BREAKING: The NewsGuild-CWA joins lawsuit filed against Trump executive order

The NewsGuild-CWA, joined a lawsuit against a Trump executive order filed today by American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) in the Southern District of New York. 

The suit is seeking a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration's executive order to cut funding for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which directly funds Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe. TNG represents about 100 workers at Radio Free Asia in the Washington-Baltimore News Guild (WBNG). Radio Free Asia is a nonprofit that broadcasts in places where there is no free press, providing news and information not just to the public but to other journalists as well. All workers at Radio Free Asia stand to lose their jobs if the Congressionally-mandated funding for the agency is withheld. 

A press conference will be held at noon ET Monday (March 24) outside the courthouse at 500 Pearl St., New York. 

In a letter to NewsGuild members across the country, TNG President Jon Schleuss said the following:

"Today, we joined other unions and journalists filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Kari Lake and Victor Morales for their efforts to shutter the agency, close down Voice of America and cut grants funding the nonprofit newsrooms Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe. About 100 journalists at Radio Free Asia are Washington-Baltimore News Guild members.

Last week President Trump signed an executive order stripping away funding for a large portion of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, including the grants funding Radio Free Asia. On Wednesday they were told that three-quarters of them would be placed on unpaid furloughs starting today. 

Radio Free Asia operates under a Congressional mandate to deliver uncensored, domestic news and information to China, Tibet, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Burma, among other places in Asia with poor media environments and few, if any, free speech protections. Our members produce news in nine languages for shortwave and medium wave radio, satellite television, and online through websites, apps, and social media platforms. It’s a way to get news into countries whose governments prohibit access to a free press.

Our union was established by journalists 91 years ago to protect the workers that make a free press possible. We continue that fight today. The work of journalists at Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and other newsrooms ensures that these fundamental American freedoms know no borders. Journalists across the globe fight every single day to hold power to account, expose corruption and provide communities with life-saving news. We’ll do whatever it takes to support that fight."

Read more about the lawsuit here.