Bergen Record reporters vote to walk out

In a move triggered by Gannett’s alleged union-busting and refusal to agree to a fair contract, Bergen Record journalists voted to walk out by a massive 95% margin.

“Gannett continues to bargain in bad faith and insult us at the bargaining table. Our members’ walkout vote shows we won’t let Gannett bully us into submission,” said reporter Kaitlyn Kanzler, the Record Guild unit chair. “We’re willing to do what it takes to get a contract done. There is no journalism without us, the dedicated journalists who live in and report on North Jersey’s local communities.”

More than nine in ten union members (92%) cast ballots today amid allegations that Gannett has “doubled-down on offering poverty-level wages for journalists.”

The walkout threat comes nearly four years after journalists at the Bergen Record, New Jersey Herald, and Daily Record voted overwhelmingly to unionize.  It’s been over three years since the union began bargaining for an initial contract and 45% of the employees who supported unionization have already left Gannett.

Union leaders allege that Gannett has made unilateral changes to workplace conditions, shifting work away from employees to subcontractors, including using artificial intelligence (AI), and discriminating against bargaining unit employees “because of their union activities and sympathies.”

“Our members’ ability to earn a living wage has a direct impact on local news,” stated Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of NY. “Readers deserve better, and so do our members. Gannett management knows this and still refuses to prioritize local news over unsustainable company profits. What happens next is up to Gannett.”

A spokesperson for Gannett, Lark-Marie Anton, pushed back on accusations made by the union.

“We are absolutely negotiating in good faith to finalize a contract with our valued Bergen Record colleagues, contrary to the inaccurate picture the NewsGuild is painting,” Anton said.  “We are diligently working to preserve local journalism, whether it’s through legacy print or by delivering relevant content for New Jersey communities as we serve millions of unique visitors and page views each month to NorthJersey.com.”

Last month, APP-MCJ Guild, representing the Asbury Park Press, the Courier-News, and the Home News Tribune, voted to walk out; that was canceled after Gannett agreed to a contract.

Employees at six Gannett newspapers in New Jersey, including the Bergen Record, Daily Record, and New Jersey Herald, staged a one-day strike in November 2022, four days before the mid-term election.   The same six newspapers saw a second one-day walkout in June 2023, the day before the primary election.

In 2022, U.S. Senator Cory Booker, Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) and Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), and others smacked the Bergen Record for holding anti-union captive audience meetings with employees.  At the time, a union spokesperson confirmed to the New Jersey Globe that Gannett management was holding those meetings in a bid to stop employees from forming a union.  The New Jersey Globe has learned that Dan Sforza, The Record’s editor, was among them.

Print circulation at The Record is down by over 90% since Gannett purchased the newspaper from the Borg family in 2016 and now prints less than 14,000 newspapers daily.

This story was updated at 8:19 PM with comment from Gannett.