Spokesman, Bulletin staff vote to unionize
Published 4:00 pm Tuesday, December 19, 2023
- FILE- Signs go up at the Redmond Spokesman office building, 361 SW Sixth Street in downtown Redmond in 2022.
A majority of the writers, photographers and news assistants at The Bulletin and The Redmond Spokesman voted to unionize, according to a vote tally overseen by the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday.
The 12-1 vote opens the door for the members of the Central Oregon NewsGuild to join The Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, which also represents The Seattle Times and other publications in the region.
The vote makes the two Central Oregon papers the only two in the EO Media Group’s 13 paper holdings in Oregon and Washington to be represented by a union. Both parties have five days to challenge the election results with the National Labor Relations Board.
The employees have said that they needed to unionize because of the uncertainty of local journalism and the high cost of living in Central Oregon.
“There’s a perception that if journalists are willing to pursue their craft despite poor pay, there’s less incentive for companies to provide a living wage,” said Taylor Bayly, a reporter at The Bulletin.
The employees presented the company with a petition in October signed by 11 employees, or 80% of the staff eligible to sign union authorization cards.
“We respect the rights of the newsroom employees that have chosen to join the Northwest Guild and will prepare to begin contract negotiations,” said Heidi Wright, The Bulletin publisher.
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Bulletin building to be sold for $13.25 million
EO Media purchased The Bulletin and Redmond Spokesman in 2019 from Western Communications, the former parent company of The Bulletin, in a bankruptcy sale for $3.65 million.
The purchase did not include the 86,394-square-foot building on about 10 acres on Chandler Avenue in northwest Bend, which sold in 2019 to Next Development Group for $13.25 million.
