SAY HELLO TO OUR NEW CONTRACT 2026-2029 Inquirer CBA

G U I L D B U L L E T I N
September 25, 2026

Dear Guild members,

We are excited - and relieved - to announce the details of our new contract. Our national union in Washington D.C. on Thursday approved the tentative agreement and praised us for the wins we achieved.

This overview is intended to give you a quick understanding of the many gains and major changes. By Monday, you will all receive a full copy of the tentative agreement that you can review carefully ahead of our ratification vote.

We'll answer any and all questions you have at a Zoom meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 12 p.m. We'll send out an invite by Monday. Now, without further delay:

THE 2026-2029 INQUIRER NEWSGUILD CBA

ECONOMICS

Raises were a top priority for our members and we fought hard to bring the company up from their initial 1-2% offer.

YEAR 1:

Each full-time Guild member at the time of ratification will receive a one-time lump sum payment of $5,577 before taxes, to be paid within 30 days of our ratification vote. Our part-time members will receive a $1,907 payment. This amounts to 6% of our total Guild wages, distributed evenly among members.

YEAR 2:

Employees will receive a wage increase of 4% based on their pay rate on the first anniversary of ratification. Employees will also receive a one-time $1,000 anniversary bonus, as part of an agreement to resolve our profit-sharing dispute with the company (more on that below). Part-time employees will receive a pro-rated increase and payment.

YEAR 3:

Employees will receive the following wage increases, based on their salary range at the second anniversary of ratification. Part-time employees will receive a pro-rated amount.

Under $80,000 - 4%

$80,000-$110,000 - 3%

Over $100,000 - 2.25%

HEALTHCARE

For the first time in decades, all employees at The Inquirer will be under one healthcare plan - thanks to the Guild's longtime healthcare partner, Teamsters Local Fund 830.

The move will keep us in our same top-shelf, Teamsters-managed healthcare coverage. But we are moving into an augmented plan - along with all of the managers and other non-union employees - at minimal cost to our members. Members will receive new benefits cards when we merge onto the single plan, no later than January 2027.

As we've said, the company came into this contract season with its top priority of bringing us all under one plan. We rebuffed the company's initial vision of bringing us into their more expensive and inferior healthcare plan. Then, in a move even the company didn't initially anticipate, we convinced them to explore joining our plan managed by the Teamsters 830 Fund.

We will be leaving our current "Premier" plan and enrolling together into the Teamsters' "Enhanced" Plan. The healthcare coverage network is identical. Members should not need to change their healthcare providers - or experience any interruptions to their care.

All that will change is certain point-of-service costs. For example: $5 to $15 copay increases for certain specialists, a $50 copay increase for urgent care, and adjustments to prescription medication costs. Here is the full cost snapshot for our new Enhanced Plan, which you may compare against our current Premier Plan.

We did not arrive at this decision lightly. Our healthcare plan is quite expensive for the company, and the weekly contributions our members pay have not risen in 20 years. To remain in our current plan, the company wanted us to pay them far more for our healthcare - at minimum doubling our weekly premiums in order. That would mean an additional healthcare expense of $3,000 to $9,000 out of pocket per member over the life of the contract, on top of your current point-of-care costs.

By moving into the Teamster's Enhanced plan, we achieved several strategic goals:

We stayed in an excellent healthcare plan. The Enhanced Plan is far superior and affordable next to the current non-union healthcare plan, and in our view, most other private sector plans in the region.

We kept our weekly premium contributions low.

Weekly rates will not change for the first year of the contract. Members will continue to pay $20/week for single coverage and $50/week for family coverage.

In year 2 of the contract, weekly rates will rise $10 or less per member.

Members enrolled in single health coverage will pay $30/week. We will establish a new, cost-adjusted family tier for members with just one family member on their plan; they will pay $57.50/week. Members with multiple family members enrolled on their plan will pay $60/week.

There will be no weekly increase in Year 3.

We effectively maintained our $0 deductible. The Enhanced Plan includes a $500 per year deductible that only applies to two situations: an overnight stay in a hospital, and facility fees levied by an outpatient surgery center. The company will reimburse any Guild member who is charged this deductible, in full, for the length of the contract.

We preserved affordable healthcare for years to come. We believe the company will embrace the Teamsters plan once they experience our coverage and lower point-of-care costs. So we view this attempt at bridge-building as a way to ensure we remain in OUR health plan for good.

We secured better raises to offset point-of-care costs. We know some members may have concerns about the increased copays. We were able to argue for higher raises - particularly the 6% lump-sum in year one - to help defray those costs.

VACATIONS

In the spirit of bringing the company under one healthcare plan, we won an improvement to our vacation allotment system that will bring us closer in line with the non-union vacation system, effective 2027.

This win guarantees that all new employees are brought in at three weeks of vacation time, and accelerates the pace at which employees graduate to four and five years.

0-4 years with company = 3 weeks vacation

5-15 years with company = 4 weeks vacation

15+ years at company = 5 weeks vacation

By our calculations, at least 50 members will see an added week of vacation next year under the expedited accrual system. And about half of our membership - 110+ members - will enjoy a new week of vacation over the life of the contract, and indefinitely going forward.

