This past week I went to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Peoria, IL and filed a ‘petition to represent’ newsroom employees at the State Journal Register. Approximately 35 non-managerial employees work there and a September 4 hearing in the NLRB’s office has been set to determine the size and scope of that bargaining unit. Hearings are unnecessary if both parties ‘stipulate’ which positions should be included and such could occur here. But we will have to wait and see.
The State Journal Register started in 1831 as the Sangamon (County) Journal and was an early supporter of Abraham Lincoln; in fact, according to Wikipedia, “It was in the Journal’s office that Lincoln and his friends waited for the telegraphic news from Chicago to find out who would be the Republican presidential nominee in 1860.” Today, the Journal Register is the only daily paper in that part of the state and has a daily circulation of 48,000.
The State Journal Register is owned by GateHouse Media and the United Media Guild already represents two other GateHouse properties: the Pekin Daily Times and the Peoria Journal Star, both within easy driving distance of the Springfield paper.