The 1-year-old Dallas News Guild strongly commits itself to increasing the hiring and retention of people of color. Our desire is to reflect the communities we cover.

Mike Merschel, a 25-year veteran of The Dallas Morning News, describes the anguish of a layoff and the worries about how to survive on a very small — even embarrassing — severance package.

The Dallas News Guild analyzes current severance packages for outgoing employees and finds a great discrepancy between news staffers and a top executive.

A Dallas News Guild analysis of Dallas Morning News’ photo staff finds the legendary staff has been cut from 35 photographers in 2005 to six today. The Guild wants to boost the staff and limit contract work for non-staffers. A hundred Guild members signed a petition against outsourcing jobs.

For us, creating the newspaper is our pride and joy. It’s an art and a science. It’s a privilege and a duty. Management punted that pride to an outsourcing center in Austin.

The Dallas News Guild appoints 18 staffers at Al Dia Dallas and The Dallas Morning News to the new Bargaining Committee to open negotiations with management.