City Council Resolution Backing Daily News Union Introduced

The three-years-long battle between the Daily News union and the newspaper’s hedge fund owners, Alden Global Capital, took another turn on Aug. 14 with the announcement that the “Too Tough to Die” Resolution in support of the workers was being introduced to the City Council that day.

The co-sponsors of “Too Tough to Die”—formally Resolution No. 1015-2025—are Council Members Carmen De La Rosa (District 10) and Julie Menin (District 5). If the name of the resolution sounds familiar, that’s no coincidence: “Too Tough to Die” is also the title of a remarkable 1984 album by New York City punk rock icons, The Ramones.

The rally on behalf of the Daily News was held 11am in light drizzle in Foley Square, just southeast of the massive black granite Lorenzo Pace sculpture honoring the African-American diaspora past, present, and future, “Triumph of the Human Spirit.”

The historical resonance of Pace’s monument made the setting an apt one, and follows a prior rally of support held on July 14 on Broadway, just outside City Hall Park.

Straus News reported this event, and its background, in detail, including an incisive quote from veteran street reporter Kerry Burke: “Alden Capital talks like they’re in the newspaper game, but what they really are is the stripping engine of democracy from hearts. It’s an old story. . . . They’re bleeding us to death.”

For its part, a Daily News spokesperson blasted the union and the NewsGuild, asserting, “Good faith demands actually sitting down and bargaining. For reasons that are inexplicable, the Guild shows more interest in posting fliers and staging protests.”

In an effort to stop the bleeding, and add at least a modest infusion of money and respect, De La Rosa, who is also chair of the City Council Labor Committee, formally introduced the resolution to her colleagues later that afternoon.

Joining De La Rosa for the event were Daily News workers, including reporters Josephine Stratman, Graham Rayman, and Evan Simko-Bednarski; NewsGuild of New York President Susan DeCarava; and some Communication Workers of America (CWA) representatives. Other present included Council Members Tiffany Cabán, Gale Brewer, and Julie Menin.

While the resolution has no legal authority, it represents both a form of moral suasion and a mark on the historical record that this happened.

The words of Menin were notable.

“Twenty four years ago was 9/11, and I lived a couple blocks from here; I owned a small business that was absolutely devastated. The Daily News, as the fourth estate, as a watchdog, was constantly calling out the federal EPA telling us that the air was indeed not safe at all and that we needed protective equipment,” said Menin. “So I really want to thank the Daily News for always being there, being that lever of accountability.”

Alden, a hedge fund headed by chairman Randall D. Smith [older brother of one time New York Press owner Russ Smith], and CEO Heath Freeman, took over the tabloid with its purchase of Tribune Publishing in May 2021 and immediately began a series of deep cuts.

The City Council resolution blasted Alden for a laundry list of abuses since the takeover including shutting down the the paper’s state-of-the-art New Jersey printing facility for an older non-unionized plant owned by Gannett and cutting the staff to just 54 full-time journalists to cover a city of 8.5 million residents.

The conclusion of the resolution: “Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York condemns Alden Global Capital cuts and managerial hostility towards unionized Daily News staff and calls on the hedge fund to reach a contract deal with the newspaper’s union.”