VTDigger Guild

Tell VTDigger Management: Work with journalists on AI, not without us We, the journalists of VTDigger, have been at the bargaining table for a year — and are close to securing a more equitable and transparent contract. But a critical sticking point remains: artificial i...

News, Not Slop! Send a letter: actionnetwork.org/letters/1f19...

We know that readers and small-donors also prefer human journalists – not unreliable and biased AI news. Tell VTDigger management to work with us on the ways AI is implemented in our newsroom. At stake is not only our own job security but the integrity of our local, mission-driven journalism.

Unfortunately, our management refused to consider these sensible protections. Instead, as consolation, they offered slightly longer notice if they one day choose to replace one of our jobs with AI.

And we’re not alone. Last month, in solidarity with journalists from 15 unionized nonprofit newsrooms across the country, we published an open letter demanding our news industry leaders agree to common-sense guardrails around the use of AI.

VTDigger management wants to implement and experiment with AI as they wish. We, on the other hand, want journalists to have a say over how these new technologies are used in our jobs and in our workplace.

We, the journalists of VTDigger, have been at the bargaining table for a year — and are close to securing a more equitable and transparent contract. But a critical sticking point remains: artificial intelligence, and the uncertainties it presents to the future of our local newsroom.

Tell VTDigger Management: Work with journalists on AI, not without us We, the journalists of VTDigger, have been at the bargaining table for a year — and are close to securing a more equitable and transparent contract. But a critical sticking point remains: artificial i...

Tell VTDigger Management: Work with journalists on AI, not without us. Petition : actionnetwork.org/letters/1f19...

We demand VTDigger pay its journalists their fair share.

We reject the premise that our journalists should be paid the least simply because the market permits it.

VTDigger wants to continue paying us an unlivable wage. It wants to cut its contribution to our health care premiums. It wants to gut our employment protections. All as leadership compensation has ballooned and our own ranks continue to shrink.

Our VTDigger Guild members held a coordinate lunch-out today to demand that VTDigger management return to the bargaining table with a contract proposal that addresses unsustainable inequity and turnover at the organization.

VTDIGGER GUILD LUNCH OUT

actionnetwork.org/letters/fair...

We Demand a Pro Worker ProPublica — ProPublica Guild We took a collective lunch break Tuesday to protest ProPublica management’s continued use of a flawed performance management system — including denying steward representation in disciplinary meeti...

We took a collective lunch break today to protest @propublica.org management’s continued use of a flawed performance management system.

Just this morning, a member of our Bargaining Committee was fired as a result of this system.

Read more: www.propublicaguild.org/updates/we-d...

If you're passionate about our journalism, tell VTDigger's leadership! actionnetwork.org/letters/fair...

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!!

Dear Steve and Robin, Since we unionized in 2023, we have worked hard to reach a contract that honors ProPublica's mission. In order to fulfill that vision, our values of fairness, transparency and accountability must apply not only to our reporting but also to our workplace. Our proposals have sought basic contractual rights that align with those values and exist at many other unionized newsrooms. Instead of working with us to codify those rights, you have struck through many of our proposals, called for broad carve outs and delayed discussion of key provisions such as protections against layoffs and overwork. Those tactics are not in line with the ProPublica you say you want to build. In recent months: ● You have refused to allow stewards in performance meetings that could lead to discipline. ● You have resisted attempts to reform our disciplinary system, rejecting a standard approach to just cause and measures to improve transparency and clarity. ● You rejected our proposal that would ensure our jobs will not be replaced by artificial intelligence. What we are seeking is simple: ProPublica management must uphold its values in its own workplace. We expect that your proposals going forward will reflect these shared values. Sincerely, ProPublica Guild

Today, we issued a letter — signed by 70% of our unit — to @sengelberg.bsky.social and @robinsparkman.bsky.social asking them to uphold ProPublica’s values of fairness, transparency and accountability at the bargaining table.

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.