Payday Report Seeking Spanish-Speaking Newsletter Writer-Editor

Latino housekeepers join forces with striking Hollywood strikes in July (UNITE HERE 11)

Recently, Payday Report received a $35,000 matching grant from Illumine Service Foundation to expand our Emmy-nominated publication into a more multi-media-focused newsletter. We also just received a major donation to help Casa San Jose train young Latino media workers here in Pittsburgh. 

Therefore, we seek a multimedia, multi-lingual media part-time editor to help take Payday to the next level. 

While most of the editing work will be in English, Payday is searching for a native Spanish-speaking editor who learned Spanish, either in Latin America or growing up in the U.S., to help with reporting, translating, and editing. (Particular preference is given to speaking Portuguese, who also speak Portuguese, which I speak fluently since we do a lot of work in Brazil)

 Particular preference is given to those who also speak Portuguese, which I speak fluently.)

While Payday is a small, growing, crowdfunded outlet based in Pittsburgh, we have shaken up how the mainstream media covers labor in the U.S.

Our work as the first outlet to systematically track the strike wave during the pandemic has been widely recognized by everyone from the Washington Post to NPR’s “All Things Considered” to filmmaker Boots Riley. In 2021, our work helping produce CNN’s United Shades of America was nominated for an Emmy.

Following the success and widespread acclaim of Payday’s more than 20 on-the-ground dispatches of the Brazilian presidential election (we even got invited to the White House to cover President Lula’s 1st state visit), Payday has decided to expand its coverage of international labor solidarity while also continuing our coverage of labor and social movements in the U.S. 

Payday Report is seeking a part-time Spanish-speaking editor at $32 an hour based in the U.S. or Latin America to help us cover the U.S. and overseas with a heavy focus on Latin America.

We are a pro-union publication, but we aren’t afraid to ask tough questions about the labor movement, particularly regarding race and sexism. In 2020, the New York Times praised our work exposing sexual misconduct in the labor movement. 

We are looking for someone dedicated to the values of the independent media movement who can help our publication grow more and reach communities traditionally marginalized by the mainstream media. 

Ideally, we are looking for someone who can commit to working 1-2 hours an afternoon three days a week after the newsletter comes out. Additionally, this person will edit 1-2 feature pieces a week. 

We would pay an hourly rate of $32 an hour during a starting trial period as we try out different editors for roughly 6-8 hours a week. Following an initial three-month trial period, these work opportunities could expand dramatically once we understand your skills as a reporter and editor. 

People who have held this position previously and have gone onto high-profile roles in the media include Clarissa León, deputy editor of DocumentedNY.

Ideally, we would like to hire someone who is looking to combine working with Payday Report while working for other small, independent media publications. Payday Report is dedicated to growing the independent media movement and is interested in hiring people with ideas about how to grow the independent media movement. 

Payday Report heavily encourages applicants from marginalized communities, particularly communities of color, to apply. We encourage all applicants, even non-traditional applicants, to apply for this position. 

While Payday is based in Pittsburgh, the position is remote, and applicants can be based either in the U.S. or Latin America. (Although I hope you visit Pittsburgh at the very least to catch a ballgame – I have season tickets to the Pittsburgh Pirates.)

To apply, please send a short email (three to five paragraphs) explaining your background, vision, and goals. (No need for C.V.s – I never got a job in journalism using a CV and wouldn’t expect someone to do the same). Instead, send us good ideas, stories, and ideas about how we can grow Payday’s financial base of more than 3,000 subscribers. Please include references.

Since editing isn’t something that can’t be measured in clips, Payday Report will ask editors to audition by editing, for which they will be paid $ 32 an hour. We are currently seeking editors to begin working after January 4th. 

Send emails to [email protected].

About the Author

Mike Elk
Mike Elk is an Emmy-nominated labor reporter and alumni of the Guardian. In addition to filing nearly 2,000 stories from 46 states, Elk traveled with Lula from Sáo Bernando do Campos all the way to the Oval Office in the White House. Credited by the Washington Post for being the first reporter to track the strike wave systematically, Elk started Payday Report using his NLRB settlement from being illegally fired for union organizing in 2015. He lives in his hometown of Pittsburgh and works frequently in Rio de Janeiro, where he attended college at PUC-Rio. He speaks both Portuguese and Pittsburghese fluently. His email is [email protected]