The Capital moves toward unionization
Nov. 15, 2018 | The Capital, a Maryland community newspaper where five employees were killed in June in a mass shooting, is pushing to unionize under the auspices of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild. The initiative, say staffers, is driven by low pay and a sense of alienation that comes with working as part of such a large corporation; the newspaper is a unit of the Baltimore Sun Media Group, which is in turn part of Tribune Publishing… Washington Post

Tribune Publishing reviewing bids for the company
Nov. 7, 2018 | Tribune Publishing's board on Monday reviewed at least three bids to buy the newspaper company, sources said. Offers from newspaper chain McClatchy, investment firm Donerail and Aim Media were all on the table during the regularly scheduled board meeting in Chicago, sources said. The bids were submitted before a deadline last Thursday set by Chicago-based Tribune Publishing. Sources said Tribune Publishing is seeking between $17 and $20 per share, which would value the company at upward of $700 million. The stock closed at $16.60 on Monday.… Chicago Tribune

Hoffa: Congress has no time to delay pension fix
Nov. 7, 2018 | Election season is officially over. The bickering and back-biting of candidates will no longer fill the airwaves. For many of us, that brings a sense of relief. For members of Congress, it is time to get back to work. A top priority must be handling pension reform, which a joint committee was tasked with finding a solution for before Nov. 30. There is not a moment to waste… teamster.org

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It looks like Tronc is about to be chopped up, sold for parts Sept. 17, 2018 | While it still requires some deal jiu-jitsu, Tronc looks to be on the brink of being broken up. Will Wyatt’s new Donerail Group, several confidential sources tell me, has now gotten the financing in place to do a deal to buy Tronc. Donerail would purchase Tronc’s 10 daily newspaper properties, take the company private, and then most likely sell the papers off to individual buyers — some of whom it already has lined up… Neiman Lab And this: Tronc in talks to sell to McClatchy? Sept. 17, 2018 | A second firm is in talks to potentially acquire Chicago-based newspaper chain Tronc. California-based newspaper chain McClatchy is in “early stage” discussions to buy Tronc, owner of the Chicago Tribune and other major newspapers, a source familiar with the negotiations said Friday. McClatchy, a publicly traded company, generated about $904 million in revenue last year, according to filings with the SEC… Chicago Tribune Tronc to ditch ridiculed name June 29, 2018 | After one of the most lampooned rebrandings of the digital era, Tronc is going to return to the name Tribune Publishing. An insider said that the name change for the parent company of the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News was awaiting the completion of Tronc’s spinoff of the Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union-Tribune and several other papers in its California Media Group to health tech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong… MarketWatch

It looks like Tronc is about to be chopped up, sold for parts Sept. 17, 2018 | While it still requires some deal jiu-jitsu, Tronc looks to be on the brink of being broken up. Will Wyatt’s new Donerail Group, several confidential sources tell me, has now gotten the financing in place to do a deal to buy Tronc. Donerail would purchase Tronc’s 10 daily newspaper properties, take the company private, and then most likely sell the papers off to individual buyers — some of whom it already has lined up… Neiman Lab

And this: Tronc in talks to sell to McClatchy? Sept. 17, 2018 | A second firm is in talks to potentially acquire Chicago-based newspaper chain Tronc. California-based newspaper chain McClatchy is in “early stage” discussions to buy Tronc, owner of the Chicago Tribune and other major newspapers, a source familiar with the negotiations said Friday. McClatchy, a publicly traded company, generated about $904 million in revenue last year, according to filings with the SEC… Chicago Tribune

Tronc to ditch ridiculed name June 29, 2018 | After one of the most lampooned rebrandings of the digital era, Tronc is going to return to the name Tribune Publishing. An insider said that the name change for the parent company of the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News was awaiting the completion of Tronc’s spinoff of the Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union-Tribune and several other papers in its California Media Group to health tech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong… MarketWatch

	The Next Crash Nov. 19, 2018 | ECONOMY | […] The combination of stagnant wages with most economic gains going to the top is once again endangering the economy. Most Americans are still living in the shadow of the Great Recession that started in December 2007 and officially ended in June 2009. More have jobs, to be sure. But they haven’t seen any rise in their wages, adjusted for inflation. Many are worse off due to the escalating costs of housing, healthcare, and education. And the value of whatever assets they own is less than in 2007. Which suggests we’re careening toward the same sort of crash we had then, and possibly as bad as 1929… Nation of Change

	In Case You Missed It   • Postal workers allege mistreatment by USPS   • Teamsters return to Hill to push for pension reform   • Steelworkers approve 4-yr pact with U.S. Steel   • How working people defined the midterm election   • With primary opponents voted out, what’s next for labor unions   • NLRB finds further evidence of Johns Hopkins interfering in union effort   • House Democrats have a sweeping plan to protect millions of workers’ legal rights   • Nurses unions allies unveil national push for Medicare for All   • Unionized athletes need to stop crossing picket lines, start supporting fellow workers

	Trump’s Nafta Plan Could Be Upended by Democrats’ House Takeover Nov. 15, 2018 | TRADE AGREEMENTS | […] Democrats and their allies in manufacturing unions — who have remained neutral on the proposed pact — maintain that the new requirements, while an improvement on the original Nafta, do not go far enough. They are demanding more specifics about how the deal will be enforced, and raising questions about whether the $16-an-hour benchmark for Mexican workers — which is about four times the typical wage for Mexican autoworkers — is high enough to stanch the flow of American jobs to Mexico… New York Times

	Amazon and America’s Real Divide Nov. 15, 2018 | AMERICA'S MIDDLE CLASS | […] As the Times’ Emily Badger has reported, the digital economy has been great for places like Seattle, New York, metropolitan Washington, and the other big talent hubs like San Francisco, Boston, and LA. But it’s left behind much of the rest of the country. The result is widening inequalities of place. For most of the last century, wages in poorer parts of America rose faster than wages in richer places, as inventions were put to work in the hinterlands. After Henry Ford invented the Model T, for example, workers on assembly lines all over the Midwest built it. Now it’s just the opposite… The American Prospect

	In case You Missed It   • Big wins for Teamsters in Election Day results.   • Teamsters organize 7th XPO Logistics center   • Amazon is launching a new shipping service   • Baltimore first big U.S. city to ban water privatization   • NLRB staffers stage second protest against Trump board   • Fairness triumph with passage of Florida amendment   • Long lines to vote are a sign democracy isn’t working   • Voters just gave nearly 1 million workers a raise in 2 red states   • Election results are a victory for the concerns of working people   • Confessions of a U.S. postal worker: “We deliver Amazon packages until we drop   • Why Google employees walked out & what it could mean for the future of Labor