Jon believes in the future of The NewsGuild, and I believe in Jon

Editor’s note: Alicia Ramirez is a former organizing member of Chicago Tribune Guild who was an integral part of the bargaining committee, a member of the executive board and a co-chair of the overarching Chicago Tribune Guild representing the Design and Production Studio unit. She left Tribune in December of 2018 to move to Los Angeles.

Yesterday I wrote a Twitter thread about why I support Jon’s campaign for International NewsGuild President, but I wanted to take this opportunity to elaborate in more than 280 character spurts.

I was a member of the organizing committee for the Chicago Tribune Guild. I worked alongside our incredible organizer to get my colleagues on board with the idea of starting a union. We put in the work and on May 6 gained voluntary recognition. It was a Sunday night and being able to send out that email to my colleagues announcing our union was recognized was incredible.

As a member of Chicago Tribune Guild who was on the executive board and the bargaining committee, it became clear to me that the International lacked a cohesive organizing program, a strategic bargaining program and a strong communications program.

And while the individual employees who worked with our campaign did incredible work with us and for us, their jobs would have been made easier with adequate support from HQ.

Like me, Jon saw this firsthand, and he willingly chose to pay dues to the Guild before he was even protected by a contract in order to try to fix these problems.

He has taken time off from work to travel across the Midwest, Northeast and Canada on his own dime to meet with members and hear their concerns and answer their questions.

Jon wakes up early and stays up late to talk to members on the phone, answer emails and draft a platform that will strengthen the Guild and allow it to grow and thrive well into the future — and he did all this while continuing to work full-time as a data journalist at the Los Angeles Times and teaching two courses to future journalists at USC Annenberg.

I urge those eligible to vote to cast your vote for Jon.

He’s willing to put in the work because he believes in the future of The NewsGuild, and I believe in him.