We're a union! Thanks to @vtdigger's leadership for voluntarily recognizing the VTDigger Guild. We look forward to working together.

RT @propublicaguild: 1/ 🚨Yesterday, @ProPublica's management confirmed that it will again deny steward representation at disciplinary meeti….

June is here—and we're heading back to the bargaining table today! We'll be countering an economics proposal that management passed last month which many of our members called insulting. And we'll be following up with some heat in the coming days. So watch this space!! 👀👀👀.

RT @propublicaguild: Today, we issued a letter — signed by 70% of our unit — to @SteveEngelberg and @RobinSparkman91 asking them to uphold….

Happy International Workers' Day! This May Day, the VTDigger Guild is relaunching our socials in solidarity with our journalism industry colleagues and the wider labor movement. Keep up the fight.

Thank you to everyone who's written in support of our fair contract! It's not too late to send a letter to management and share your thoughts.

RT @TDSNewsGuild: We are beyond proud that @MyDesert produced such high caliber journalism in the most consequential year for news in recen….

Join our campaign: Write to @VTDigger management and tell them to give us a fair contract now: 13/.

If VTDigger wants to be a model for the future of local news, it needs to try to also be a model employer. Because relying on cheap, young labor that burns out and turns over every two years is not innovative — and it is not sustainable. 12/.

We don’t expect management to adopt the Guild’s proposals wholesale. This is a negotiation, after all. But management seems to believe that nothing ought to change. 11/.

VTDigger ignored our salary schedule entirely, did not propose their own, and offered a $34K floor — $1K less than what they hired a first-year reporter for in 2019. 10/.

The Guild also put forward a comprehensive wage proposal, including a pay scale and salary floor of $38K, grounded in the Vermont living wage analysis produced by the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office. 9/.

At the bargaining table, VTDigger has said they’re fine with just cause — as long as it comes with an expansive exemption that retains their authority to summarily fire any one of us anyway. 8/.

Just cause is necessary if newsrooms want to engage in honest dialogue about the debates roiling our industry right now. Employees — particularly those from marginalized groups — can’t speak without fear of reprisal unless they are guaranteed basic legal protections. 7/.