, I was thrilled to see how involved everyone in the union was during this process. We may be a small team but we still have collective power!

We are calling on Lee Enterprises to commit to equitable living wages for the hardworking journalists at The Daily News, and we need your help.

After months at the bargaining table, Lee continues to deny us a meaningful wage increase. Its latest proposal? $16.82 an hour for new journalists or $17.31 an hour for those with a master’s degree or five years of experience. These numbers are insultingly low.

Lee’s proposal is not a livable wage in Longview. The median household income is $44,957, and TDN journalists make $10,000 less than that. Our proposals have not been unreasonable but took into account rising cost of living.

Why can’t the company offer wages that reflect those realities? “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Astrid Garcia, Lee vice president of human resources and legal said Tuesday. That’s the only explanation we’ve received.

We have made several concessions and are tired of this dismissive behavior at the table. As we await the company’s response to our most recent wage proposal, support us by writing to The Daily News and Lee Enterprises leadership.

The Longview Daily News must commit to living wages for its journalists Dear reader, The staff of The Daily News has been at the bargaining table for eight months with Lee Enterprises, working to secure a first contract that will recognize and reward our journalists for the tiring work they perform every day. Among our demands is a commitment to equitable living wages t...

Our first day of bargaining went smoothly! We presented a lot of new language and are mostly waiting for counter-proposals at our next session in two weeks. Lee came to the table ready to listen and we're hopeful that they will continue that positive start, to agree with us on a strong contract that will improve the newsroom, paper and community. Thank you for the overwhelming community support -- it's making a difference!