The Labor Tribune

What The Labor Tribune does

The Labor Tribune is a privately held, AFL-CIO-endorsed weekly labor newspaper founded in 1935 (as the Union Labor Advocate) and renamed in 1937. Headquartered at 301 S. Ewing Ave., St. Louis, Missouri, it serves the St. Louis/Southern Illinois labor community as the official voice of 60+ subscribing unions, with 50,000+ paid subscribers and 133,000+ weekly readers across its regional print and digital editions. Its core product is a weekly tabloid-format print newspaper distributed via USPS direct mail, complemented by individual ($52/year) and company ($78/year) digital access subscriptions and print subscriptions priced $75-$150/year. Revenue is generated through recurring subscriptions (individual, company, and print tiers) and advertising sold by a dedicated Marketing/Advertising Director to local and regional businesses targeting an affluent union audience with household incomes 39% above the regional average and 95% homeownership. The publication also functions as a community hub, covering and hosting union events, golf tournaments, comedy/arts fundraisers, and political endorsements, and it operates with a lean editorial team under editor-in-chief Tim Rowden. The paper is owned by the Labor Tribune Governing Board following a late-2022 ownership transfer from longtime publisher Ed Finkelstein, and its underlying technology is a traditional WordPress-based content website with a self-serve subscription signup flow and no mobile app, public API, or disclosed AI capabilities.

Name

The Labor Tribune

Legal name

The Labor Tribune

Website

https://labortribune.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1937

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Labor Tribune is an AFL-CIO-endorsed weekly labor newspaper serving 50,000+ paid subscribers and 133,000+ weekly readers across the St. Louis/Southern Illinois region via USPS print delivery and digital subscriptions, funded by recurring subscriptions and advertising.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Labor Newspaper Publishing

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110), Newspaper Publishers (51311)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Alternative/Independent Newsweeklies & Opinion Press (MPAJADAH)

Keywords

• Weekly newspaper publishing
• Labor news coverage
• Union journalism
• Trade press advertising
• Subscription periodicals

Headquarters

HQ city

St Louis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Digital Subscriptions: Individual digital access subscriptions delivered weekly to subscriber mailboxes/accounts
2. Print Subscriptions: Physical newspaper delivered weekly via USPS to subscriber homes
3. Advertising Revenue: Display advertising sold to businesses targeting union members and leadership with high disposable income and homeownership rates

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Labor Tribune publishes a weekly labor union newspaper covering national, regional, and local labor news, politics, union events, victories, opinions, and obituaries for union members and the broader labor community in the St. Louis/Southern Illinois region. The print edition is delivered weekly via USPS to paid subscribers' homes, with a parallel digital subscription offering online access. Display advertising is sold to local and regional businesses seeking access to an affluent union readership.

Product overview

The Labor Tribune is a weekly labor union newspaper operating as a single unified publication. The company offers print and digital subscription products, with the core product being the weekly newspaper delivered via USPS, plus a digital edition accessible online. Additional offerings include advertising services for businesses targeting the union audience.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Labor Tribune Weekly Newspaper Weekly tabloid-format newspaper covering national, regional, and local labor news including labor history, victories, politics, elections, opinions, outdoors/sports content, and union obituaries, distributed to union members and labor-friendly households in the St. Louis/Southern Illinois region.
• Individual Digital Access Subscription

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 50,000 paid subscribers
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• AetnaminorGTM or Marketing PartnerAetna is a healthcare insurance provider advertising on the Labor Tribune website and publication, targeting union members as potential customers for employer-organized health insurance plans.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Labor Notes: Labor Notes is a labor-focused independent publication covering union organizing, strikes, and rank-and-file activism. It is directly comparable to the Labor Tribune as a niche news outlet serving the US labor movement with news, opinion, and event coverage.
• The Militant: The Militant is a long-running weekly newspaper with labor and working-class political coverage. It is comparable to the Labor Tribune as an ideologically aligned weekly print publication targeting organized labor and progressive readers.
• People's World: People's World is a national labor and progressive news publication with roots in the labor movement. It competes with the Labor Tribune for the attention of union members, labor leaders, and movement-aligned readers in the same editorial category.
• In These Times: In These Times is a labor-focused magazine and digital publication covering labor, politics, and social movements. It competes with the Labor Tribune for advertising dollars and reader attention among union members and movement-aligned audiences.
• LaborPress: LaborPress is a regional labor newspaper serving the New York City metro union community. It is comparable to the Labor Tribune as a regional weekly delivering labor news, advertising, and union-specific content to a defined unionized readership.

Emerging players

• Riverfront Times: Riverfront Times is a St. Louis-based alternative weekly covering local news, arts, and politics. It is comparable to the Labor Tribune as a regional weekly tabloid in the same metropolitan market competing for advertising and event-driven readership.

Broad incumbents

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the dominant regional daily newspaper serving the same St. Louis metropolitan market as the Labor Tribune. It competes for local advertising budgets and reader attention, but covers general news rather than the labor niche.

Regional players

• Belleville News-Democrat: The Belleville News-Democrat is a regional daily newspaper serving Southern Illinois, overlapping with the Labor Tribune's Southern Illinois coverage territory. It is a regional general-interest competitor in the same geography rather than a direct labor-press competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/stllabortribune
• Facebookfacebook.com/labortribune
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/st-louis-southern-illinois-labor-tribune

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Labor Tribune