Wisconsin Examiner: Wisconsin Watch director says nonprofit outlet will discuss voluntary union recognition
From Wisconsin Examiner, published Oct. 24, 2023:
A day after employees at the investigative news outlet Wisconsin Watch announced they had organized a union and were seeking voluntary recognition, the nonprofit organization’s executive director and CEO said the organization plans to discuss that step.
“The Wisconsin Watch Board and I have reviewed the letter requesting recognition of the newly formed Wisconsin Watch Union and appreciate the staff’s expressed commitment to outstanding reporting that serves and informs the people of Wisconsin,” said George Stanley in an email message to the Wisconsin Examiner Tuesday afternoon. “We also share their desire to build a strong, sustainable newsroom in which journalists can accomplish the most rewarding public service work of their careers — reporting that improves lives.”
On Monday, Wisconsin Watch employees went public with their decision to form a union and join The NewsGuild, a unit of the Communications Workers of America. In a letter to Stanley and the Wisconsin Watch board of directors, the employees asked for voluntary recognition of their union.
“Once we work through some details, we will discuss voluntary recognition with the group,” said Stanley, the retired editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
In his comment, Stanley said Wisconsin Watch management and employees share similar objectives.
“As a locally owned nonprofit, Wisconsin Watch is in a unique position to encourage a collaborative network that fills holes in community coverage created by the loss of revenue and journalists at the state’s commercial news organizations, nearly all of which are owned by distant chains,” he said.
“Everyone at Wisconsin Watch wants to build it into an even stronger provider of high-impact, truth-seeking news in the years ahead.”
Tuesday evening, the employees released a joint statement in response. “It’s certainly true that our goals toward sustainable investigative journalism are aligned,” they stated. “We are encouraged by the opportunity to discuss voluntary recognition of Wisconsin Watch Union.”
Wisconsin’s largest print news outlets are owned by two of the nation’s largest newspaper groups. Gannett owns the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, daily papers in cities that include Fond du Lac, Oshkosh, Green Bay, Sheboygan, Wausau and Appleton, and a number of local weeklies, mostly in the Milwaukee suburbs. Lee Enterprises owns the Wisconsin State Journal and dailies in Kenosha, Racine and La Crosse, among other properties.