Signal Ohio joins wave of nonprofit newsroom unionization
On Tuesday, the three newsrooms in the American Journalism Project-backed Signal Ohio network collectively moved to unionize, following in the footsteps of other nonprofit newsrooms like The Texas Tribune, The Marshall Project, City Bureau, and, just last week, Mission Local.
“As the organization grows, we are unionizing across newsrooms and teams to ensure our mission and vision align with employees’ realities,” the Signal Ohio News Workers Guild wrote in a statement signed by 15 union-eligible staffers. The journalists said their priorities for unionization include “transparent, equitable and sustainable pay,” including cost-of-living raises; hiring practices that reflect Signal’s “founding ethos of being accountable to our communities”; professional development; and a say in newsroom policies, including the use of artificial intelligence. (A job posting for a Signal Akron community and service reporter advertises a $45,000-$50,000 salary range. A development operations manager posting lists a $75,000 salary; a chief operating officer posting lists “up to $150,000” commensurate with experience.)
Staffers are seeking voluntary recognition and asking leadership to “collaborate with us to build an enduring and stable Signal Ohio,” the guild said. They’ve launched a petition where “subscribers, readers, donors and community supporters of Signal Ohio” can support their push for voluntary recognition. More than 80% of eligible employees signed union cards, including all 14 of Signal Ohio’s current full-time reporters. The Signal Ohio News Workers Guild is joining the Northeast Ohio NewsGuild, which represents journalists at four other news outlets across the region. Management at the Signal Ohio network did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We want to make this environment both equitable and sustainable for the long haul for employees,” said Amy Morona, a Signal Statewide higher education reporter and member of the organizing committee. (Her position is part of a partnership with Open Campus.) “We believe this is good for us, but ultimately, good for the organization and good for the audiences that we serve.”
The network of Signal newsrooms evolved out of the Ohio Local News Initiative, which was established by a coalition of Northeast Ohio philanthropies following research into local news needs in 2020 led by the American Journalism Project. Signal Cleveland launched in November 2022 with almost $6 million in committed funding, supported by what AJP now calls its startup studio. The network has expanded rapidly since. Signal Akron launched in December 2023, followed by a statewide news bureau in October 2024. The network plans to launch a newsroom in Cincinnati later this year and it established a Documenters Program there in 2024. All told, Signal Ohio claims “a staff of more than 30 and more than $15 million raised so far.”
Conversations around unionizing ramped up in May, Morona said. Staffers have been meeting outside of work every week since then. Asked if there was a specific catalyst for unionizing, Morona described the organizers as “students of the game” and said the staffers had been monitoring newsroom trends locally and nationally, including the recent wave of nonprofit newsroom unionizing. I asked if the conversations included the shutdown of the Houston Landing (a unionized nonprofit newsroom), also in May.
Morona declined to specify, but said, “I think it’s fair to say that we are really active in watching how things have shook out at other news organizations, including Houston Landing.” She added, “we are just trying to make it for the long haul, and we think unionizing is the best way for us to do that together.”
The push to unionize was “very reporter-driven,” Morona said. Before beginning this process, reporters across Signal’s three newsrooms “didn’t know each other that well” and “were kind of siloed” by newsroom. (Morona was a founding reporter at Signal Cleveland prior to moving into a statewide role last fall.) Collaborating on building a union, she said, has strengthened reporter relationships in a way she hopes could lead to more journalistic collaboration across the network.
Signal’s move to unionize, Morona said, is intended to be a “positive” and “forward-facing” act. She quoted Anna Flagg, a data reporter at The Marshall Project, as articulating the impetus for unionizing best: “I think it’s ultimately an act of deep caring and deep respect for each other and for the organization,” Flagg told the Post last year. “It’s a common misconception that unionizing has to be inherently negative. What we want to do is preserve the best things about working for The Marshall Project, protect those things and put in place new improvements going forward.”
For Signal Ohio journalists, Morona said, “that hit the nail on the head for us, of what we’re trying to do here.”
Morona said she feels she is doing the best work of her career at Signal. “My hope with unionizing is that we can sustain and codify that work and keep doing it into the future,” she said.