New York Times, Reuters journalists clash with news union

A top news union’s organizing costs and some of its leaders’ outspoken left-leaning criticism of journalism are drawing a backlash from some unionized journalists at the New York Times, Reuters, and other newsrooms.

The journalists have “effectively lost our voice, or any power, in our own union, the NewsGuild of New York,” the Reuters NewsGuild unit chair, Tim McLaughlin, wrote to Reuters union members earlier this month in a message shared with Semafor. He suggested a check on dues increases, and said that the union had spent millions organizing newsrooms that weren’t paying dues or no longer existed.

“The fiscally irresponsible and political activist arm of our union is now firmly in control of how our dues are spent,” McLaughlin said, writing that the Guild’s leaders “have forgotten that we are a union for journalists, not activists.”