Buffalo, NY — The Buffalo Newspaper Guild, bolstered by the outpouring of support from
community leaders across the region, is calling on The Buffalo News to stop its assault on the
region’s daily paper and local jobs.
At a morning news conference, the largest union at The Buffalo News announced a series of
community actions – including a billboard, petition and byline strike – in response to Lee
Enterprises’ continued demands to weaken job security protections and outsource local union
jobs to its non-union hubs in other states and Mexico.
Lee, the Iowa-based media chain that bought The News early last year, is seeking the power to
lay off Guild-represented workers for any reason. Lee also wants to freeze workers’ pensions,
even though the pension costs the company nothing, and slash many other employee benefits.
Ultimately, Lee’s bargaining proposals, which include outsourcing the jobs of copy editors and
international award-winning page designers, will weaken the paper and hurt the community’s
access to strong local news coverage.
On top of that, the company has insisted on the right to get rid of the paper’s overworked
customer service representatives and send those jobs to Lee’s call center in Mexico.
“Never in the Guild’s modern history have we seen such an assault on the hardworking union
men and women at The Buffalo News,” said Guild President Sandra Tan. “This is not just a slap
in the face to our 150 members but to our entire Western New York community.”
We don’t stand alone in our fight to protect local journalism. In the weeks leading up to today’s
announcement, more than 20 elected leaders, all of them concerned about the paper’s future,
have publicly and eloquently expressed support for the Guild’s fight. We hope more will join us.
And our community petition has already garnered more than 1,000 signatures since Monday.
“Clearly, the community stands with us in the call for Lee Enterprises and The Buffalo News to
be better corporate citizens,” said Kim Leiser, the bargaining team’s chief negotiator. “We will
spare no expense to protect our members and to protect the paper that our community deserves.”
Learn more about our campaign and sign our petition: ProtectLocalJournalism.com
Follow on Facebook and Twitter @BuffaloGuild
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The Buffalo Newspaper Guild, one of the oldest newspaper unions in the country, represents
roughly 150 Buffalo News and weekly Sun paper employees, including most newsroom staff and
employees in Circulation, Accounting and Prepress. The Guild also represents workers at four
independent print shops in Western New York.
Buffalo Newspaper Guild CWA Local 31026 