LJW Guild

Happy International Workers' Day, everyone! As the LJW Guild continues to work on its first contract for the hard-working reporters and copy editors at the Journal-World, we will be taking the next several days to put out statements from community members who recognize the important role unions play in the workplace. Stay tuned.

We are happy to report that after our second week of bargaining, our union and LJW management today tentatively agreed to two articles for our possible contract.

We still have a long way (and harder conversations) to go before we are done. But we are excited to see progress.

The last few days have been difficult for the members of our union, as we have lost another reporter from our group.

We are now down to three full-time news reporters, and it appears there is not a plan to add more in the near future.

As you may have read elsewhere, there are several issues we hope to address through bargaining with management, which will begin soon. We care deeply about this paper and this community, and we believe securing a fair contract and improved newsroom environment will allow us to continue to report on this community to the best of our abilities.

We respectfully ask that the Douglas County community continues to support our union and continues to subscribe to and read the Journal-World as we work toward that goal.

— The Lawrence Journalism Workers Guild

An update:
In three weeks, we believe the LJW Guild will finally be recognized as a union.

Our ballots have been mailed to us, and they’ll be counted on Dec. 28. We are looking forward to ringing in the new year with a voice at the bargaining table.

We will be able to advocate for ourselves, our community and the future of journalism in Lawrence and Douglas County. It’s taken some time, but we’re still committed to our goal.

Thank you to our new allies — both individuals and groups — who have pledged to stand with us. We appreciate the overwhelming support we’ve received thus far, and we’re thrilled to have such strong community backing going forward.

In solidarity,

— The LJW Guild 🌻