FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE https://www.packetguild.org/ @PacketGuild [email protected]
Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020
Island Packet, Beaufort Gazette journalists seek to unionize
BLUFFTON, S.C. – On Wednesday, journalists at The Hilton Head Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette newspapers took the first step toward becoming the state’s first active newspaper union as The Packet/Gazette Guild.
More than 80% of eligible reporters, photographers and producers at the newspapers, both owned by parent company McClatchy, have signed cards authorizing union representation by The Washington-Baltimore News Guild, Local 32035 of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). CWA has 700,000 members across the U.S. and Canada.
The employees have requested voluntary recognition from management, citing overwhelming support among staff.
The McClatchy Company owns three other newspapers in South Carolina: The State in Columbia, The Sun News in Myrtle Beach and The Rock Hill Herald. The newspapers, along with those across the nation, have struggled with declining revenue. Newsroom employment at newspapers in the U.S. dropped by 51% between 2008 and 2019, according to Pew Research. Staffing at the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette has mirrored that trend. Once over 40 reporters strong, just 11 full-time reporters and visual journalists now bring Beaufort County news seven days a week.
The journalists announced their unionization effort as McClatchy has finalized its sale to Chatham Asset Management, a New Jersey-based hedge fund. The sale was valued at $312 million and came six months after McClatchy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy following more than a decade of layoffs and losses. Through the transaction, the publicly-traded McClatchy has emerged as a private company.
The hedge fund ownership model has cut newsroom and production jobs across the country by prioritizing profits over local news. The Packet/Gazette Guild journalists want a seat at the table when it comes to decisions about their workplace, and believe that unionizing the newspapers will ensure the highest quality journalism for decades to come.
“I’m proud of the work that I do at the Packet, and I’m equally proud of the efforts my colleagues and I are making to improve our workplace,” said Rachel Jones, an education reporter and a member of The Packet/Gazette Guild organizing committee. “Creating these protections for our newsroom will ultimately lead to better coverage of Beaufort County, and it’s an honor to lead the way in organizing for the Carolinas.”
The Island Packet newspaper celebrated 50 years of service to Hilton Head Island and Beaufort County this summer and won 40 S.C. Press Association awards for articles including a series that followed a Beaufort County cold case as it was solved, reporting that held an Okatie landfill owner to account when a trash pile became toxic and commentary from David Lauderdale that helped preserve the Lowcountry’s classic color.
Although once separate entities, The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette now function as the same newspaper.
The journalists of the newspapers regret the Beaufort Gazette's diminished presence as a result of cost-cutting and the closure of offices in Beaufort. When the office and printing operations combined in Bluffton, the paper alienated much of the Beaufort community. The papers also lost a national award-winning sports department that was slowly phased out as corporate directives prioritized clicks over local sports coverage.
The journalists in both newsrooms want to restore and preserve these institutions by giving present and future staff a louder voice.
By unionizing, the journalists want to ensure wage equity and fair hiring processes that prioritize diversity, among other goals.
“I have seen a lot of smart journalists come and go during my 10 years in the Lowcountry, and I hope this effort builds an environment that encourages more of them to stay and become part of the communities they work so hard to cover,” said Stephen Fastenau, a senior reporter covering Beaufort and a member of The Packet/Gazette Guild organizing committee.
A copy of The Packet/Gazette Guild’s mission statement is attached to this announcement, along with the guild’s logo and photographs of the newspaper building and staff that can be used for publication.
For more information and press materials, visit https://www.packetguild.org/
The following journalists are available for interviews: - Katherine Kokal, Hilton Head Island reporter, (843) 321-9210, [email protected] - Lucas Smolcic Larson, Projects reporter, (843) 310-2974, [email protected] - Rachel Jones, Education reporter, (843) 631-6039, [email protected]
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The Packet/Gazette Guild’s Mission Statement
The Packet/Gazette Guild will safeguard the decades-old tradition of fearless, local reporting that benefits the citizens of Hilton Head Island, Beaufort County and the South Carolina Lowcountry. With a unified voice, the guild will fight for equitable working conditions and a seat at the table in corporate decision-making that affects the news our readers depend on every day. The guild will guarantee a future for its communities’ newspapers, local civic institutions that cannot be replaced.
About The NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America
The NewsGuild-CWA represents 25,000 journalists and other media workers in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico at publications and digital sites that include The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Chicago Sun-Times, Denver Post and Consumer Reports. Formerly known as The Newspaper Guild, the union was founded by journalists in 1933. The Guild merged with the 700,000-member Communications Workers of America in 1995.
About The Washington-Baltimore News Guild
The Washington-Baltimore News Guild (WBNG) is the legally recognized union for more than 2,600 news, information and labor-organization workers for 27 different employers, mainly in the metropolitan Washington and Baltimore areas. In this role, the employers at Guild-represented workplaces are legally obligated to bargain with the union over the compensation, benefits and working conditions of their employees.