The NewsGuild
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| Full name | The NewsGuild-CWA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1933 |
| Members | 26,000 |
| Head union | Communications Workers of America |
| Affiliation | IFJ, AFL-CIO |
| Key people | Bernie Lunzer, president |
| Office location | Washington, D.C. |
| Country | United States, Canada |
| Website | www.newsguild.org |
The NewsGuild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933 who noticed that unionized printers and truck drivers were making more money than they did. In addition to improving wages and working conditions, its constitution says its purpose is to fight for honesty in journalism and the news industry's business practices.
The organization's founders were Joseph Cookman an editor of the New York Post, Allen Raymond of the New York Herald Tribune and Heywood Broun of the New York World-Telegram.Carl Randau was its director from 1934 to 1940. It was originally called the American Newspaper Guild, but it changed its name in the 1970s to reflect the fact that it also operated outside the United States. It had expanded into Canada in the 1950s.
It became affiliated with the American Federation of Labor in 1936, then left to go into the new Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1937, when it expanded its membership to non-editorial departments. It merged with the Communications Workers of America in 1995. The Guild is also affiliated with the International Federation of Journalists.
The Guild has more than 32,000 members in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Its membership has expanded from just journalists to many other employees of newspapers and news agencies, such as clerks who take classified ads and computer support workers. It also represents workers in a number of other industries.
In 2015, the union changed its name from Newspaper Guild to its current name, NewsGuild, to reflect that newspapers aren't the only publishers of news.
The Newspaper Guild, represented by many journalists and other written media workers since 1933, became one of the most continuous and effective media organizations in the United States. Heywood Broun was one of the most respected journalist and most popular, highly paid contributor. On August 7, 1933, Broun acknowledged the New York World-Telegram column and the progress of the newspaper’s business which was successful. He evaluated the progress more closely with his bosses than any other colleague of similar economic standing. Broun wrote, “the fact that newspaper editors and owners are genial folk should hardly stand in the way of organization of a newspaper writers’ union. There should be [always] one.” His column has influenced journalists from many states to rise up in opposition to the newspaper’s authorities and gather by publishers to show the importance of the newspaper company and expanding the foundation.
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