The Hawaii State Teachers Association Board of Directors voted Wednesday to support the Pacific Media Workers Guild, the union representing newspaper employees at Maui News in their efforts to negotiate a fair contract.
The journalists and other employees at the newspaper are in the middle of difficult contract negotiations with Ogden Newspapers Inc., the paper's corporate owner based in Wheeling, West Virginia. Ogden has not raised the salaries of Maui News workers in more than 10 years, and is now proposing higher medical costs, cuts to benefits such as vacation and sick leave, as well as reduced severance pay, the paper’s employees said.
Because of the drop in advertising during the coronavirus pandemic, the newspaper has been temporarily furloughing some of its 37 unionized employees in the editorial, advertising, composing and circulation departments, they said.
“These are the dedicated newspaper employees who bring us the best in local news to keep our community well informed, but they cannot continue to do so if they cannot pay the rent. Higher medical costs, cuts to their benefits, and layoffs would cause irreparable damage to them and their families,” said Mike Landes, HSTA’s Maui Chapter president, a teacher at Lahainaluna High.
“As a social studies teacher, I fear that a loss of reporters and news reporting could limit the access our students and community have to quality news and information,” Landes said.
“Teachers know that learning doesn't stop after graduation, and a reliable local news source is essential for having a well-educated society. The Maui News workers are valuable members of our community. They provide an important service to us all, and they deserve better,” added Landes.
Members are asked to send letters of support to The Maui News online here, via email to opinions@mauinews.com, or by mail to The Maui News, 100 Mahalani Street, Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii 96793.
Ogden Newspapers owns more than 40 daily newspapers, along with weeklies and magazines from Maui to New York.
On its website, Ogden Newspapers claims to be “committed to excellence in journalism through service and leadership in their communities.”
But comments by former and current employees on Glassdoor, a website where current and former employees anonymously review companies, offer a much different view stretching back several years.
A former editor called it a “toxic company” in a May 7 Glassdoor post, describing a “dedicated staff despite horrible treatment by management and owners.”
The former employee also said, “No raises, yet annual minimum 10 percent cuts to staffing.”
In April 2019, a former editor of an Ogden Newspapers outlet, who had worked for the company for eight years, wrote on Glassdoor that top managers “are truly human garbage in every sense of the word.”
Going back several years, another employee wrote in April 2018 that "ownership expected you to do more with less people, and without additional compensation. Their retirement plan, 401(k) is a joke."
A Glassdoor post from December 2017, from another employee, said, “Very low salary, paycheck-to-paycheck living, you'll barely be able to eat. Do not accept a job here. Keep looking as not to become trapped in a low-pay cycle.”