05-02-2025
Journalists vote to unionize at Harrisburg-based WITF public radio and Lancaster's LNP newspaper
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Journalists in the joint newsroom that serves WITF-89.5 FM, a public radio station based near Harrisburg, and LNP, a Lancaster-based newspaper, voted Monday to form a union.
The vote was 39 in favor and 10 against, said Bill Ross, executive director of NewsGuild Philadelphia. Four ballots were challenged, but because of the margin of victory, the results of those challenges won't impact the outcome.
'I feel really great for the employees. They put a ton of work in, and our members came out,' said Bill Ross, executive director of NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia, which will represent the newsroom's 57 journalists. 'We're here to help this company improve and become profitable and make sure our members have the protections they want and demand in a union contract.'
'We respect this decision and recognize the significance of this moment for our organization,' Ron Hetrick, president of the merged WITF and LNP — now known as Pennon — wrote to employees in an email message Monday night. 'Throughout this process, our priority has remained the same — to support our employees and ensure the strength of the journalism that serves our communities. While this marks a new chapter in our workplace, our shared mission remains unchanged: ensuring our communities continue to have access to the news and information they rely on across our various platforms.'
Pennon had laid off about 10 percent of its staff in October 2024. The guild presented its petition to unionize to the National Labor Relations Board on Dec. 23, Ross said.
In recent years, journalists at a few other public radio stations — including Charlotte's WFAE and Boston's WBUR — have voted to join unions, as did journalists at the Charlotte Observer newspaper. People familiar with the resulting union contracts have characterized those deals as including modest gains, offset partly by the cost of union dues.
Other unionized newsroom employees have fared more poorly. At the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a strike that began in October 2022 continues; the union and company never agreed on a contract, the newspaper continues publishing with non-union replacement workers and some of the striking workers have taken jobs outside the news industry.
Throughout the industry, newsroom employees have complained of pay that hasn't kept up with inflation, shrinking staff, and increased workloads. Companies have complained of financial challenges so severe that some newsrooms have closed despite the concessions imposed on employees.
LNP traces its roots to the 1794 launch of the Lancaster Journal, according to its website. WITF-TV went on the air in 1964, followed by WITF-FM in 1971.
In January, Spotlight PA journalists ratified their first contract after voting in 2024 to unionize.
'Management there embraced the employees and gave them a wonderful first contract — fairly bargained, worked together collectively,' Ross said 'That's our plan to work with Pennon and their leaders.'
Hetrick committed in his message 'to engaging in constructive discussions that reflect both the needs of our employees and the long-term sustainability of our organization.'
LNP and SpotlightPA are abc27 media partners.
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