Newspaper Guild of New York

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The Newspaper Guild of New York (Newspaper Guild, Local 3) was chartered in 1933 and led in its early years by Heywood Broun, a successful columnist for the World Telegram. Three major New York daily newspapers were organized by 1941, and in 1937 Time Magazine became the first magazine organized by the local. At first the Guild represented only the newsroom workers, but jurisdiction was expanded to include non-editorial newspaper staff and commercial workers, as well as some employees of news services and radio and television stations. Membership peaked at about 12,000 in 1965, and has since declined with the demise of several major New York City newspapers.

From the description of Newspaper Guild of New York records, 1935-1998. (New York University). WorldCat record id: 479754548

The Newspaper Guild of New York (The Newspaper Guild, Local 3) represents journalists, sales staff, and technical workers in the print and online media industry in the New York metropolitan area. Among its members are reporters, photographers, editors, typographers, commercial artists, technicians, accountants, mail-room and circulation staff, independent translators, and staff members of non-profit organizations. The Guild has been active in campaigns to defeat racial and sex discrimination, to promote worker safety, and to provide job security in an industry that experienced rapid automation and other technical and structural changes.

The Newspaper Guild of New York (NGNY) was chartered in 1933 by a group of journalists led by Heywood Broun, columnist at the New York World Telegram . In December of the same year, representatives of disparate groups of journalists from across the country met in Washington, D.C. and formed the American Newspaper Guild (ANG). The driving forces behind creation of the Guild were Broun and Jonathan Eddy of the New York Times, both from the NYNG. There was considerable opposition within the fledgling Guild to operating as a trade union rather than as a professional association. In that internal struggle, the NYNG strongly supported the trade-union model. The bitter Newark Ledger strike of 1934-1935 proved to be a testing ground for conflicting visions of the Guild's role. While the strike settlement yielded little in the way of concrete gains for the strikers, the Guild emerged from it with an enhanced sense of national solidarity and confirmation of its ability to lead and bargain for its members.

At its founding, the American Newspaper Guild was open only to journalists, broadly defined. However, in 1937 it expanded its jurisdiction to include commercial departments, and added the goals of improved journalistic and ethical standards, and equal employment and advancement opportunities in the newspaper industry to its mission statement. The Guild affiliated with the American Federation of Labor in 1936, but soon abandoned the AFL for the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

The ensuing years saw increased international expansion as the Canadian region was established in the 1950s. In 1970, the ANG changed its name to The Newspaper Guild (TNG). Against the backdrop of the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement, the Guild and its locals heightened their opposition to race and gender discrimination in news industry hiring and promotion practices during the 1960s and 1970s.

The charismatic, energetic Broun, whose politics were forged in the Socialist Party, served as president of the New York Guild for its first six years. Early organizing campaigns enjoyed considerable success. In 1935, the New York Post became the first New York newspaper to unionize, followed by the Daily News in 1936, and the New York Times in 1941. The first magazine to unionize was Time in 1937.

The NGNY has carried out lengthy strikes against several major New York newspapers, including the 16-week Brooklyn Eagle strike of 1937, the 11-week World-Telegram and Sun strike of 1950, and the five-month Daily News strike of 1990-1991.

In 1995, the The Newspaper Guild merged with Communication Workers of America (CWA), and in 1997 it became a sector of the CWA. As of 2011, TNG-CWA represents 34,000 members. The Newspaper Guild of New York represents employees of major dailies, weeklies, many publications of the City's ethnic communities, magazines and other publications of non-profit organizations such as Consumers Union, and news and data services.

