Protect Local Journalism at The Buffalo News
Lee Enterprises executives and board of directors, Buffalo News executives
Lee Enterprises, the out-of-state owner of The Buffalo News, is waging an assault on the 150 union workers who help produce the award-winning paper -- the people who write stories, take photographs, edit and design pages, provide customer service to our readers and get the paper delivered.
Lee Enterprises wants concessions that threaten the quality of a newspaper with the largest newsroom in Upstate New York State and the primary source of news for more than 100,000 readers in the Buffalo-Niagara region.
Lee Enterprises wants to ship our jobs to Mexico and the Midwest, eliminating one-fourth of the jobs performed by members of the Buffalo Newspaper Guild, the largest union at The News. The company wants the power to lay off anyone at any time for any reason and freeze union members’ pensions even though the pension is fully funded and doesn’t cost the company a dime.
If you think local journalism is important for democracy and for communities to thrive, tell Lee Enterprises’ executives and board of directors to negotiate a fair deal with the Guild, one that protects the quality of journalism and customer service that readers of The Buffalo News expect and deserve.
Please visit ProtectLocalJournalism.com to find out more.
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To:
Lee Enterprises executives and board of directors, Buffalo News executives
From:
[Your Name]
The Buffalo News is a major community asset to Western New York. We won’t stand by quietly while you try to destroy the work of the hard-working union members who make the paper a source of pride for this community and a news product worth buying.
Your contract proposals to the Buffalo Newspaper Guild will damage the quality of journalism and customer service for readers of The Buffalo News. They would make The News a less attractive place to work and make it harder to attract talented journalists and other workers to your staff.
The work Guild members do is important. It’s what makes The Buffalo News worth the price of subscription. Please prove that, as the new owner of The Buffalo News, you care about your corporate reputation in Western New York. Stop trying to destroy the very things that make the paper so valuable and work with the Guild on a fair contract deal now.
Keeping The Buffalo News strong will allow it to remain a beacon of accountability, integrity and information and to serve readers and advertisers in Buffalo and Western New York.
And that’s what we deserve.