Journalists at Wisconsin Watch have successfully ratified their first contract after over a year of negotiations. Members of the Wisconsin Watch Union, based in Milwaukee and Madison, voted unanimously to approve the contract.
The contract introduces several significant changes, including increases in wages with minimum salary guarantees and annual cost-of-living adjustments. Expanded job security under the contract includes provisions such as “just cause” protections, restrictions on layoffs, and eight weeks of severance pay with extended benefits. It also ensures workplace protections with a guarantee for remote work and protected flexible schedules. Additionally, the contract provides leave assurances for medical, parental, caregiver, and bereavement leave.
The move to unionize is part of a larger trend among journalists in nonprofit newsrooms across the U.S., with similar actions seen at ProPublica, Spotlight PA, Texas Tribune, and The Marshall Project, among others.
“We did this together,” stated Phoebe Petrovic, investigative reporter at Wisconsin Watch and a union organizer. Petrovic remarked on the impact of the contract, highlighting the added workplace structure, security, and protection.
Devin Blake, a reporter at the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and member of the bargaining committee, noted, “This union has already provided me with tangible and obvious benefits, but one thing I didn’t anticipate is how much closer I would feel to my coworkers.”
Jack Kelly, a Wisconsin Watch statehouse reporter and bargaining committee member, expressed his pride in the contract they won. He stated, “This deal will allow reporters in our newsrooms to continue to focus on serving their communities knowing they have greater security and stability.”
The three-year agreement was finalized on March 28, 2025.
