Omaha World-Herald newsroom employees vote to unionize

News staffers at the Omaha World-Herald voted Oct. 8 to unionize.

The vote was 71-5 to affiliate with The NewsGuild.

“Today is a historic day as journalists make the Omaha World-Herald the first newspaper newsroom to organize in Nebraska,” said Todd Cooper, a World-Herald reporter for 21 years. “But our overwhelming vote really just reinforces what we’ve always had here — a dedicated group of journalists committed to the future of Nebraska’s best newspaper.”

Negotiations toward a first contract with the paper’s owner, Omaha-based BH Media Group, are expected to begin in coming months. BH Media is owned by billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

BH Media paid Lee Enterprises, based in Davenport, Iowa, to manage The World-Herald and BH Media’s other newspapers starting in July.

The World-Herald, according to BH Media’s website, has more than 100,000 print subscribers and 1 million unique visitors per month at Omaha.com.

The vote of World-Herald employees to be represented by The NewsGuild sector of Communications Workers of America was overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. 

The NewsGuild-CWA represents 25,000 members in the United States and Canada and has been actively organizing major media chains this year, the guild says.

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