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Local and National News
Maryland governor ending COVID-19 state of emergency July 1
June 17, 2021 | Maryland will end a state of emergency for COVID-19 on July 1, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday. The governor made the announcement as health metrics continue to improve in the state. “Masks or face coverings will not be required in any settings anywhere, including schools, camps, and child care facilities," Hogan said. “If you have been vaccinated, you are safe, but those who have not gotten vaccinated will continue to be at risk," Masks won’t be required by state law. But restaurants, venues, and other businesses and workplaces may continue to require them. Here's a look at what Gov. Larry Hogan said about Maryland's road to recovery amid the pandemic restrictions being rolled back. Baltimore will follow the state and end both its state of emergency and mask mandates on July 1.Union turmoil erupts as Alden Global pushes buyouts
June 7, 2021 | Tribune Publishing is asking all of its full-time editorial staffers to consider voluntary buyouts at all nine major metro dailies in the chain, which is now controlled by the cost-slashing hedge fund Alden Global Capital. But turmoil has erupted this week inside the News Guild, which represents eight of the nine major dailies and had been pushing for a national negotiating effort. Two major papers, the flagship Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News have opted not to join the negotiating committee… NY PostAlden Global offers employee buyouts two days after buying Tribune Publishing
June 2, 2021 | Alden Global Capital has begun offering Tribune Publishing employees buyout offers just two days after completing its $630 million acquisition of the company. The Chicago Tribune reported its nonunion newsroom employees received a voluntary separation plan Wednesday, and a source familiar with the buyouts said similar plans were being offered to people across the Tribune platform… The Hill
Advisories, industry-specific fact sheets, and resources for members
Our Union is closely monitoring the global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Working with other unions, public health officials and other experts in our Safety and Health Department, the Union is focused on providing Local Unions and staff with the most up-to-date information and resources to help everyone in this difficult time. Click on COVID-19 Outbreak Resources for Members for local and regional resources. On the left column, click on COVID-19 News for Industry-related Fact Sheets and other critical information from the IBT.
Older news items can be viewed at 888 News.
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June 16, 2021 | COMMENTARY | […] American workers are at a critically important juncture at this moment. Corporate employers seem to be approaching a limit of how far they can push workers to accept poverty-level jobs. According to longtime labor organizer and senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies Bill Fletcher Jr., “This moment provides opportunities to raise wage demands, but it must be a moment where workers organize in order to sustain and pursue demands for improvements in their living and working conditions.”… Naked Capitalism
June 14, 2021 | PUBLISHING | Newspapers across America are in peril, particularly small and midsized ones. The collapse of the traditional advertising model has caused upheaval across the industry. Since 2004, more than 2,000 newsrooms across the country have closed, most of them weeklies. The pandemic only exacerbated the problem. At least 70 newsrooms have shuttered since March 2020, according to the Poynter Institute. Most recently, Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund famous for exploiting struggling papers, gained shareholder approval to buy Tribune Publishing—an ominous sign for the papers under the company’s umbrella-like the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun. Yet amid closures and consolidation, some papers have found survival strategies. A benevolent billionaire could take ownership, as was the case for the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. A newspaper could become a nonprofit, like the Salt Lake City Tribune. There are even mixed models where a paper is owned by a nonprofit, as with the Philadelphia Inquirer. But a staff reporter at the Hampshire Gazette in Northampton, Massachusetts, and his colleagues are among those charting a different path to save their newspaper—lobbying their state government for support…Washington Monthly
