Longview NewsGuild

We were horrified to learn today that Lee Enterprises unceremoniously laid off a member of our advertising staff. She and her colleagues have been fighting to join the newsroom union at the Longview Daily News.

Lee’s handling of this is heartless. Our colleague arrived at work this morning to find a final check on her desk and an email from our facilities manager saying he was coming up from Albany to pick up her keys. She was given no other warning.

All this is happening while we’re still awaiting news from the National Labor Relations Board about the ad department’s upcoming certification election. We will have more to say about their efforts soon.

Longview isn’t the only Lee Enterprises' paper facing draconian cuts. Our colleagues at the Buffalo Newspaper Guild have been through the wringer already this year.

https://twitter.com/Charlie_Reports/status/1620973397529473024?s=20&t=bP708rEbYuMQsMpa8qqXmg

Then, of course, there’s the nice bit of portfolio padding Lee executives got before the holidays. This is shameful behavior. Lee must start putting its readers and workers before corporate executives.

https://twitter.com/PDPJ/status/1623556760291409921?s=20&t=bP708rEbYuMQsMpa8qqXmg

Why should Lee Enterprises ?

Because Alden’s primary financial backer is a secretive private equity firm named after the three-headed guard dog for the gates of the underworld.

Contact the Lee Board of Directors at https://investors.lee.net/ir-resources/contact-ir and tell them to reject this and any future offers.