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Washington Post Staffers Walk Off Jobs Due to Labor Protest
December 7, 2023
Hundreds of journalists and staffers at The Washington Post are going on strike for 24 hours on Thursday. This strike is to protest recently announced staff cuts and workers’ frustration over thwarted contract negotiations.
Workers have been in contract negotiations for 18 months. In a post on X, the guild claims the Washington Post is refusing to pay them what they are worth or bargain in good faith thereafter.
“We did not come to this decision to do this walkout lightly,” Washington Post reporter Marissa Lang said to NPR. “We all work at The Washington Post because we believe in its mission and we believe in what we do. And we care deeply about the work we do, the people, the communities, the stories we cover.”
Per a letter to readers posted by The Washington Post Guild, a protest of this size has not been staged at The Post since the 1970s. The 20-week strike was headed up by publisher Katharine Graham during that walkout. That story was depicted in the 2017 film “The Post,” starring Meryl Streep as Graham and Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee.
The Guild stated that they understand the severity of this particular action. They cited the impact this walkout will have on the people, issues, and communities the paper covers. Lang continued by referencing the seriousness of the situation and how “deeply felt a lot of these concerns are in the Washington Post newsroom and in the company at large.”
Washingtonian magazine posted a memo it obtained from a Post section head telling staff of fears the paper would have little to publish during the daylong strike. Guild members say there is currently no plan to stage additional walkouts after Thursday’s strike.
The Washington-Baltimore News Guild, representing more than 1,000 editorial, advertising, and other non-news staff at the Post, cited the previous publisher’s lead leading to nearly 40 layoffs in 2022. Half of that was from the newsroom. The Guild claims the company is seeking to cut another 240 jobs through buyouts.
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