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October 4, 2019 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
LABOR
PRESS
...Vancouver’s news room goes union
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
From Page 1
NORTHWEST
Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the la-
bor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on the
first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor
Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-profit mutual benefit corpo-
ration owned by 20 unions and councils including the Ore-
gon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in
Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Office location:
4275 NE Halsey St., Portland, Oregon
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213
Phone: (503) 288-3311
Web address:
http://nwlaborpress.org
Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig
Senior staff reporter: Don McIntosh
Office manager: Jill Lukens
Printed on recycled paper, using soy-based
inks, by members of Teamsters Local 747-M.
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all others. Pay by credit card online at
nwlaborpress.org/subscribe, or send a check
to our mailing address (above) along with
your name, address and union affiliation, if
any. Group rates of 47 cents an issue per
member — $11.28 a year are available for 25
or more subscriptions; call 503-288-3311 for
details.
CORRECTIONS: See an error? Please let us
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phone at 503-288-3311.
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work them hard for a couple
years, and then not bat an eyelash
when they get burned out and
leave the industry or leave the
newspaper,” Howard said. “I’ve
only been with the Columbian a
year and a half, and in that time
five reporters out of a staff of 28
have left. And all of those people
expressed to me that they hated
leaving because they love the
Vancouver community, but they
just couldn’t afford to live on
what they were getting paid
here.”
In an official statement ac-
companying the union an-
nouncement, union supporters
called The Columbian “an in-
creasingly rare example of a
thriving independent community
news organization,” but said
journalists there are overworked
and underpaid.
“We intend to bargain for eq-
uitable wages, greater diversity
in the workplace, reasonable
leave and health benefits, earned
severance, and a fair and consis-
tent grievance policy,” the state-
ment said.
Founded in 1890, The Colum-
bian has been family-owned
since Campbell’s grandfather
bought it in 1921. Printing press
operators used to belong to the
The Columbian newspaper owners Scott and Jody Campbell, center, received honors as “business of the year” at a
Sept. 27 ceremony organized by the Labor Roundtable of Southwest Washington. [To their left is fellow awardee
Kara Fox-LaRose, general manager of the ilani casino, and flanking them are Labor Roundtable vice chair Dave Le-
tinich and president Ed Barnes, retired IBEW Local 48 business manager.]
Graphic Communications Inter-
national Union (GCIU), but de-
certified in 2003. [The North-
west Labor Press was printed
there until then.]
In 2011, the Southwest Wash-
ington Central Labor Council,
the Columbia Pacific Building
Trades Council, and Northwest
Oregon Labor Council waged a
boycott of The Columbian, in re-
sponse to editorials against pub-
lic employee unions and an over-
all failure to report on the local
labor movement, even on Labor
Day. The boycott got owners' at-
tention. They pledged to improve
coverage of organized labor, and
followed through. The boycott
was lifted.
The new union includes re-
porters, photographers, copy ed-
itors, page designers and editorial
assistants. They’ll be part of the
Pacific Northwest Newspaper
Guild, a local of The NewsGuild,
which is affiliated with the Com-
munications Workers of Amer-
ica. In Washington, the union
represents The Seattle Times,
Kitsap Sun, Skagit Valley Herald
and Yakima Herald-Republic.