Washington:

A whole lot of employees at The Washington Submit, considered one of America’s most storied newspapers, walked off the job Thursday in a 24-hour strike after 18 months of contract negotiations did not safe a deal.

Chanting “Honest pay now” and elevating indicators studying “Present us the $$$$,” employees and supporters protested exterior the paper’s downtown Washington places of work because the Submit Guild estimated 750 folks can be participating within the work stoppage.

The strike comes amid a tumultuous US media panorama, which has not spared the nationwide every day, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — one of many world’s richest males, whose e-commerce big has aggressively pushed again towards unionization efforts there.

The media business noticed some 17,500 job cuts within the first half of 2023 alone, in response to Challenger, Grey and Christmas, a human sources consultancy. Over the previous 20 years, because the web has eaten into conventional promoting income, some 2,500 newspapers have shuttered altogether.

On the similar time, shops like The New York Occasions — a Submit competitor — have prospered, with the Occasions not too long ago hitting 10 million subscribers because it expanded into providing cooking recipes and video games, in addition to buying sports activities outlet The Athletic.

The Submit strike comes after failed talks to succeed in a brand new deal over pay, distant work and different situations. Layoffs final yr in addition to hiring freezes are additionally affecting work situations and morale, mentioned Katie Mettler, an area reporter and union co-chair.

The Occasions reported earlier this yr that the Submit was on observe to lose about $100 million this yr, which the union has blamed on poor administration.

“The corporate has tried to steadiness its books by shedding practically 40 folks within the final yr,” the union mentioned in a letter saying the strike. Some 240 voluntary buyouts have been supplied this fall, and the paper “has threatened that if they do not get sufficient folks to go away, extra layoffs shall be subsequent.”

“We’re not asking for charity,” Mettler informed AFP, including that “we won’t grow to be worthwhile once more if our workers depart… as a result of this establishment is not paying us wages that sustain with inflation.”

– Strikes throughout US –

An organization spokesperson mentioned the paper’s aim “stays the identical because it has from the beginning of our negotiations: to succeed in an settlement with the Guild that meets the wants of our workers and the wants of our enterprise.”

Media experiences point out that since reaching a excessive of three million subscribers through the frenzied years of Donald Trump’s presidency, Submit subscriptions have since dropped to 2.5 million.

The Submit Guild has additionally accused the corporate of “refusing to cut price in good religion” and “breaking the regulation.”

“It is irritating to have labored for 18 months for a contract and to nonetheless not have one,” hanging reporter Jeanne Whalen informed AFP.

The strike comes at a second of resurgent US union exercise and amid a decent labor market — with everybody from Hollywood writers and actors to auto employees to baristas taking their grievances to the picket line in latest months.

The labor motion on the Submit follows a strike earlier this yr at America’s largest newspaper writer, Gannett, and a 24-hour motion by New York Occasions employees a yr in the past.

Staff at The Related Press staged a “brief break” final month over their lack of contract. Their guild has rejected a two % elevate supplied by administration.

(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)