Dan Neuburger, People Magazine Unit Chair, Receives the 2020 Thomas M. Keenan Service Award

06/23/2020

At our Summer Membership Meeting on June 24, 2020, Dan Neuburger of People Magazine will be honored with the 2020 Thomas M. Keenan NewsGuild of New York Service Award. The Guild’s annual honor is presented to a long-serving member who has performed above and beyond in service to our union and who best exemplifies the ideals of a true labor leader.

“I am deeply humbled and honored to receive our union's Tom Keenan Award,” said Daniel Neuburger, Unit Chair at People Magazine. "And to be recognized by my colleagues, both past and present, is incredibly meaningful. Having the opportunity to work shoulder to shoulder with my colleagues at People and my peers across the Guild to ensure a more equitable, inclusive and transparent industry has been a gratifying and rewarding highlight in my career. What we do as media workers and as union members holds power as we stand up for one another and fight for better. The work starts here with all of us." 

Neuburger was recognized for his steadfast determination in building a strong union at the former Time Inc., recovering over $300,000 in back pay and raises owed to members, and for helping to organize the digital staffers of People Magazine, who recently requested voluntary recognition with the support of 98% of eligible staffers. 

Several of his current and former colleagues, including Leslie Dickstein, Unit Chair at TIME Magazine, and Jake Meth, Unit Chair at Fortune Magazine, signed onto a multi-shop nomination letter which states, “It’s probably impossible to overstate the importance of Dan’s work to the Time Inc. unit and to the current Meredith/People unit — and even the units it has spun off into. In fact, it is likely that if Dan hadn’t decided to run for Unit Chair at a time when most of the long-time activists were ready to step back, the unit would have struggled to survive at all.” 

Their endorsement continues: “Along with the everyday grievances and contract enforcement issues that take up so much of a Unit Chair’s time, Dan got the unit through two negotiations with a hostile and struggling Time Inc. management, multiple layoffs, a disruptive office move, a sale in which the unit was kept intact, and then multiple sales in which much of the Meredith unit was lost, but the Guild survived. Dan’s dedication to the Guild, and the work he’s done on our behalf, is unparalleled.” 

“Dan Neuburger’s tireless dedication to his members helped to transform People Magazine into an active and engaged unit that has come together, as one union, to demand recognition for unrepresented digital editorial workers,” said Susan DeCarava, President of The NewsGuild of New York. “Thanks in large part to his determination, and the efforts of those inspired by his example, his colleagues at former Time Inc. publications each successfully fought to secure a voice in their newsrooms.”  

The award was established in 1999 to honor Tom Keenan, the longest-serving New York Times  Unit Chair, who was elected to serve seven terms. Keenan joined the Guild’s staff as a Local Representative in 1998. 

The winner is selected by the New York Guild’s Administrative Committee, which consists of the President, Secretary-Treasurer, Local Chair, the union’s three Vice Presidents and the TNG Regional Vice President.

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