Help Our Cause

On Dec. 10, 2025, an overwhelming majority of workers at The Columbus Dispatch and Newark Advocate came together to announce the formation of the Dispatch News Guild. It is the first time in the long histories of both newspapers that journalists have come together to unionize.

We are proud of our profession and proud of the work we do everyday to deliver the news to our neighbors across central Ohio. Unfortunately, we have been forced to endure nearly two decades of staff cuts, stagnated wages and deteriorating working conditions from successive owners of our newspapers.

We believe our action to harness our collective strength as an organized, united and unionized workforce will benefit not only us but also the readers and advertisers of both newspapers. For far too long, decisions in our rapidly changing industry have been made by corporate executives far removed from the day-to-day reality of their actions. They have failed to stabilize and revive our shaken news products.

We, the newspaper workers of Columbus and Newark whose livelihoods are on the line, must have a say.

We now demand it.

With our announcement today, the Dispatch News Guild formally requested our local management and parent ownership at the USA TODAY Co. to voluntarily recognize our union. A supermajority of workers at The Dispatch and Advocate – news, business, features and sports reporters, photographers, videographers and digital producers – have signed union authorization cards to join Local 1 of the NewsGuild-CWA.

We follow in the footsteps of USA TODAY Co. colleagues who have come together in solidarity as union workers at local papers across the country. We look forward to sitting down with the management of our local newspapers and corporate parent to begin good-faith negotiations toward a contract.

We welcome your support in our unionization efforts. We appreciate you joining our call for voluntarily recognition of the Dispatch News Guild by The Columbus Dispatch and USA TODAY Co. We are strengthened by every name added to our petition.