The New York Times: Washington Post journalists go on one day strike

Katie Robertson

The New York Times

3 Min Read

22 Dec 2023

Washington Post staffers picket outside the newspapers headquarters, demanding agreement on a new union contract, on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. The 24-hour strike is the first walkout at The Post since the 1970s, union leaders said. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times) Credit: NYT

About 700 Washington Post employees walked off the job for 24 hours Thursday, protesting stalled union contract negotiations and expected layoffs.

The strike is the first walkout at the Post since the 1970s, union leaders said, and comes as the publication grapples with stagnant subscription numbers and low morale.

The union, the Post Guild, said that it had been negotiating a contract for 18 months but that the Post’s management had “refused to bargain in good faith” and had shut down negotiations over key issues. The union represents more than 1,000 employees, including journalists and some people on the company’s business side.

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In a statement, a Post spokesperson said the company respected the right of its union members to go on strike.

“We will make sure our readers and customers are as unaffected as possible,” the spokesperson said. “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.”

The Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has struggled in the post-Trump era to gain paying online readers. Subscriptions dropped to about 2.5 million this year from a peak of 3 million in 2020. Earlier this year, the Post was on pace to lose $100 million in 2023, according to people with knowledge of the company’s finances.

In October, The Post’s interim CEO, Patty Stonesifer, announced that the company would cut 240 jobs from its 2,600-person workforce. She replaced Fred Ryan, who stepped down as CEO in June.

The 240 jobs were initially expected to come through voluntary buyouts, but Stonesifer told workers last month that layoffs might be needed to reach that number.

In early November, the Post named Will Lewis, a former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, as its next CEO and publisher. Lewis will start Jan. 2.

Sarah Kaplan, a climate reporter and chief steward of the Post Guild, said in an interview that one sticking point over the new contract was wages. The Post has proposed a 2.25% increase, which Kaplan said amounted to “a pay cut” when taking inflation into account.

“We see all of the ways that the Post as an institution is being weakened by mismanagement on the part of the company’s leaders with these buyouts and the insufficient contract proposal,” Kaplan said.

“What is driving a lot of us to participate in this is a feeling that we want to have a say in the future of The Washington Post because we care about this place, and we think it can be better,” she added.

The union asked readers not to engage with any Post content in print or online Thursday, saying in a letter that “taking this historic action is not a decision we came to lightly.”

The Post’s website Thursday was populated with stories written under the byline “Washington Post Staff.” One article about the Post walkout noted that as workers were on strike, “editors and other managers carried on with many of the tasks that go into producing a daily news report, from writing articles to operating printing presses.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.