Loveland newspaper news staff seeks union representation

LOVELAND — Members of the Loveland Reporter-Herald news staff have taken steps toward union organization and, if certified, will affiliate with the Denver Newspaper Guild, CWA Local 37074.

A majority of the seven members of the news staff have signed authorization cards and have submitted a request to the newspaper publisher, Al Manzi, asking for voluntary recognition of the union, according to Max Levy, a reporter and one of the leaders of the unionization effort.

Unions can be formed either by demonstrating to company management that a majority of affected employees support affiliation or by requesting a formal election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. Levy said the group submitted the request to Manzi early Wednesday and plans to file authorization cards with the NLRB Thursday. If not voluntarily accepted, then an election would be held.

SPONSORED CONTENT

People Powered: Preparing Longmont Businesses for Economic Success

Longmont Chamber and FNBO present People Powered on April 24, 2024, aiming to inform business owners about workforce development, housing, and transportation issues.

The union would be called the Heart of NoCo Loveland News Guild. 

Staff members started talking about this in July, Levy said, and he described how staff members “almost organically” raised concerns about the future of the newspaper and news coverage in Loveland.

A statement that several members of the news staff posted on Facebook Wednesday said, in part, “We … have decided to organize into a union to protect our community’s access to local news and make our collective voice heard.”

“Organizing is a robust solution to the problems we’re experiencing. Papers like ours are necessary for the community,” Levy said.

While rate of pay is a concern of the staff, so is job security, he said. Pay structures, notice and a structure for furloughs when they occur and compensation for work-related expenses are among the issues he cited.

The news staff currently includes two editors, three reporters, a photographer and a sports writer. At its peak, the Reporter-Herald had a 30-person newsroom. Like newspaper newsrooms around the country, layoffs have reduced staffing levels. The Pew Research Center reported in April that newspaper newsrooms had declined 51% between 2008 and 2019.

The Reporter-Herald is operated by Prairie Mountain Publishing, a division of Media News Group Inc., which also owns the Denver Post, Greeley Tribune, Longmont Times-Call, Estes Park Trail Gazette and other newspapers in Northern Colorado. While the Denver Post newsroom is already organized, the Reporter-Herald effort does not involve any of the other newspapers or other departments at the Reporter-Herald.

Manzi, who serves as group publisher for several of the Prairie Mountain publications, told BizWest he had just learned of the request for voluntary recognition of the union and would not have a response prior to publication of this story.

This story may be updated as it develops.

Editor’s note: The author of this report is a former editor and general manager of the Reporter-Herald, departing in May 2011.

© 2020 BizWest Media LLC