Unionized journalists at The Washington Post said they might stage a 24-hour strike on Thursday to protest staff cuts and what they call management’s failure to bargain in good faith in contract talks which have stretched on for 18 months.
The planned one-day walkout comes weeks after William Lewis, former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, was named chief executive and publisher of the Post because the venerable Washington every day newspaper was projecting a year-end lack of $100 million.
The Post is certainly one of many news outlets struggling to plot a sustainable business model within the many years for the reason that web upended the economics of journalism and digital promoting rates plummeted.
Executives on the Post, which is owned by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, said on the time of the Lewis announcement that they were offering voluntary buyouts across the corporate in a bid to cut back worker headcount by about 10% and shrink the scale of the newsroom to about 940 journalists.
Contract between talks between the Washington Post and journalists have stretched on for 18 months. AFP via Getty Images
The Washington-Baltimore News Guild, which represents greater than 1,000 editorial, promoting and other non-news staff on the Post, said mismanagement by the previous publisher led to just about 40 layoffs last 12 months, and the corporate was now looking for to chop one other 240 jobs through buyouts.
Representatives for the newspaper’s management didn’t immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment on the labor dispute.
In line with the union, management has threatened to impose more layoffs if too few staffers accept voluntary severance packages.
The Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos, projecting a year-end lack of $100 million. REUTERS
“Which means fewer Post employees making the critical journalism that keeps our communities informed and holds our public officials accountable,” the Guild said in a web based statement.
Furthermore, after 18 months of contract negotiations, “the corporate is refusing to pay us what we’re value or bargain in good faith,” the union said on the social media platform X, formerly often known as Twitter. “So on Dec. 7, we’re walking off the job for twenty-four hours.”
In a Guild-produced online video, quite a few Post journalists, including chief Ukraine correspondent Siobhan O’Grady, appear sequentially on camera pledging to affix tons of of peers within the strike and urging readers to “respect our picket line by avoiding Washington Post journalism” through the walkout.
Staff @washingtonpost have been in contract negotiations with our bosses for 18 months.
But the corporate is refusing to pay us what we’re value or bargain in good faith.
So on Dec. 7, we’re walking off the job for twenty-four hours. pic.twitter.com/GCraL1I0nm
— Washington Post Guild (@PostGuild) December 5, 2023
Williams Lewis was named CEO last month. The Washington Post via Getty Images
The minute-long video ends with the refrain, “because we’re value more, value greater than our bosses are offering.”
Lewis is ready to tackle his duties from Jan. 2, 2024, replacing Patty Stonesifer, who became interim chief executive in June, and Fred Ryan, who stepped down in August after a nine-year stint as publisher and CEO.