From the guide to the Newspaper Guild of New York Records, 1935-1998, (Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Milton Caniff Collection, 1805-2007, 1910-1988 The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
creatorOf Newspaper Guild of New York. Newspaper Guild of New York records, 1935-1998. Churchill County Museum
referencedIn Betsy Wade Photographs, 1978-1982 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
creatorOf Newspaper Guild of New York. Page one award in public affairs to Archibald MacLeish [art reproduction] : for his many contributions to the American scene as a soldier, writer, poet, teacher and public servant, 1962 / Newspaper Guild of New York. Greenfield Community College, Nahman-Watson Library
referencedIn George Balanchine archive, 1924-1989 (inclusive), 1961-1983 (bulk). Harvard Theater Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University
referencedIn Feinberg, I. Robert (Irving Robert), 1912-1975. Series 1.General arbitration case files, part b, 1946-1975. Cornell University Library
referencedIn Lester Walton papers, 1905-1977 Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Archives Section
referencedIn Watson, James S., 1882-1952. James S. Watson papers, 1913-1991 (bulk 1913-1952). New York Public Library System, NYPL
referencedIn Robert Conway papers, circa 1872-1980, 1919-1972 Univerisity of Wyoming. American Heritage Center.
referencedIn Newsmen's Commission to Investigate the Murder of George Polk. Records, 1946-1992 (bulk 1946-1950). Churchill County Museum
referencedIn Grace Robinson papers, 1892-1991 Univerisity of Wyoming. American Heritage Center.
referencedIn Crosby, Alexander L. Alexander L. Crosby papers, 1933-1944, (bulk 1941-1942). Wayne State University. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs
referencedIn Walton, Lester A., 1882-1965. Lester Walton Papers, 1905-1977. New York Public Library System, NYPL
creatorOf Newspaper Guild of New York. Correspondence with Theodore Dreiser, 1935-1936. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
referencedIn Newspaper Guild Printed Ephemera Collection, 1928-2001 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
referencedIn Learned Hand papers Harvard Law School Library Langdell Hall Cambridge, MA 02138
referencedIn Independent Association of Publishers Employees. Records of the Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, 1937-2003 (bulk 1985-1995). Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
creatorOf Newspaper Guild of New York. Correspondence with Marian Anderson, 1958. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
referencedIn Newspaper Guild Printed Ephemera Collection, 1928-2001 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
referencedIn United States. Dept. of Labor. United States. Dept. of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Collective Bargaining Agreements, 1952-1975. Cornell University Library
referencedIn Independent Association of Publishers' Employees Records, Bulk, 1985-1995, 1937-2003 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
referencedIn Robinson, Grace, 1894-1985. Grace Robinson papers, 1892-1991. Univerisity of Wyoming. American Heritage Center.
referencedIn Guide to the New Yorkers at Work Oral History Collection, 1979-2000 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
referencedIn Conway, Robert, 1899-1972. Robert Conway papers, 1872-1980 (bulk 1919-1972) Univerisity of Wyoming. American Heritage Center.
creatorOf Newspaper Guild of New York Records, 1935-1998 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
referencedIn Oswald Garrison Villard papers Houghton Library
referencedIn Guide to the New Yorkers at Work Oral History Collection, 1979-2000 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
referencedIn Cole, David Lawrence, 1902-1977. David Lawrence Cole series 4, subseries 1. General case files, 1946-1977. Cornell University Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith American Newspaper Guild. corporateBody
associatedWith Balanchine, George. person
associatedWith Bernhardt, Debra E. person
associatedWith Brooklyn Eagle. corporateBody
associatedWith Broun, Heywood, 1888-1939 person
associatedWith Cameron, May. person
associatedWith Cole, David Lawrence, 1902-1977. person
associatedWith Consumer Reports (Firm). corporateBody
associatedWith Conway, Robert, 1899-1972. person
associatedWith Crosby, Alexander L. person
associatedWith Daily news (New York, N.Y.). corporateBody
associatedWith Deegan, John E. person
associatedWith Egan, Edwin R. person
associatedWith El Diario (New York, NY). corporateBody
associatedWith Feinberg, I. Robert (Irving Robert), 1912-1975. person
associatedWith Foreign Policy Association. corporateBody
associatedWith Hand, Learned, 1872-1961 person
associatedWith Hershberger, John. person
associatedWith Independent Association of Publishers Employees. corporateBody
associatedWith Journal American. corporateBody
associatedWith Kaufman, Milton. person
associatedWith Lipton, Barry person
associatedWith Long Island Daily Press. corporateBody
associatedWith MacLeish, Archibald, 1892-1982. person
associatedWith Milton Caniff person
associatedWith Murphy, Thomas J. person
associatedWith Murphy, Thomas J., 1906-1998 person
associatedWith Newsmen's Commission to Investigate the Murder of George Polk. corporateBody
associatedWith Newspaper Guild. corporateBody
associatedWith Newsweek, inc. corporateBody
associatedWith New York Amsterdam News. corporateBody
associatedWith New York Herald Tribune (Firm). corporateBody
associatedWith New York Newspaper Guild. corporateBody
associatedWith New York Post. corporateBody
associatedWith New York Times Company. corporateBody
associatedWith New York World-Telegram. corporateBody
associatedWith Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. corporateBody
associatedWith Robinson, Grace, 1894-1985. person
associatedWith Tamiment Library. corporateBody
associatedWith Time, inc.. corporateBody
associatedWith United States. Dept. of Labor. corporateBody
correspondedWith Villard, Oswald Garrison, 1872-1949 person
associatedWith Wade, Betsy person
associatedWith Walton, Lester A., 1882-1965. person
associatedWith Watson, James S., 1882-1952. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
New York (N.Y.)
New Jersey.
United States
Subject
Publishers and publishing
Publishers and publishing
Journalists
Labor unions
Labor unions
Labor unions
Labor unions
Labor unions
Press
Press
Occupation
Activity

Corporate Body

Active 1935

Active 1998

Information

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