Eileen O’Connor, who is chair of the MassINC board, has passed along a statement about the union organizing drive that employees of CommonWealth Beacon have announced. MassINC, the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth, is the nonprofit group that publishes CommonWealth Beacon. (Note: This is not the board that I’m on; rather, I’m on the CommonWealth Beacon editorial advisory board.)
We believe CommonWealth Beacon, the nonprofit journalism arm of MassINC, is a core part of our organization and we appreciate the outstanding work done by a small team of reporters. Their work covers complex policy issues facing Massachusetts and is central to the broader nonprofit mission. MassINC management was informed on Wednesday of their intention to unionize and needs time to engage the full Board of Directors before responding. Both MassINC management and the Board take this process seriously and look forward to working together with the staff to advance CommonWealth Beacon’s mission of public service journalism.