Minneapolis biz reporter leaving for union job

Chris Serres, a business reporter for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, is leaving the paper to become a union organizer in Las Vegas, reports Doug Grow of MinnPost.com.

Grow writes that Serres was an active Guild member at the paper. He writes, “Additionally, he was a business reporter, meaning he could command the respect of some in the newsroom who were highly suspicious of the old 1960s newsroom crowd. Hey, they seemed to think, how radical could a biz reporter be?

“It turned out that at times, Serres’ beliefs in the union cause — and the need for solidarity among all Strib unions — put him as out of step with the Guild’s moderate mainstream as it did with company management.

“Still, his voice was important as the Strib went through its period of painful downsizing and Guild members saw cutbacks in their union contract.

“For all of his union activism, Serres never backed off his aggressive biz reporting, specializing in coverage of banks and finance firms at a time of huge upheaval in those industries.”

Read more here.