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South Bend Tribune reaches two-year agreement with NewsGuild

Journalists at the South Bend Tribune are getting a raise, under a collective bargaining agreement reached this week with the South Bend NewsGuild.

Unit spokesperson Gayle Bell says while some things could have been better, a solid majority of the NewsGuild voted to ratify it, after the paper improved its wage proposal. "Across the board, I think it's about a 14-percent [raise]. Some people are higher. Some people are lower," Bell explained. "So we were real pleased with that. We feel like we got good jurisdiction language, good layoff language."

The Tribune has also begun hiring for some positions that had long been unfilled, including a new reporter hired in January and an education reporter to be hired soon. "We are also getting a photographer back in our unit," Bell added. "That's one thing that we had filed an [unfair labor practice] charge. Our photographer had left a couple years ago, and they never replaced him."

The two-year contract is the first collective bargaining agreement reached since newsroom staff voted to unionize in 2020. Bell said wages were an ongoing sticking point until now.

"They weren't coming up with anything where people would get a raise at all, except for maybe one person at one point, and the fact is the cost of health care is going up," Bell said.

She said she's hopeful that things are looking up for the journalism industry nationally, citing recent contracts between NewsGuild units and other Gannett newspapers.

Michael Gallenberger is a news reporter and producer that hosts All Things Considered on 89.1 FM | Lakeshore Public Media.