Daily News Union Ratifies Contract with Owner, Alden Global Capital

After three years without a contract, three politician-supported rallies this past summer and fall, and multiple other acts of public protest against their hedge-fund owner, Alden Global Capital, the Daily News Union, representing the paper’s editorial workers, now has ratified a contract.

The labor agreement is the first ever contract between the union, and with Alden, which acquired the paper when it bought the News when it acquired Tribune Publishing in May 2021. The union itself was formed earlier that year, prior to Alden’s purchase, in reaction to increasing grievances with the spiraling-downward Tribune.

The Nov. 13 ratification by the full membership came after the tentative agreement between union negotiators and management was unveiled on Oct. 17.

To those who followed the story, that an acceptable agreement was reached was somewhat suprising. Whle labor leaders like News Guild New York President Susan DeCarava remained indignant but upbeat, seasoned media-watchers and even some Daily News writers didn’t foresee a happy end.

Straus News has followed this saga since a one-day walkout was staged on Jan. 25, 2024. That action occurred after Alden effectively cut overtime pay for reporters and editors. Our Town editor-in-chief Keith J. Kelly—himself a former Daily News reporter hired by then editor Pete Hamill—was on the scene, as union workers marched outside the asset-stripped paper’s not-a-“newsroom,” which is a small co-working space at 1412 Broadway, at West 39th Street—an address most passersby know only by its ground-floor Just Salad location.

“Alden wants to act if we are not being chiseled,” said union steward Michael Gartland. “We’re not going to engage in that intellectual dishonesty. In reality, we’re being crushed for cash. As a result, staff is diminished, which means our ability to cover the city is diminished. We believe this is bad for. New York.”

Indeed. The examples of the Daily News’s doing stories or follow-up stories that nobody else does are innumerable. One that jumps immediately to mind is the still unsolved murder of Jumaane Williams in Brooklyn.

No, not that Jumaane Williams, 46, the New York City public advocate and frequent NYPD critic whose life on Fort Hamilton Army Base is secured by military police.This Jumaane Williams, 29, was shot to death in East Flatbush on Dec. 9, 2024.

While multiple news outlets reported the shooting, only the Daily News followed it up. This story, headlined ”Hardworking dad-to-be shot in head a block from his Brooklyn home,” gave voice to a victim now voiceless and one whose cause, despite his name, has yet to be taken up by any “advocates.”

The union protest machine revved to life again this past summer.

On July 14—which, by coincidence was Bastille Day—the union, with Guild president DeCarava and a constellation of politicos and labor leaders, held a rally on Broadway outside City Hall Park. Among the attendees: City Council Labor Committee Chair Carmen De La Rosa; Council Members Lincoln Restler and Gale Brewer, who reads the paper in print; Borough President Mark Levine, who reads a digital Daily News; and “Superman”-referencing Comptroller Brad Lander. Zohran Mamdani wasn’t present but did post a supportive statement on X, while the self-sabotaging Mayor Adams—then feuding with News’s City Hall reporter, Chris Sommerfeldt—said nothing.

Besides such boldface-name people watching, the rally was notable for its vilification of Alden Managing Director Heath Freeman, and Daily News Executive Editor Andrew Julien. Freeman was derided as a “vulture capitalist” more concerned about his Hamptons estate than the welfare of the employees of “New York’s Hometown Paper,” while Julien was lampooned as an absentee editor fronting for Alden.

That Freeman himself has never responded to these assaults is notable, as was the union’s subsequent attempts to shame him among the general public.

A second union rally was held in Foley Square on Aug. 14, announcing the introduction of the City Council’s Ramones-referencing the “Too Tough to Die” resolution, which would hereby support the union call on Alden to bargain in good faith with them. Present at this event included Council Members De La Rosa, Brewer, Julie Menin, and Tiffany Cabán, sipping ice coffee.

A third union rally was held in City Hall Park on the morning of Oct. 29, only hours before the “Too Tough To Die” resolution would be voted on that afternoon—just about the same time that union and Alden lawyers were meeting in Midtown.

Somewhat shockingly, a tentative agreement was announced on Halloween, that day of costume and disguise. Was this a trick or a treat? The answer appears to be mostly treat.

“We are pleased we have gotten to this point and look forward to the upcoming ratification vote,” offered Andrew Julien, the Daily News’s executive editor.

“The writers, editors, photographers, and others who make the Daily News an indispensable part of our readers’ lives will continue doing what we do best—telling the stories that define New York.”

On Nov. 13, the contract was unanimously ratified.

For the big issues of wages and benefits, the union won:

Minimum salaries of $60,000 at ratification and $63,000 by May 2026; $75,000 for senior reporters and senior content editors.

Annual raises at ratification of 3 percent across the board and another 3 percent across-the-board increase in May 2026.

On the benefits front, part-timers will be offered healthcare coverage for the first time. There are also changes concerning the protection of flexible time off for those who have it (an important consideration for journalists who work non-traditional hours) and giving this benefit to any new hires in the sports department.

Said FAQ NYC podcaster and senior editor at The City Harry Siegel, a former Daily News editorial board member and columnist from 2014 to 2025, “As a reader and a New Yorker, I’m thrilled to see the dedicated journalists remaining at New York’s hometown paper— and trust me, none of them are there just for the money–get something close to a square deal to keep doing the work.”

This sense of mission was echoed by Daily News union rep and transit reporter Evan Simko-Bednarski. Asked if the Daily News editorial staff will now grow, and if the workers’ relationship with Alden can be repaired because they are proud of you and you can at least tolerate them, Simko-Bednarski replied:

“We view this as a start. This is the beginning of a long road toward restoring as much of the Daily News as possible. We have always hoped that the editorial staff will grow, and we continue to advocate for that. I have no idea if Heath Freeman is proud of us. But he should be. The reporting he gets for the amount he invests remains a steal, and I think any public-minded millionaire would be proud to own a paper like the News.

“All we’ve been asking for this whole time is to be treated like the worthwhile investment we are—the last true local tabloid in New York City, covering issues that matter to everyday Gothamites while still managing to scoop our larger, better-paid competitors. We’ll tolerate anyone who makes it so that we can do our work.”