LABOR FIGHT POST-WALKOUT: The NewsGuild of New York, Daily News Union file three charges against Alden Global Capital at National Labor Relations Board

NEW YORK –  Unionized journalists at New York’s Hometown Paper, the Daily News, have taken new legal action against the newspaper’s owner, predatory hedge fund Alden Global Capital, over continued violations of their federally protected rights as union members. 

The Daily News Union, which represents the tabloid’s print, digital and some photo employees, has been bargaining its first contract since it was certified as a union in 2021. Any changes to members’ working conditions must be bargained and agreed to by the union under labor law. 

On Wednesday, The NewsGuild of New York filed on behalf of the Daily News Union three separate unfair labor practice charges against Alden Global Capital for implementing without negotiating:

• A new policy that limits unionized workers’ ability to work on holidays for the company-mandated double time. 
• Arbitrary story metrics and quotas
• New disciplinary procedures and processes targeting workers 

Alden Global Capital is a secretive hedge fund known for strip-mining newspapers for immense  profits while letting the overall product diminish. Despite that, a skeleton crew of Daily News journalists has produced impactful, award-winning work covering a city of more than 8 million people. 

“It doesn’t matter how many newspapers they own. Alden’s executives are not journalists and it shows in the arbitrary methods they want to use to measure our success as a news organization—metrics and quotas instead of impact and reach,” said Ellen Moynihan, unit chair of the Daily News Union and a metro reporter. “Alden’s focus is solely on its own bottom line and we showed at our Jan. 25 walkout that we will not stand by and watch Alden further diminish our ability to cover this city and ignore our federally protected rights.” 

The three labor board charges are the latest actions taken by the union. On Nov. 29, The NewsGuild of New York filed an unfair labor practice charge against Alden over a new overtime policy implemented in October, requiring staff to have supervisors’ approval for any overtime in advance, a departure from decades of practice. 

“Alden is prioritizing profits over local journalism, over the news New Yorkers need and rely on. Our members care deeply about this city, as evident by their commitment to cover the ins and outs of our beloved city everyday,” said Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York. “When Daily News journalists walked out on Jan. 25, New Yorkers stood up to join us. As New Yorkers, we all understand the value of our hometown news and are invested in the collective battle to save the Daily News from greedy hedge fund executives.”