RADIO WAVES

The union that represents newsroom employees at the State Journal-Register has turned to radio to ratchet up pressure on management to agree to a contract that includes raises for workers who haven’t seen bumps in pay since GateHouse Media bought the paper in 2007. Spots noting the decline of the paper, including the elimination of jobs and the shutdown of the basement printing press, started hitting airwaves this week, and they will last more than a month, thanks to more than $10,000 from the United Media Guild based in St. Louis, which represents SJ-R employees who overwhelmingly voted to unionize in 2012. GateHouse, which emerged from bankruptcy in 2013 and promptly went on a spending spree, has been buying papers nationwide, much to the delight of Wall Street. Since going public in February 2014, New Media Investment Group, GateHouse’s parent company, has seen the value of its stock nearly double. Company executives have set a goal of $1 billion worth of acquisitions in three years, according to a recent Boston Globe story, and the company has said that at least $70 million for acquisitions will come from operations at GateHouse papers this year. Dean Olsen, SJ-R health reporter and chair of the paper’s bargaining unit, said that what happens in the company’s struggle with the local union might well have a bearing at other Gatehouse papers. “I think that is why GateHouse is really digging in,” Olsen said. “They know if we set a precedent here, other properties could be lining up and saying, ‘You gave this to Springfi eld.’”