IndyStar journalists marched during their lunch break from the paper’s downtown office to Monument Circle on Sept. 1 as they try to get a new contract with the Star’s parent company, Gannett.
The Indianapolis Newspaper Guild’s collective bargaining agreement expired two years ago. Pay inequity and newsroom diversity are among the issues union members said they want to address.
Photojournalist Robert Scheer and others led a group of about 30 in chants of “Keep local news local!” and “Who’s newsroom? Our newsroom!”
“This contract foolishness has gone on so long that it’s forcing us to ramp up our visibility. There will be more to come,” Scheer, who has been at the Star for 24 years, said in a press release. “It’s funny that when a stock price goes up, employees generally don’t benefit but when it goes down we’re always the ones who suffer – not top leadership.”
The march came a couple weeks after Gannett laid off at least 90 employees from 50 newsrooms.
Contact senior staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853 or email tylerf@indyrecorder.com. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.
