Houston Landing announced Thursday that it will voluntarily recognize the Houston Landing NewsGuild union, a unit of Media Guild of the West, TNG-CWA Local 39213, AFL-CIO.
Bargaining on a contract will begin at a date to be announced.
The Guild announced its intentions to unionize on Feb. 19. Although Houston Landing initially considered having employees vote in a secret ballot election administered by the National Labor Relations Board, it ultimately concluded that recognizing the Guild was in the best interest of those employees who desired union representation. After resolving certain preliminary legal issues, Houston Landing and the Guild signed a voluntary recognition agreement on Wednesday.
“I’m pleased we’ve reached this point, which has included clarification of who will be in the unit and who will not,” Landing CEO Peter Bhatia said. “The unit is now confined mostly to our reporting staff and a few others who work closely with them. This agreement follows the wishes of many of our other employees to remain outside of the bargaining unit.
“I look forward to giving representatives of our reporting staff a voice at the bargaining table as we negotiate in good faith bargaining toward a contract that makes Houston Landing an even better place to work,” Bhatia said. “Our employees already have superior pay, benefits and work experiences compared to other journalistic outlets in Texas and our ambition to provide Houston with unique and special journalism only grows daily.”
“We are very pleased that company leadership has agreed to voluntarily recognize the Houston Landing NewsGuild,” said Tim Carlin, a civic engagement reporter at the Landing. “Reaching this point was no easy feat, and it is a testament to the weeks of hard work and dedication of every member of our unit as well as our representatives from the Media Guild of the West. We look forward to bargaining for a contract that will better position Landing employees to create impactful journalism for the entire Houston region for the months and years to come.”
Bhatia said the Landing plans to announce new editorial leadership soon. The chief editor’s position has been vacant for two months.
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