News: Dallas News Guild files unfair labor practice complaint with NLRB

Our Guild unit has asked lawyers to file an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board relating to our 2022 health insurance plans.

Here’s how it began: Representatives of the Dallas News Guild bargaining unit met with the company over the summer to discuss the health care plan selection process, which the company expressed that they believed employees should be involved in.

The goodwill was welcome. However no matter how the company felt, our colleagues voted overwhelmingly for a union months prior that gives them a voice at the table on mandatory subjects of bargaining – health care included.

After that meeting, the Guild was left out of the health care selection process entirely, and only learned it had been completed when the entire company received emails about the new plans being offered, which include higher deductibles and premiums.

We are disappointed, and have no choice but to file an Unfair Labor Practices complaint with the NLRB for violating Sections 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(5) of the National Labor Relations Act for deviating from the status quo and unilaterally implementing a material and substantial change to the health insurance of bargaining-unit employees.

To prevent the company from saddling our colleagues with increased health care expenses for which they had no say in, we are asking the NLRB to have DallasNews Corp. reimburse employees for any additional costs incurred by this unilateral change to our working conditions. Because of the increases, this constitutes a change in our salaries that should have been shared with the Guild.

Learn more about these complaints here. Here's how the process works.

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.

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