Workers at the Portland Mercury and several other businesses owned by Noisy Creek ratified their first union contract Dec. 3.
The contract covers employees at two alternative newspapers: the Portland Mercury and The Stranger in Seattle. It also covers workers at the EverOut events guide in Portland and Seattle and the event ticketing platform Bold Type Tickets.
The unit includes 18 workers in all: reporters, customer service employees, writers, art and design production employees, and an IT manager. They announced their intent to unionize with the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild in February 2024. Then-owner Index Newspapers voluntarily agreed to recognize the union, but the company was sold to a newly formed media group, Noisy Creek, in July 2024. Noisy Creek and the union reached an interim agreement that fall, raising annual wages to a minimum of $70,000.
The new contract maintains that minimum and adds annual cost of living adjustments and higher minimums for longer-term employees, like $77,000 for employees who have been in their positions for at least six years.
The new contract also secured severance in the event of layoffs; additional paid holidays; employer payment of professional development costs and moving expenses if workers are transferred; and limits on return-to-office mandates. The contract runs through Dec. 31, 2028.
Noisy Creek refused to include an agreement on artificial intelligence in the main contract, but agreed to a two-year memorandum of understanding, said union chair and Noisy Creek IT manager Grant Lewicki-Hendrix. Under the memorandum, Noisy Creek agreed to not make any layoffs due to generative AI.
Lewicki-Hendrix said negotiations generally went well, but the AI issue was one topic that proved more contentious.
The negotiations were delayed by turnover in the bargaining unit, union leadership, and the company’s bargaining team, but Lewicki-Hendrix said management was committed to keeping negotiations moving.
Labor affiliation
MLK Labor, the AFL-CIO-affiliated central labor council for King County, Washington, invested $500,000 in Noisy Creek this year. In a resolution to authorize the investment, the labor council noted The Stranger’s value as a news source not controlled by corporate interests like Amazon, Boeing, or the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and described Noisy Creek as being led “by people with strong progressive credentials.”
Noisy Creek’s founder and publisher Brady Walkinshaw is a former Democratic state representative in Washington and former CEO of Grist, a nonprofit media group reporting on climate change.
Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild’s full-time executive officer Courtney Scott said the NewsGuild itself does not have any financial stake in Noisy Creek, but MLK Labor’s investment gives the union some power in investor relations. The guild is a local of the NewsGuild, a national affiliate of Communications Workers of America.
“King County workers get four things out of the deal: continued progressive media coverage in the PNW, financial returns and ownership in a profitable company, a fair and respectful unionization process, and increased labor coverage,” MLK Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer Katie Garrow said in a statement provided to the Labor Press. Under the investment agreement with Noisy Creek, the company committed to remain neutral during unionization campaigns in its businesses, voluntarily recognize unions, and engage in arbitration for a first contract, if requested, Garrow said.
In August, Noisy Creek purchased the Chicago Reader, a storied alternative weekly newspaper. Scott said the union has been in conversation with folks at the Chicago Reader to ensure the transition goes smoothly and offer support.
