Dallas News Guild desperately trying to stop exodus of talent

We support our proposed employee-friendly changes for all DallasNews Corp. employees, not just Guild members.

Seven months ago, the Dallas News Guild officially alerted company management in a letter “to an ongoing and disturbing practice of overwork in our newsroom.” We predicted a coming large exodus of employees.

We specifically cited the Audience Team (which has had a history of working staff on 10-day stretches without a day off), Breaking News, Photo and Research/Archives as vulnerable departments.

We expressed our distress about voluntary departures of highly talented journalists from across the newsroom.

“These departures have made our newsroom less diverse, leaving us with fewer women and journalists of color,” we wrote.

We followed up with another letter in August. We noted that, sadly, our prediction was coming true: About 10% of our non-management news team departed in the first eight months of this year.

That matches the 10% company-wide number of employees who have left so far this year, according to the company.

“Our staffers are struggling to recommend The News as a desirable place to work,” we wrote. “Word has gotten out among qualified job candidates that working at The News means unrealistic expectations and a lack of direction or career development.”

The Guild wants to work with the company to halt this decline. Time and again, however, we’ve been told in negotiations that we’re demanding some sort of special treatment.

That’s why we would happily offer expanding these proposals not only to the Guild workforce but also to the rest of DallasNews Corp. employees who are not part of our union.

Our proposals are intended to help management improve this dire situation. And dire it is.

According to a report in a recent editon of eChaser — the monthly newsletter of the Society of Professional Journalists/Fort Worth Chapter — here is a list of open Dallas Morning News jobs as of early December 2021:

Residential real estate reporter.

Multiplatform editor.

Breaking news reporter.

Digital producer.

Managing editor.

Sports digital producer

Editorial page editor.

Food staff writer.

Washington correspondent.

Investigative reporter.

Metro editor.

Science and medical reporter.

Local government reporter.

Data and interactives editor.

PHEW!

If they want to build a loyal staff, here’s what management must do:

1.  Pay overtime. That includes extra pay for extra work.

2. Give workers a reasonable rest period of 12 hours between shifts.

3. Make holiday pay available to all of your staff.

4. Separate sick leave from paid time off days so that employees aren’t forced to dip into vacation time when they’re ill.

5. Stop requiring staff to perform work more than five consecutive workdays without a day off.

6. When a staffer is asked to perform work outside of their normal job description due to shuttered or unfilled positions, compensate them appropriately.

7. Offer the option of a 4-day work week.

This item in the SPJ/Fort Worth newsletter sparked questions in the journalism community. Why so many openings at a newspaper that calls itself Texas’ leading newspaper?

In bargaining, the company originally answered our proposals by offering us the same working conditions already outlined in the employee handbook, saying it’s unfair to non-Guild members that we get preferential treatment.

But we see non-Guild members represented employees struggling, too. And we don’t understand why DallasNews Corp. wouldn’t want to solve those issues as well.

While the newsroom produces DallasNews’ Corp’s flagship product — relentless community journalism — other departments are critical to monetizing it, selling ads, hosting public events and so much else that supports our existence as a news organization.

By its own accounting, DallasNews Corp. announced in its 3Q earnings that it has no debt and $34 million in cash or equivalent. The company is also due a $22 million payment next year on the sale of its former longtime headquarters.

We wish for the company to share a portion of this treasure trove to ensure that talent and diverse voices stick around and help The News in its continued fight for survival.

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The Dallas Morning News is part of the oldest continuously operated business in Texas and the state’s leading newspaper. Proudly, we are the first major newspaper newsroom in the state to unionize in the modern era.

The Dallas News Guild covers more than 130 journalists across all departments of the newsroom, including reporters, columnists, data journalists, copy editors, librarians, web producers, audio producers, page designers, photographers and videographers. Eligible newsroom workers voted in October 2021 by a margin of over 75% to form a union.

Keep up with our bargaining efforts on Instagram and Twitter — @DallasNewsGuild — and at the NEWS tab at DallasNewsGuild.org.

#ByDallasForDallas