Herald Employees are ‘Priced out of Paradise’
When we formed One Herald Guild more than a year ago, one of our main goals was to fight for living wages and address glaring pay inequities between el Nuevo Herald and Miami Herald employees. We knew, even without newsroom-wide data, that many of our colleagues were struggling to get by in the communities we cover every day.
Now we have the data to prove it — and to support the comprehensive wage proposal we’ve brought to the bargaining table.
According to the Herald’s own "Priced out of Paradise" calculator, published in 2019, and analysis by Miami Herald data reporter Sarah Blaskey:
One out of five Herald employees are not paid enough to afford an apartment rental anywhere in Miami-Dade or Broward Counties. Of the 98 employees for whom McClatchy provided data, 21 make less than $4,150 per month or $49,800 per year.
One out of three Herald employees are not paid enough to afford an apartment rental anywhere in Miami-Dade County. Of the employees listed, 37 make less than $4,650 per month or $55,800 per year.
One out of three Herald employees are not paid enough to buy a single-family home anywhere in Miami-Dade or Broward Counties. Of the employees listed, 36 make less than $55,000 per year.
(To determine affordability, the calculator uses 350% of annual income and median home value, or 30% of monthly pre-tax wages and median rent by ZIP code.)
One Herald Guild’s proposal offers a starting point to fix this. Among the provisions:
A minimum salary of $1,000 per week. That’s $4,348.21 per month, or about $52,000 per year, and gives entry-level employees with no industry experience access to affordable rentals in at least a few ZIP codes.
A wage floor of $1,350 a week ($5,870 a month) for employees with four or more years of industry experience. This would mean all full-time employees in this category could afford to rent in areas across Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.
So far, this proposal has been met with silence at the bargaining table. We expect McClatchy to change that at our session tomorrow, March 12, and to begin bargaining in good faith after more than a year of delays and insulting proposals.
It’s time for the company to work with us to ensure we can afford to live in our own community — and continue to bring you the news.