Washington Post employees protested outside the media headquarters on K Street Thursday, protesting for 24 hours over the lack of a new agreement with the editors’ union and the terms of a tender offer.
The Washington Post Guild asked readers to avoid the Post’s journalism that day in solidarity with staff.
According to the Post, more than 700 employees are scheduled to strike Thursday. Non-union editors and other managers were expected to try to fulfill the roles, including reporting and publishing stories.
“After 18 months of negotiations with The Washington Post, Guild staff — including reporters, editors, cartoonists, photojournalists, advertising salespeople and circulation managers — are leaving. “Despite a year and a half of efforts, postal management has refused to negotiate in good faith a fair contract that keeps pace with inflation and our competition,” the guild said this week.
Postal workers in other cities, including New York and San Francisco, were also set to strike on Thursday.
The guild also protests that the conditions of a takeover offer for around 240 employees are insufficient.
In a letter to readers, the guild said: “Rather than let managers bear the brunt of this mismanagement, the Postal Service has repeatedly made workers pay the price.” The company laid off nearly forty employees last year. If takeovers do not lead to further cuts of 240 jobs, postal bosses have warned there will be further redundancies.”
A Post spokesman said: “We respect the right of our guild colleagues to take part in this planned one-day strike. We will ensure that our readers and customers experience as little inconvenience as possible. The Post’s goal remains the same as it has been since we began our negotiations: to reach an agreement with the Guild that meets the needs of our employees and the needs of our company.
A year ago, more than 1,100 New York Times employees went on strike to protest that contract negotiations had stalled. A few months later, the guild reached an agreement with management and a new contract was ratified in June.
In October, the Postal Service announced plans to offer buyouts, with interim CEO Patty Stonesifer telling employees they needed to “get our company back in better shape in the coming year.” But Stonesifer wrote in a memo to employees late last month that only 120 employees accepted the package. She warned that layoffs would be implemented with “significantly less generous benefits” if not enough people accepted the offer, according to the memo first published by Semafor.
Source: Deadline
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
