The journalists at VTDigger formed a union in 2020 to bring better pay and working conditions to Vermont’s pioneering online news site. The job was demanding, the wages paltry, and, by many accounts, founder Anne Galloway ran roughshod over her inexperienced workforce. “The model at Digger w as to hire really young people, pay them really poorly, ride them really hard, rinse, repeat,” said Lola Duffort, a former union cochair at Digger who now works at Vermont Public. By December 2021, after many months at the table, the union, a local bargaining unit of the Providence Newspaper Guild, and the nonprofit Vermont Journalism Trust, which operates Digger, announced they had reached their first collective bargaining agreement. The deal provided benefits including a salary floor of $40,000 for reporters and $50,000 for editors, guaranteed cost-of-living increases, five weeks of paid sick and vacation time, and eight weeks of parental leave. In announcing the agreement, both sides sought to put a positive spin on what had been an arduous, acrimonious and painful process. “We believe the negotiations have resulted in mutual respect, better communication and excitement about the future,” Galloway said at the time. Five years later, relations between Digger and its unionized workers remain strained as another round of contract negotiations drags on and disagreements fester over the future use of artificial intelligence. Last month, half a dozen union members gathered in Montpelier, handing out leaflets warning people of the dangers posed by the management’s alleged willingness to deploy AI tools. “Help Keep AI Out of Our Local News!” a flyer read. The handout also contained a mock story of “AI-Generated Government Politics” that included a photo of the union staff with their faces replaced by robot heads. “If you don’t want your local news to look like this,” the flyer read, “send a letter to VTDigger management.” Thousands of people did, barraging Digger’s leaders with missives in support of the union concerns. A website called Action Network indicated that more than 7,200 messages had been sent to Digger management as of last week. The union’s reporters, editors and longtime photographer also distributed leaflets outside the Statehouse, where many of them work and their journalism is closely watched. The flyers warned lawmakers and the public that “human journalists can be replaced by Artificial Intelligence to produce the local news you rely on.” Erin Petenko, Digger’s data reporter and cochair of the union, said the members felt the action was necessary because they saw the potential use of AI as an existential threat to Digger’s mission and one that could jeopardize their jobs. I really want to know as I go to bed at night that I won’t be laid off because I’m being replaced by AI.Erin Petenko “I really want to know as I go to bed at night that I won’t be laid off because I’m being replaced by AI,” she said. Yardain Amron, night editor at Digger and the other unit cochair, said a “strong supermajority” of union members had approved the action as a way to “raise an alarm bell.” The group thought long and hard about the risk of such sharp public criticism to the Digger brand but decided it was worth it, Amron said. “The bigger fear is AI will actually get implemented without our voice, so this is the moment that we have to try to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he told Seven Days. Digger already has an ethics policy prohibiting staff from using “generative artificial intelligence, such as chatbots and other similar tools to produce the words and/or images meant to be published as journalistic content,” unless approved by the CEO or editor-in-chief. But in the new contract, the union wanted job protections against layoffs due to AI, something on which the organization wasn’t willing to budge. VTDigger reporters Greta Solsaa and Shaun Robinson discussing their contract concerns with Rep. Will Greer (D-Bennington) Credit: Kevin McCallum “I just want to keep an open mind about technology for the future,” CEO Sky Barsch told Seven Days last month. The union’s decision to go public with its concerns blindsided Digger management. It was even a factor in Barsch’s decision to step down from the organization, according to Kevin Ellis, a former member of the board of trustees of the Vermont Journalism Trust. Ellis pointed to a public post on Reddit that he says crossed an important line by “targeting” Digger management by name. The original post, of which Seven Days was able to obtain a copy, urged viewers to “Tell VTDigger management: Journalists over AI.” Lower down it reads: “Target: VTDigger CEO Sky Barsch, Editor in Chief Geeta Anand, and the Board members of the Vermont Journalism Trust.” The post was later amended to change “Target” to “Recipients.” It’s not clear why the post was changed or by whom. Amron declined to comment. But Ellis said the use of the word “target” rattled some at Digger and helped Barsch, who was hired in 2023, decide to move on. She announced on January 27 that she would leave the CEO job as of June 1. Barsch’s decision, and the circumstances surrounding it, should be a “wake-up call,” Ellis said. Digger’s union, while perhaps initially providing some needed pay increases and protection for workers, has become a significant distraction for the organization, he said. He called it “absurd” that the latest contract negotiations have dragged on for 14 months and “destructive” for the union to have publicly targeted Digger’s leaders. “I don’t think there is a place for a union that uses these tactics at a tiny journalism nonprofit, whether it’s in Vermont or across the country,” Ellis said. Barsch declined to be interviewed but issued a statement suggesting that a deal for a new contract agreement is at hand. “I have deep respect for our newsroom teammates and the work they do every day for Vermont,” she wrote. “We’re very close to reaching a contract, and I’m looking forward to continuing this important work together in a way that reflects our shared values and commitment to producing excellent journalism for Vermonters.” The board president of the Vermont Journalism Trust, Gaye Symington, declined to characterize the organization’s relationship with the union, citing the ongoing negotiations. “The heart of our mission, the heart of what we do and how we serve Vermonters, is with people producing high-quality, fact-checked news,” Symington said. “Whether the union is the right vehicle to represent the interests of the members of the union, only the union members can decide that.” Amron issued a statement saying the two sides had reached a “tentative agreement,” but Norm Welsh, who has been the lead negotiator for the union, said that announcement was premature. Political columnist John Walters, who briefly worked for Digger after leaving Seven Days in 2019, said he’s concerned about the continued turmoil at the online news site. “It does seem like there’s something troubled about the relationship between reporters and management that has not been fully worked out,” he said. Broader economic pressures are likely the source of the current tension, he said. Digger has been struggling for years to climb out of the $1 million hole it dug for itself in 2022. At that time the site expanded its staff and opened an office in Burlington, made possible in part by a $900,000 grant from the American Journalism Project. The gift was intended to help the site become sustainable. “The grant did not accomplish what it was supposed to accomplish, and then it ran out and they have been playing catch-up ever since,” Walters said. The organization has also paid Galloway, its founder, $397,000 over the three years and four months since she left in 2022, according to the nonprofit’s financial disclosures. The documents state that the payments were for consulting. Galloway declined to comment. Digger’s loss shrank to about $75,000 in 2024, the latest year for which public tax data is available. Despite those financial pressures, paying journalists a living wage is just the cost of doing business, Walters said. Digger’s donor base likely understands that, he suggested, and should be willing to support the organization at the level required. Ellis thinks unions serve an important role for “nurses at UVM or workers at General Motors,” but he questions whether they’re the right fit for a small, struggling local journalism nonprofit. He said he thinks relations would be improved if Digger’s journalists ditched the union and instead got a couple of seats on the board. “Look, maybe organizations have to go through these kinds of ruptures,” Ellis said. “But the key is, can you circle back around and repair it so that you can move on together on the mission?” ➆ Disclosure: Anne Galloway is a freelance writer for Seven Days. The original print version of this article was headlined “Disunion at Digger | A spat over the possible use of artificial intelligence has sown discord in Vermont’s largest newsroom” The post VTDigger’s Contract Negotiations Highlight Fears About AI appeared first on Seven Days. ...read more read less