More than 750 Washington Post workers walked off the job on Thursday in what is being hailed as “the biggest labor protest at the company in nearly half a century.”
The one-day strike is in response to what staffers say are “bad faith” contract negotiations. Many of the WaPo workers accused the iconic paper of “breaking the law.”
Washington Post reporter and co-chair for news for the Washington Post Guild, Katie Mettler, told Fox News Digital, “We’re protesting what we believe is the company breaking the law and bargaining with us in bad faith over our contract and also over voluntary buyouts that were offered to Post employees about a month ago.”
(Video: Fox News Digital)
“The strike came as the Guild clashes with management regarding terms for current employees, as well as terms for proposed buyouts The Post offered earlier this season as the paper implemented a 240-count job cut,” Fox News Digital explains. “The Washington Post is facing a $100 million loss by the end of 2023, according to reports.”
Readers were asked by the Guild not to engage with Post journalism in solitary with the strikers.
Many of the stories published on Thursday lacked the reporters’ names, instead carrying the byline “Washington Post Staff.”
Washington Post technology policy reporter, Cat Zakrzewski, said she was striking “to demand fair pay for journalists.”
“We’re hoping that the Post will offer us a fair contract that will bring our annual raises up to 4% and raise the ceiling for journalists’ pay across the newsroom,” she said.
The negotiations have been “tough,” according to the executive director of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, Cet Parks. The Guild represents WaPo employees.
“We’ve been bargaining for 18 months. It’s been a tough negotiation,” Parks said. “The members and the employees at this time are trying to send the Post a message, trying to wrap the contract up and keep up with inflation and be fair to them.”
Dan Gabor is president of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild. He, too, believes the Washington Post is “breaking the law.”
And reporter Dan Keating, who’s written for the Post since 1999, said he’s walking the picket line for a “good contract and good pay.”
The “union” at the Washington Post is going on “strike” for 24 hours on Thursday. They want job tenure!
Figuring out how to work even less than they currently do will be the most innovative thing they have ever done. pic.twitter.com/Gfo3UA82pH
— Max Meyer (@mualphaxi) December 5, 2023
Copy editor Colleen Neely noted that the owner of the Washington Post is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, “one of the richest men in the world.”
“I’m striking because 18 months is too long for a contract. Our salary floor does not pay a living wage in D.C. and we deserve better,” she told Fox News Digital. “Especially being owned by one of the richest men in the world.”
Bezos bought the Post for $250 million in 2013. His net worth is roughly $169 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires index.
The Washington Post is facing a $100 million loss this year, which represents just 0.06 percent of Bezos’s total worth.
“We want to get a contract,” Neely said, “We don’t want layoffs, we want a better buyout deal.”
Washington Post writers goes on strike and no notices or cares
pic.twitter.com/uNhDRVed7j— Cassie Nguyen (@azn_chic) December 8, 2023
According to a Washington Post spokesperson, the company’s goal is to “reach an agreement.”
“We respect the rights of our Guild-covered colleagues to engage in this planned one-day strike,” the spokesperson said in a Thursday statement to Fox News Digital. “We will make sure our readers and customers are as unaffected as possible. The Post’s goal remains the same as it has from the start of our negotiations: to reach an agreement with the Guild that meets the needs of our employees and the needs of our business.”
Meanwhile, the Post reported that its executives “deny the union’s claim that it has bargained in ‘bad faith’ and say they still hope to reach a contract by the end of the month.”
“[The] question is, what options are left?” a WaPo insider who participated in the strike told Fox News Digital. “You have a very frustrated workforce, with a lot of uncertainty and some… turmoil bubbling beneath and above the surface.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.