Here’s how powerful the Dallas News Guild really is …

You may not know this, but the power of Dallas News Guild began the day we filed for a union election.

How ? By doing so, we took one giant step closer to protecting our jobs, our salaries and our benefits. When we become a full-fledged union, we’ll enter into a bargaining period where your jobs, by law, are suddenly protected until an agreed-upon contract is signed.

This is a wonderful aspect of standing together. When a new union is certified, management must maintain the workplace setup as is while bargaining begins for a new contract.

Under law, management can’t change your job duties or transfer you to a new position.

How does this work?

The answer is what’s called status quo.

“Status que?” you might say. “Status quo!” we would answer.

For those of you familiar with Latin, you’ll know this means the current state of affairs.

“But,” you might interject, “isn’t the current state of affairs exactly what we’re fighting to change?”

Good observation.

The status quo we currently have, where employees have no say in the decisions made by the company is not right. And we are definitely working to change that. And we are working to change that.

But under labor law, there are some benefits to the status quo period we would enter after our union is recognized.

For example, if the company wanted to make any changes to our salary, healthcare benefits or working conditions, it would not be able to unilaterally make that decision. The point of the status quo period is to preserve the current state of affairs until the company and the union can hammer out a contract.

Until then, working conditions would need to remain the same. If the company wants to institute layoffs, pay cuts, or other cuts to our benefits, they’d have to work with the union to figure out an equitable way to do that.

Remember those pay cuts in April? Status NO! The company would no longer be allowed to unilaterally make that decision.

If management wanted to make cost-cutting efforts -- like reducing pay, instituting layoffs, or, as Gannett has done recently, cutting 401k matches -- it would have to negotiate with the union about how it could go about doing that with the least harmful effect on its newsroom workers.

Under any circumstances, the status quo protection is the first sigh of relief offered by a newly formed union. But particularly during this pandemic, when economic circumstances are so volatile, status quo would give us some peace of mind that there is a buffer before the company can lay us off or cut our pay.

This doesn’t guarantee that won’t happen. The company still has to deal with the economic realities of our industry. But at least, with the status quo protection, we’d have a voice at the table about how those tough decisions are made.

One example of a union’s efforts to save jobs without layoffs or pay cuts, was the Los Angeles Times Guild’s negotiation with its management to enter into a workshare program at the start of the pandemic. From May 10 to Aug. 1, journalists there agreed to work a 20% reduced weekly schedule in order to save the company $2 million during the pandemic’s downturn.

Through the agreement, workers at The L.A. Times kept their health and retirement benefits going, and were able to collect prorated unemployment benefits that offset their lost wages. In contrast to the pay cuts we had, journalists at The L.A. Times kept their pay the same and had time off work for which they could recover losses through unemployment.

Here in Dallas, by contrast, we were working the same amount of hours as usual for less pay.

The L.A. Times already has a contract, but by having a voice at the table, members were able to work out this scenario to benefit both the company and its workers.

Our election will be held in the coming weeks, depending on whether A.H. Belo wishes to delay longer than it has already.

The company’s executives have described The Dallas Morning News as a family. A family would listen to its members when they say they are hurting, and that more can be done with the input of everyone. We look forward to reaching a point where that is a reality, and it starts with status quo.

We have asked the company for voluntary recognition which would immediately have given us status quo protection and enabled us to begin bargaining over our contract. But the company chooses to deny our petition.

We are still hoping to get to status quo, which is what our election would bring about. The company’s executives have described The Dallas Morning News as a family. We agree that this place is a family. And a family would give its members the peace of mind offered by status quo.

One thing worth noting: We asked the company for voluntary recognition. That would immediately have given us status quo protection. We could have already felt this security. But the company chose to deny our petition.

Now, we go forward with our election. But it is never too late for A.H. Belo to do the right thing. At any point during the election, the company can grant us voluntary recognition at will and call off the election.

That is within the company’s power right now.

To them, we cite Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words in his letter from a Birmingham jail: “The time is always ripe to do the right thing.”

If we truly are a family, we ask the company to show us a sign of good faith. Give us voluntary recognition and let’s avoid this election. We are ready to begin bargaining so this company can move forward and do great journalism with the respect our staff deserves.