{"id":21889,"date":"2018-03-21T09:22:17","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T15:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=21889"},"modified":"2018-03-21T12:48:00","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T18:48:00","slug":"indy-staffers-expand-on-reasons-for-forming-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2018\/03\/indy-staffers-expand-on-reasons-for-forming-union\/","title":{"rendered":"Indy staffers expand on reasons for forming union"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"obits\"<\/a>

The Missoulian story on the unionizing at the Missoula Independent appeared on Page 6A, under the obits. If the story is on the Missoulian’s website, we can’t find it.<\/p><\/div>\n

Staffers at the Missoula Independent took the first step this week in forming a union to preserve the paper\u2019s independence under the ownership of Lee Enterprises, a corporate chain that owns five other papers in Montana, including the Missoulian.<\/p>\n

Employees at the alternative weekly\u00a0filed their petition<\/a>\u00a0Monday\u00a0with the National Labor Relations Board, and they\u2019re now waiting for a response from Lee Enterprises, they said\u00a0Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will have to respond to us on our petition,\u201d Indy reporter Alex Sakaraissen said. \u201cThis is the first step in a long process. The next couple of weeks and maybe month will be an interesting time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest move by the Indy staff continues the yearlong saga that began last April when Matt Gibson, then the owner of the Independent, sold the publication to Lee Enterprises. Gibson told the Missoula Current that he\u00a0made the decision<\/a>\u00a0in order to tap Lee\u2019s technical capabilities amid sweeping changes in advertising trends and marketing.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

At the time, Lee\u2019s vice president of publishing, Mike Gulledge, said the Independent and the Missoulian would remain editorially independent despite the merger. Staffers at the alt-weekly are looking to hold Lee to its word.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in it to make sure the Independent stays independent,\u201d Sakaraissen said. \u201cA lot of people made jokes about us not being independent after the sale, but as far as I\u2019m concerned, the paper you see now on the stands looks the same as before the Lee purchase. I want to make sure that stays that way \u2013 that we maintain our independence.\u201d<\/p>\n

But 10 months after news of the sale to Lee was made public, Gibson told staffers at the Indy that they\u2019d be leaving their office on Orange Street to join the Missoulian at its office on Higgins Avenue.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>While the move was billed as a cost-saving measure, the announcement didn\u2019t sit well with the Indy\u2019s reporters. It led one to write, \u201cThe Indy\u2019s future work space reflects the media wreckage that\u2019s been accumulating through the digital age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those at the Independent are well aware of Lee\u2019s history of layoffs, including some of the state\u2019s longest-serving and most experienced reporters. That \u201cmedia wreckage\u201d has led some at the Indy to consider their own job security working for the new corporate owner.<\/p>\n

By organizing, they hope to have some say in their future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that can help us have a voice in the process, rather than just having things happen to us,\u201d said Indy reporter Susan Elizabeth Shepard. \u201cWe\u2019d like to take part in the decisions that affect the paper. As with any changes that happen to the Independent, having some kind of bargaining power gives us, at least, a say.\u201d<\/p>\n

The timing of the Indy\u2019s petition to organize comes two weeks before its staff is scheduled to move in with the Missoulian \u2013 a move that raises additional questions about the Indy\u2019s editorial independence and how closely its reporters will work with their peers at the Missoulian.<\/p>\n

While the content is unique, the Indy\u2019s website is now a mirror image of the Missoulian\u2019s and other Lee papers.<\/p>\n

While Shepard said she\u2019s been assured by Lee management that the Independent is valued for its \u201cseparateness,\u201d moving in with the Missoulian, if even on separate floors, is a \u201cbig change to have thrust upon us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we\u2019re now in a unit with other papers and we no longer have a dedicated general manager or publisher for the Independent means, institutionally, there\u2019s no longer an authority or body advocating specifically for the Independent,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ll be able to fill that slot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gibson didn\u2019t return calls\u00a0Tuesday\u00a0seeking comment.<\/p>\n

Staffers at the Indy said talk of organizing began last year after the sale to Lee. It gained momentum over the past few weeks, leading to\u00a0Monday\u2019s\u00a0official filing of the petition with the National Labor Relations Board.<\/p>\n

Talk of organizing among reporters at the Missoulian has come up in the past as well, though it was never given serious consideration. Past management worked to thwart such considerations by engaging more closely with staff.<\/p>\n

Since then, however, the Missoulian \u2013 along with other Lee papers in Montana \u2013 has suffered a number of cuts, though few of them were reported by the paper itself. As the lines between the Missoulian and the Indy blur, Indy staffers are looking to preserve the identity of their product \u2013 and their jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis process has been empowering and has given me optimism for what we\u2019d be able to do,\u201d said Shepard. \u201cI would love to see our colleagues at the Missoulian follow suit so they can experience how great it feels to take steps to preserve the good work they do for the community here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shepard added, \u201cWe love this paper and we want to do everything we can to preserve what it does. I found it to be a great process all around, and I\u2019m excited to see what\u2019s next for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ed. note<\/strong>: Over at the Montana Free Press, John Adams also has a story<\/a> on the Indy’s unionization.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on\u00a0Missoula Current<\/a>, an independent online newspaper, of which\u00a0Martin Kidston is the founding editor.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Staffers at the Missoula Independent took the first step this week in forming a union to preserve the paper\u2019s independence under the ownership of Lee Enterprises, a corporate chain that owns five other papers in Montana, including the Missoulian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":21890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[305,971,225],"class_list":["post-21889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-lee-enterprises","tag-missoula-independent","tag-missoulian","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21889"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21898,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21889\/revisions\/21898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}