Happy lounging, folks.

AI POLICY

Much of our time at the bargaining table was spent crafting our first-ever AI Policy. We believe this deal addresses many of our concerns, and while we're entering uncharted territory with AI in the newsroom, we are excited about this responsible roadmap.

Our colleagues in Washington thought so, too. In approving our tentative deal on Thursday, our national leaders told us that our AI language "might be the best across [The NewsGuild] when it comes to bargaining unit member oversight."

Here's what we won:

We control the AI that makes the content.

Content creation is the bedrock of our collective bargaining agreement at The Inquirer. For nearly a century, our members have protected our right to create the news and other content - and now, we will control the use of any AI tools that are used in the creation of that content.

Under the new agreement:

Guild members must be directly and substantively involved in the reporting, and creation or the verification of any AI-generated or AI-assisted content.

Guild members also must be involved in developing, editorially training, and maintaining AI tools that we deploy that autonomously generate content (e.g. a hypothetical chatbot that gives restaurant suggestions).

Non-union employees are permitted to use AI to automate certain online features, such as homepage management. But the Guild reserves the right to dispute any infringement on our jurisdiction.

We'll have a robust AI advisory committee to oversee rollout.

The company and the Guild will form an AI Advisory Committee under the shared principle that Inquirer journalism remains under human editorial control.

The Committee shall be made up of at least 50% of members selected by the Guild, including both PDE and newsroom departments.

The committee will meet every other month to discuss the implementation of AI-generated and AI-assisted editorial content, the implementation of AI tools for internal company purposes, and updates to the Employer's AI usage policies.

Other AI protections:

The company will not use AI to impersonate a specific employee without the express written consent of the bargaining unit employee(s) involved and notification to the Guild.

Employees retain all rights to revoke their bylines/credit lines on any AI-generated content.

Photo-realistic AI imagery/video is prohibited for editorial purposes.

On layoffs:

The company would not commit to saying it would not lay off any employees due to AI advancements over the next three years.

We fight and will continue to vigorously fight any and all layoffs of our members. And we hope the language we negotiated around layoffs will substantially dissuade the company from going down that path.

Any member laid off due to AI will be eligible for an exta-enhanced severance package. That would include a double payout based on the member's eligible number of weeks, in keeping with the out-of-seniority layoff practices - plus an additional three weeks pay. The Guild also won the right to grieve layoffs up to 90 days after termination if the company uses any AI to replace the member in that time.

PROFIT-SHARING

Negotiations nearly imploded toward the end due to profit-sharing. Management wanted to remove the article entirely from the contract - less than a year after making over $5 million and refusing to pay any dividends to us. We said no to that.

But we could not come to an agreement about how to move forward. So we found a middle ground. The company has agreed to pay each of our members a $1,000 anniversary bonus on the second year of contract ratification in exchange for dropping our grievance over the 2025 profit-sharing dispute. You will receive that bonus in September 2027, on top of a 4% wage increase.

Guild leadership also agreed to not grieve, dispute, or make public statements about profit-sharing for the length of our new contract. After year 3, we will review the company's financial statements from 2026-2029 and determine at that time whether our members are owed anything. Per the new deal, we will also revisit and rewrite the article at some point before we bargain our next contract.

Until that time, let us enjoy any economic wins the company makes together. We will argue for our fair share when the time comes in an appropriate manner.

OTHER CHANGES

PDE members are now fully integrated into our contract. This process included a lot of unglamorous stuff, adding new language to existing articles and creating caveats for certain rules that don't apply to PDE's highly skilled work. We also negotiated minimum guaranteed salaries, and they will be moving onto our new healthcare plan in January.

Home office payments will be removed from the contract moving forward. We used this as a concession in order to increase raises by an entire percentage point for our members. Those raises will compound in the years to come, boost your 401k, etc, adding well over the value of a ~$340 takehome check after taxes.

Parental leave remains strong, with minor tweaks. Management wanted to make new employees ineligible for parental leave until they reached one year at the company. We shot that down. But there are a few minor changes to the article: leave must be taken in two periods; the period of fully remote work after parental leave is now capped at three months; and employees who resign within six months of leave may forfeit being paid out for any unused vacation days.

Added responsibility kicks in after three days. The company wanted to get rid of the provision that ensures our members get extra pay when they do their supervisor's job. They also wanted to get rid of the required two week notice for schedule change and eliminate basic turnaround times. We kept those provisions, but reached a compromise on added responsibility. Members can claim added responsibility - which amount to no more than $50 a day - when doing supervisory work for three days or more.

We're getting a DEI salary equity study, finally. The company has formally agreed to follow through with its long-held promise to conduct a formal salary equity study. This will be conducted and shared with the Guild within the first year of the contract.

We owe enormous gratitude to all of our members and committees for their constructive feedback and support throughout this process. Everything we won is thanks to YOU.

Seeing everyone on Tuesday for the Zoom call to discuss - but feel free to reach out if you have questions.

Solidarity forever,

The Bargaining Committee

Copyright (C) NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia Local 38010. All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
1329 Buttonwood St, Philadelphia, PA 19123

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