Union pay study reveals low salaries, wage stagnation, and race and gender pay gaps at Southern California News Group, where journalists recently voted to authorize strike
SCNG Guild has proposed salary minimums or 9% raises, 401k matches, and changes to mileage and health contributions, but Guild leaders say management is offering only 4% raises or a one-time bonus.
Last week, SCNG Guild — the union representing 125 newsroom staffers at Southern California News Group — announced that its members had voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike amid stalled contract negotiations with management.
SCNG publishes 11 daily newspapers in Southern California, including the Orange County Register, L.A. Daily News, and four Inland Empire dailies: the San Bernardino Sun, Riverside Press-Enterprise, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, and Redlands Daily Facts.
The vote marks the first time journalists at newsrooms owned by the “vulture” hedge fund Alden Global Capital have authorized an open-ended strike. The third-largest newspaper owner in the country, Alden is notorious for buying newspapers and other “distressed assets,” gutting staffs, and siphoning off the remaining profits.
In its September 23 press release, SCNG Guild cited several reasons for the strike vote, including: low pay for most employees and — for some — even poverty-level wages; a decade or more without raises for many reporters; and unfair labor practices and stalling tactics by SCNG management.
Now, Inland Empire MediaWatch has obtained a 2022 SCNG Guild Pay Study Report detailing SCNG’s compensation patterns that have so frustrated Guild members.
Based on data provided by the company for all 126 Guild members as of August 2022, the report documents SCNG’s low salaries, wage stagnation, and race and gender pay gaps. SCNG Guild prepared the report as they entered the economic portion of contract negotiations in 2022.
As the report explains, “Since the [June 2021] creation of the SCNG Guild, the issue of compensation has been front and center in the minds of our newsroom employees and a driving force in our inaugural contract negotiations.”
According to the report, the median Guild member’s salary as of August 2022 was approximately $51,300, with most salaries falling in the $40,000s and $50,000s. The report explains that more Guild members made less than $40,000 than those making above $70,000.
The report also identifies race and gender pay gaps among SCNG employees. The median salary for men was $3,300 higher than for women, and White employees earned $5,700 more than non-White employees.
Experienced SCNG staffers generally earned more than less experienced ones. However, because many reporters have gone years without even cost-of-living raises, the report says “a sizable number of seasoned journalists” earned less than recent hires with minimal experience. The report notes that such wage stagnation is a particular problem for women and people of color.
Persistently low salaries combined with Southern California’s soaring cost-of-living means many SCNG staffers struggle to make ends meet. As the report explains:
While we know that some guild members are in households with other people who earn income, if everyone was the only member of a one-person household, almost 80% of our membership would be considered low income under HUD guidelines, including 13% – most of them living in Los Angeles County – who would be considered very low income.
“To have a reporter in Los Angeles trying to live off of that does impact the reporter directly in how they're going to, you know, pay rent,” said Charlie Vargas, an SCNG Casino and Entertainment reporter and member of the Guild’s contract actions team. “It’s important to be able to fund reporters’ salaries so that they can live in the cities they cover, but also to make sure that there is that watchful eye on public officials.”
Though the 2022 report does not detail staffing figures, Guild members told Inland Empire MediaWatch that, under Alden, deep newsroom cuts have meant SCNG reporters are expected to do more with less.
“You know, we're a much, much, much smaller newsroom than we used to be. There's no doubt about that,” said Orange County Register reporter and Guild unit chief Sean Emery. “Reporters covering more cities and local teams covering much larger geographic areas—. It's just that continual struggle.”
Guild members say that staffing cuts and expanded responsibilities, paired with persistently low salaries and pay inequities, have contributed to burnout and turnover.
“Not being able to, you know, afford to live in the city that you're covering, along with the like strain of having to produce all of these different stories—. You get a lot of burnout,” said Vargas. “Then it's sort of like a domino effect, and the reporter leaves. Now there's one less reporter in the city covering these issues.”
“The readers and the community deserve strong newsrooms that are able to serve in that watchdog role, find important issues, and provide breaking news and emergency coverage,” said Emery. “You need talented, dedicated, and experienced people to do that. But we have so much turnover because people just can't get by on the salaries, and we lose great people that way.”
SCNG newsroom employees voted to form the Guild in June 2021, and they began bargaining with management on an inaugural contract in January 2022.
Guild leaders say the two sides made some initial progress on non-economic matters. However, Guild unit chair Sean Emery says management has “dragged their feet” in offering a fair contract — particularly around wages and benefits.
In December 2023, amid mounting member frustration, the Guild organized a one-day walkout to try to spur movement on wages and benefits negotiations. However, Emery says SCNG management has continued to stall.
“We have made numerous attempts to adjust our offers to try to get [SCNG management] to the table,” said Emery. “They just will not take part in that process of meeting our offers with ones of their own that are anywhere near acceptable.”
Emery says it has been more than a year since SCNG management presented a proposal on wages and benefits that differs from previous offers.
According to Guild leaders, the union’s proposals include:
Minimum salaries depending on job title and seniority OR a 9% raise for those who have been with SCNG for 2+ years (whichever is greater);
Increasing the company’s $0.40 per mile reimbursement rate to the Federal (IRS) rate of $0.67 per mile;
Introducing a 3% matching rate for 401(k) contributions; and
Requiring SCNG to increase its contributions to employees’ health insurance plans when premiums rise.
Guild leaders say SCNG management has offered just a 4% raise over two years for employees making less than $46,000 and a $1,500 pre-tax bonus for those making more than that. They also say the company has not presented counterproposals on other economic matters, and it has refused the Guild’s proposal on health insurance contributions.
Southern California News Group management did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
“The salaries and the offers speak for themselves,” said Emery. “Obviously [Alden] has a reputation, and, in our view, this is the opportunity to prove people wrong and offer a fair contact and salaries.”
Guild leaders urged community members to use SCNG papers’ online comment sections and other feedback mechanisms to let management know that they value quality local reporting and want the contract matter settled fairly and quickly.
SCNG Guild members have also created a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for their strike fund.
It would have been cool if the study had some numbers for those of us who work as freelancers. Writing a story a week for pennies just to say we are published writers. How many ‘freelancers’ do the local papers rely on to have enough stories for their papers?