‘We would like to make a home for ourselves:’ Nearly 90 percent of Columbus Dispatch staffers sign union cards

Amid a wave of organizing at the national level in newsrooms and beyond, The Columbus Dispatch and sister publication The Newark Advocate presented a letter to management on Wednesday requesting voluntary recognition of an employee union under the NewsGuild/Communications Workers of America Local 34001.

Bailey Gallion, morning breaking news reporter at the 154-year-old Dispatch, said 36 of 40 staffers have signed union cards as of Thursday. Two of those comprise the nearly the entire full-time staff of The Advocate, which includes two sports reporters and a single news reporter.

Employees have asked New York City-based parent company USA Today to recognize their union in an attempt to avoid the formal election process.

In a written statement, USA Today’s public relations and corporate communications team said, “We respect the right of employees at The Columbus Dispatch and The Newark Advocate to make a fully informed choice to unionize. USA TODAY Co. strongly supports the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) election process and has always participated in that process fairly and in good faith. Central to that process is a democratic election in which every employee’s voice is heard.” 

Gallion and colleagues say a desire for better working conditions, better pay, and the ability to negotiate spurred the staff to organize. The push also comes as U.S. layoffs reach their highest numbers since the pandemic, with white-collar workers disproportionately affected.

“A union can’t guarantee that we stop layoffs, but we can have bargaining power,” said Gallion, a Dayton native and Ohio University graduate who worked at the Houston Chronicle and Florida Today before returning to the state. “A lot of journalists hop from newsroom to newsroom to make living wages, but we would like to make a home for ourselves.”

Shahid Meighan is the Dispatch night breaking news reporter. His most recent stories include extensive coverage of Whitehall City Council member Gerald Dixon’s failure to resign after child sex abuse charges. Both he and Gallion said local management isn’t the problem.

“We understand that direct management has had their hands tied – this is taking us directly to corporate, to USA Today,” he said. “We’d do a lot better if we had the means. Imagine what we could do if we had good wages.”

He said investigations and accountability journalism that deeply touch communities lose momentum when staff is stretched thin.

Josué Perez worked in multiple Colorado newsrooms before making the move to Ohio and is the only full-time news reporter at The Advocate. He said residents in Licking County deserve to have news that helps them make decisions for their communities and families.

“When there’s only one news reporter that road becomes more difficult. Unionizing can help preserve that and report that and help future reporters,” he said. 

Staff is currently being advised by the News Guild but has not gotten deep into what contract negotiations could possibly look like. No formal demands have been outlined, but staff said language protecting reporting from being siphoned off by artificial intelligence has been discussed. 

In 2023, the paper paused use of AI writing tool LedeAI after a Westerville football game article generated by the software drew critical coverage from CNN, The Washington Post and other national news outlets.

“We want our coworkers to be protected; we want to safeguard the Dispatch for years to come,” Gallion said.

Correction: This story initially read that all three full-time staff members at The Advocate had signed union cards. At this time, only two have signed on. Matter News regrets the error.