"Denver, we have a problem"

As expected, the Bay Area News Group organizing effort seems to have been a success.

"I'm incredibly proud to be part of our newsrooms today," said Sara Steffens, an award-winning reporter at the Contra Costa Times and a co-chair of the campaign.

"It's heartening to see so many of us come together, during these turbulent times in our industry, saying 'We deserve a seat at the table.' Tough decisions need to be made, but we want to be part of building our future."

Clearly MediaNews thought they were being clever when they consolidated their Bay Area newspapers - along with the non-union Contra Costa Times - giving them the justification to decertify the existing union shops and unilaterally break negotiations with those groups.

Fortunately, BANG staffers used the situation to their advantage, and just formed a new union, bigger and stronger than before. A real union, with real teeth. In their own words:

Today we are standing up for our profession. We are saying that what we do matters. It still matters. It will always matter. Our craft deserves to be treated with respect. And we ourselves deserve to be treated with respect.

Can you imagine how the LANG newsrooms might look if we had similar strength?