Washington Post workers stage 1-day strike in face of impending job cuts
More than 700 Washington Post employees began a 24-hour walkout on Thursday, citing a breakdown in contract talks that have stretched for 18 months and the threat of job cuts, as the Jeff Bezos-owned publication attempts to cut costs amid declining ad revenues and a shrinking subscriber base.
Back in October, interim Washington Post CEO Patty Stonesifer announced plans to cut 240 jobs, about 10% of the paper’s total workforce, by the end of the year through a voluntary buyout program. Last week, Stonesifer warned in a memo first reported by Semafor that half of that number had accepted buyouts, according to NPR. Stonesifer said if more people did not accept them by next week, involuntary layoffs would ensue on far less generous terms.
In statements and social media postings, the union that represents about 1,000 Washington Post employees, the Washington Post Guild, said the publication’s management “refused to bargain in good faith” or pay employees fair wages.
“We did not come to this decision to do this walkout lightly,” Post reporter Marissa Lang, who covers housing and serves on the union’s bargaining team, told 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.
“I think this indicates how seriously we all are taking this, how deeply felt a lot of these concerns are in the Washington Post newsroom and in the company at large.”
Workers @washingtonpost have been in contract negotiations with our bosses for 18 months.
But the company is refusing to pay us what we’re worth or bargain in good faith.
So on Dec. 7, we’re walking off the job for 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/GCraL1I0nm— Washington Post Guild (@PostGuild) December 5, 2023
On Wednesday, a Washington Post spokesperson released a statement noting the company remains committed to finding common ground with members of the union.
“We respect the rights of our Guild-covered colleagues to engage in this planned one-day strike. 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.”
Washington Post editors and managers were reportedly working to maintain news reporting duties amid the Thursday walkout.
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Amazon co-founder and billionaire Bezos purchased The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million and has pumped tens of millions of dollars of his own money into the business since taking over operations.
But the Post has faced financial challenges on multiple fronts in recent years, including declining ad revenues and a subscriber base that’s shrunk from 3 million at its peak in 2020 to about 2.5 million this year, according to The New York Times. The paper is tracking to lose about $100 million this year, people with knowledge of the company’s finances told the Times.
The U.S. news industry has been in financial decline since the mid-2000s as the distribution and consumption of news content has migrated largely to digital formats. Data gathered by Pew Research Center finds the U.S. newspaper industry has gone from a peak of nearly $50 billion in combined advertising and circulation revenues in 2005 to about $20 billion in 2022.
In research published in 2022, Pew noted that digital devices are by far the most common way Americans access their news but where they get that news on their devices is divided among a number of different pathways. Those pathways now include news websites, apps and search engines. And half of Americans, according to Pew researchers, at least sometimes get news from social media.
