Bargaining a first contract at the Bend Bulletin hasn’t exactly ground to a halt, but it’s slowing quite a bit now that the NewsGuild and Carpenter Media Group have gotten to the tough stuff: economics.
That’s why reporters and photographers at Central Oregon’s largest media organization are now appealing to their public for support.
Union members are circulating an online petition. In it, subscribers declare that they’re willing cancel their subscription if the company fails to agree to a fair contract. As of press time, 115 signatures had been collected.
The typical wage for a reporter at the Bend Bulletin is $23 an hour, and reporters can earn as little as $20.50 an hour to start. That makes it a challenge to survive in a high-cost area like Bend. In bargaining, the NewsGuild is proposing a wage floor of $25 an hour, but Carpenter Media group had not yet made a counterproposal as of press time.
Reporters and photographers at the Bend Bulletin and sister publication Redmond Spokesman voted to join the NewsGuild in October 2023. But manager at the family-owned EO Media chain eliminated the one union position at the Spokesman, and then sold the company to Mississippi-based Carpenter Media Group in November 2024. A month later, Carpenter proposed to lay off five of the 11 bargaining unit members. Veteran reporter Suzanne Roig, at the Bulletin since 2018, thinks union bargaining may be restraining the company from moving ahead with layoffs, however.
In the last year or two, Carpenter has been on a nationwide buying spree, acquiring small-town newspaper chains around the country, and now owns more than 250 publications. Its holdings include the two dozen former EO Media publications, 20 Oregon publications from its June 2025 acquisition of Pamplin Media, and 43 Washington and Alaska publications from its acquisition of Sound Publishing in March 2024. In nearly every case, the purchases are followed by significant layoffs.
Under federal labor law, employers are obligated to bargain over the effects of layoffs, and the NewsGuild suggested to Carpenter Media Group that it might make more sense to first finish negotiating the initial collective bargaining agreement. The company seemed amenable to that and the two sides have been meeting once or twice a month.
“We’re asking our readers to vow to cancel their subscription if we cannot reach an agreement,” Roig said. “But we’re not asking them now to cancel their subscription…. If the community values quality journalism that digs into stories and is not just a regurgitation of a press release, then they will support us.”
BEND BULLETIN SUBSCRIBER? SIGN THE PETITION!
