AI usage, pay raises included in new contract
Skagit County journalists voted unanimously on Sept. 4 to ratify a new two-year contract, with stipulations for increased pay and AI usage.
The unionized employees from the Skagit Valley Herald, Anacortes American and Stanwood Camano News went on a three-day strike at the end of July. They were prepared to strike again, indefinitely this time, if the new contract did not meet their demands.
The latest bargaining session on Aug. 24 took place with a lawyer representing Adams MultiMedia, the Minnesota-based company that owns the three local newspapers. Contract negotiations between the company and members of the Skagit Valley Newsguild, a unit of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, have been ongoing for the past 10 months.
According to Skagit News Workers, the mutually agreed upon deal includes:
- $20 minimum pay and 2% yearly raises
- Notification of any change Adams makes to artificial intelligence usage rules and the ability to negotiate the effects of the changes upon the guild’s request
- An additional 50 cents an hour after 7 p.m. for everyone in the unit
- Retention of rights established in previous contracts
But even with this progress, there’s still room for adjustment.
“Based on what we were asking for, I think we hit a good compromise, but it’s not like the real solid ruling that I was hoping for,” Cameron Martinez, a reporter for the Skagit Valley Herald, said in regards to AI. The company can decide to make changes to usage rules at any time, but now journalists will have more say in the matter.
In its most recent Facebook post, Skagit News Workers said reporters will notify the public if there is any AI-generated content in their newsrooms. Within the past year, the content has appeared in other papers owned by Adams MultiMedia.
The Skagit journalists in the union were earning between $19.10 and $22.29 per hour. Though the news workers specifically asked for a minimum of $20 an hour pay, Martinez acknowledged it’s still not enough when considering the cost of living. Still, it’s an improvement over the company’s opening offer, which was a 0% raise in pay.
Previously, only Skagit Valley Herald journalists received an additional 50 cents of pay per every hour worked after 7 p.m., according to Martinez. With the new deal, that benefit also extends to those working at the Stanwood and Anacortes newspapers.
“A lot of us, we work after 7 p.m., and it’s not easy if you work a full day,” Martinez said. “To have that additional 50 cents is nice.”
While on strike in July, the journalists appreciated meeting their supporters.
“The fact that we’ve come out so strongly and really rallied the public behind us, they were really not expecting that,” Martinez said of Adams MultiMedia.
Deb Brooks, the HR Manager for the Western Division of Adams MultiMedia, could not be reached for comment by press time.
—By Kira Erickson