Over 750 woke staffers of the far-left Washington Post have initiated a 24-hour walkout, marking the largest protest at the newspaper in almost 50 years.
The strike is notably one of the biggest labor actions in Washington D.C.’s recent history, according to Axios. Staffers, also known as “Posties,” are calling on the public to stand in solidarity with them by boycotting the Post’s content for the duration of the strike.
This walkout is the peak of a tension-building 18 months of contract negotiations between the Post’s management and its staff. Tensions were heightened last week amidst the buzz of potential layoffs should the company not meet its target buyout numbers.
The paper, facing a steep $100 million deficit for the year, has announced plans to cut about 240 jobs, particularly targeting the local news department. Yet, despite these dire circumstances, only half of the slated positions have been vacated through voluntary departures.
The union representing the striking employees, the Washington Post Guild, accuses the management of failing to “bargain in good faith.” Their demands are centered on achieving equal pay, securing raises to keep pace with the inflation rate, and maintaining flexible remote work policies.
The union released the following statement:
Washington Post employees have been negotiating with management for 18 months. We still lack a contract that keeps pace with record-level inflation and guarantees workers a living wage. Meanwhile, because of our previous publisher’s mismanagement, the company has tried to balance its books by laying off nearly 40 people in the last year. Then they offered “voluntary” buyouts to another 240 staffers this fall. Now The Post has threatened that if they don’t get enough people to leave, more layoffs will be next.
That means fewer Post employees making the critical journalism that keeps our communities informed and holds our public officials accountable. Democracy Dies in Darkness, right?
Time and again, we’ve told the company’s leaders that we’re worth more. They have refused to listen. They have refused to bargain in good faith. They have broken the law again and again.
So we’ve told company leaders that on Dec. 7, we’re striking for 24 hours, because we know there is no Washington Post without us.
A reporter for the WaPo wrote, “I’m walking off the job with hundreds of my WaPo colleagues because the company is breaking the law and bargaining in bad faith. Respect our picket line during our 24-hour strike by avoiding WaPo journalism today, send a letter to our bosses here:”
I’m walking off the job with hundreds of my WaPo colleagues because the company is breaking the law and bargaining in bad faith. Respect our picket line during our 24-hour strike by avoiding WaPo journalism today, send a letter to our bosses here: https://t.co/keUV5LDNNc
— Will Sommer (@willsommer) December 7, 2023
WATCH:
Washington Post workers on strike pic.twitter.com/ZWHn88ivUE
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) December 7, 2023
