Austin American-Statesman NewsGuild Strike Fund

My name is Paul Albani-Burgio and I am the growth and development reporter at The Desert Sun, and organizer for The Desert Sun NewsGuild.

I started this GoFundMe to raise strike funds for colleagues at the Austin NewsGuild. After two strikes and three and a half years at the bargaining table, the journalists at the Austin American-Statesman approved their first contract with Gannett in November 2024. A few months later, Gannett sold the newspaper to Hearst, which is not accepting the Austin NewsGuild contract. Negotiations are starting again from Square One.

Money raised here will support Statesman staffers if they need to take their fight to the picket line.

Some of these funds were used to reimburse Statesman workers for lost pay after a one-day strike in June 2023 and a four-day strike in April 2024. I will continue to transfer funds to Austin NewsGuild member Nicole Villalpando to make reimbursements available if any future strike actions are needed, so workers can pay for housing, utilities, groceries, etc. if they lose wages while going on strike.

The Austin NewsGuild reserves the right to return donations that present a conflict of interest. Funds in excess will be used for future actions.

* Funds from the Austin NewsGuild Strike Fund are collected independently of the Austin NewsGuild, a unit of the Media Guild of the West TNG=CWA #39213 AFL-CIO.