Austin American-Statesman NewsGuild Strike Fund

My name is Paul Albani-Burgio and I am a city and breaking news reporter at The Desert Sun, and organizer for The Desert Sun NewsGuild.

I started this GoFundMe to raise strike funds for colleagues at the Austin NewsGuild.

After nearly three years of bargaining for their first contract with Gannett, the journalists at the Austin American-Statesman have yet to receive a serious offer from the company with livable wages and a benefits package that *won't* amount to a pay cut. Money raised here will support Statesman staffers if they need to take their fight to the picket line.

Statesman journalists work tirelessly to cover their community, but their pay is not keeping up with Austin's rising cost of living. In the three years that the Austin NewsGuild has been fighting for a fair contract, more than half of the newsroom staffers have left for better paying jobs. Some journalists haven't seen a raise since 2017.

The Statesman continues to hire fiercely talented reporters and photojournalists. Gannett needs to provide a fair contract with livable wages and competitive benefits to keep those staffers and ensure Texas' capital city has the news coverage it deserves.

Some of these funds were used to reimburse Statesman workers for lost pay after a one-day strike in June 2023. I will continue to transfer funds to Austin NewsGuild member Bridget Grumet to make reimbursements available if any future strike actions are needed, so workers can pay for housing, utilities, groceries, etc. if they lose wages while going on strike.

The Austin NewsGuild reserves the right to return donations that present a conflict of interest. Funds in excess will be used for future actions.

* Funds from the Austin NewsGuild Strike Fund are collected independently of the Austin NewsGuild, a unit of the Media Guild of the West TNG=CWA #39213 AFL-CIO.