Brighton Standard Blade 3
May 12, 2021
Keeping the community in Colorado Community Media
L
ast week in this space you were able to hear from Ann and Jerry Healey, who have entrusted their collection of 24 community newspapers to us at the newly formed Colorado News Conservancy. This week, as the new owners and operators of this newspaper, we want to give you an opportunity to hear directly from us and learn about our plans. With an eye toward retirement, grandkids and new adventures, Ann and Jerry sold Colorado Community Media to the Conservancy. The Conservancy is a partnership between the National Trust for Local News and The Colorado Sun, a local digital news organization that some of you may already know. We were aided by a network of Colorado organizations who share our commitment to keeping newspapers in local hands and to ensuring that you continue to benefit from the unique, hyperlocal coverage that you have come to expect from this newspaper and the others in the CCM family. One of the Colorado Community Media newspapers has been serving its community for more than 150 years, and others have decades of history. We feel a deep responsi-
ABOUT THE COLORADO NEWS CONSERVANCY
From left, Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro and Lillian Ruiz, co-founders of the National Trust for Local News, and Larry Ryckman, editor-in-chief of The Colorado Sun, are leaders of the Colorado News Conservancy partnership that has purchased Colorado Community Media.
bility to continue that legacy and ensure your paper is still providing quality news and information for decades to come, as well as bringing the businesses that provide the core financial support for these publications together with readers in the local communities they serve. So what will change, and what won’t? We’ve already heard those questions from readers and local business owners who feel strong ties to the reporters, editors, sales staff and others who bring the news to you. For starters, we are seeking to fill the big shoes of Jerry Healey
The Colorado News Conservancy is a public benefit corporation formed to preserve Colorado Community Media and ensure that its 24 weekly and monthly newspapers remain locally owned. The Conservancy is a joint venture by the National Trust for Local News and The Colorado Sun. The Trust is a new, national nonprofit organization formed to provide the financing, new ownership structures and expertise needed for established news organizations around the country to become sustainable and deeply grounded in their communities. The Sun is a journalist-owned, award-winning digital news outlet that strives to cover all of Colorado, bring understanding to important issues and contribute to a more vibrant, informed and whole Colorado. To contact us, email CNC@ColoradoCommunityMedia.com or call 303-5664100.
in the role of publisher. We are looking for someone who is as passionate about community and local service as Jerry has been. We are so grateful that he has agreed to stay on this month to help ensure we have a smooth transition.
We do not plan the staff cutbacks, cost-cutting or layoffs that have become far too common in the news business these days. In fact, we are looking to bolster the fine work already being done to serve you, the readers and supporters of this paper. Our job is to keep your local media strong and growing. The Colorado Community Media name will stay the same, as will the name of the newspaper you know and trust. The same goes for the phone numbers, email addresses and the website of your paper. You can reach out to the hard-working people here at the paper in the same ways you always have. We purchased Colorado Community Media because we are committed to serving our readers, our local businesses and our communities and to sustaining the important community role played by these papers. We want to thank Ann and Jerry once again for their hard work and dedication over the years to providing community media to your town and others. We promise them — and you — that we will work hard to serve you and make you proud.
Thornton Amazon warehouse target of state labor complaint Linda Rodriguez alleges Amazon retaliated against her for speaking up about COVID-19 protocols BY LIAM ADAMS LADAMS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
A complaint filed with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) alleges that Amazon retaliated against a former employee at its Thornton warehouse for raising concerns about workplace conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Towards Justice, a Denver-based nonprofit law firm, and Attorney Hunter Swain of Swain Law, LLC, filed the complaint on behalf of Linda Rodriguez as a prerequisite to potential legal action in the future, said David Seligman, executive director of Towards Justice. The Department of Labor and Employment will investigate Rodriguez’s allegation that supervisors at the Thornton warehouse fired Rodri-
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guez for speaking up about problems she saw at the facility with contact tracing, cleaning and communication. “It seemed like Amazon just wanted to pressure people to keep coming to work during the pandemic, even though we were terrified, and so they didn’t tell us whether we’d been exposed and didn’t even explain to my Spanish-speaking co-workers in a language they could understand that they shouldn’t come to work if they were sick,” Rodriguez said in a press release. In a copy of the CDLE complaint, Rodriguez said supervisors at the Thornton warehouse did not enforce mask-wearing and social distancing, ensure proper cleaning of the facility, provide correct information about contact tracing and adequately communicate about COVID-19 safety protocols in Spanish. Rodriguez began speaking up last June after learning through other employees, not company officials, that a coworker she came into contact with later tested positive for COVID-19, the complaint said. That first time, Rodriguez complained to her supervisor who, “immediately shut down the
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conversation, responding that Amazon had instructed him not to discuss the confirmed infection,” the complaint alleges. A regular issue Rodriguez observed was that warehouse employees did not provide important COVID-19 safety information — including warnings that employees should not clock in and enter the facility if they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms — in Spanish during pre-shift meetings. Thus, the complaint said, “Amazon was able to maintain pressure on its Spanishspeaking workers to continue attending work even if they felt sick.” Rodriguez expressed her concerns to supervisors several times throughout the summer months and little was done in response, the complaint alleged. On Aug. 22, Rodriguez shared with a supervisor she was considering filing a complaint with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). On Aug. 24, Amazon suspended Rodriguez for “time theft” and later terminated her. Amazon spokesperson Maria Boschetti said in a statement, “The facts of this case are clear: Ms. Rodriguez
was terminated for timecard fraud or ‘time theft.’ On at least a half dozen occasions over a ten-day period, Ms. Rodriguez clocked in and then either left the building or failed to report to her work assignment.” Boschetti added, “When interviewed, with just one exception, Ms. Rodriguez did not deny the allegations nor was she able to justify them.” Rodriguez and her attorneys defend in the CDLE complaint that Amazon’s reason for firing Rodriguez is a “...pretext to disguise its unlawful retaliation against her” and that a filing with the Colorado Civil Rights Division proves as much. “I saw that Amazon was scared of me speaking out for myself and my co-workers. It intimidated me and ultimately fired me when I raised my voice, but I’m not backing down,” Rodriguez said in a press release. The CDLE complaint asks the department to determine if Amazon violated Colorado’s Public Health Emergency Whistleblower (PHEW) Act, which protects workers who raise concerns about workplace violations.
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