Overview

New technology and rapid concentration of ownership have caused fundamental changes in North American newspapers. Newsworkers' unions have struggled to protect their members and to reinvent themselves to keep up with the relentless pace of change in the workplace, and strikes such as that of Seattle newspaper workers highlight the ongoing challenges. This study focuses on how The Newspaper Guild - the main union for reporters and editors - adopted a strategy of labour convergence, joining with other media workers in the large and diverse Communication Workers of America union. Catherine McKercher also looks at the nationalism of Canadian newsworkers who instead joined an all-Canadian union similar to CWA and explores a case study on an extreme form of labour convergence in Vancouver. She concludes that while labour convergence is a work in progress, it is a promising development for newsworkers and their unions, helping them to adjust to change and perhaps expand into new areas of the communication sector.

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9780742515963

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Reviews

At a time of mega-mergers and multimedia corporations, it is appropriate to turn to the response of an organized work force about the impact of these developments on individual newsworkers and, ultimately, on the future of journalism as a craft. In a field that rarely sees historical accounts of news work or labor unions, Catherine McKercher's book is a rare and particularly worthwhile project that places journalism in the context of labor history and political economy.--Hanno Hardt

McKercher tells an intricate story emphasizing its Canadian aspects. * Columbia Journalism Review * At a time of mega-mergers and multimedia corporations, it is appropriate to turn to the response of an organized work force about the impact of these developments on individual newsworkers and, ultimately, on the future of journalism as a craft. In a field that rarely sees historical accounts of news work or labor unions, Catherine McKercher's book is a rare and particularly worthwhile project that places journalism in the context of labor history and political economy. -- Hanno Hardt, University of Iowa / University of Ljubljana

Author Information

Catherine McKercher is associate professor of journalism and communication at Carleton University.

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