Pittsburgh isn’t the only place where union news workers are striking to protest actions by their employer.
On Friday, more than 200 union journalists from 14 newsrooms from New York and New Jersey to Arizona and California collectively walked off the job for a one-day strike to protest cuts made by Gannett, which owns newspapers and news sites across the country.
Some workers are not working today at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix; The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif.; Asbury Park Press in New Jersey; and the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y. , and at least 10 other places, including the Atlantic Digital Optimization Team.
Workers at other Gannett outlets plan to take a coordinated lunch-time walkout or stage pickets to support the strikers, who are protesting recent layoffs and other cuts by the company, including austerity measures announced in October that include furloughs and 401K plan cuts.
The walkout was announced by the NewsGuild of New York, which has launched a strike publication, the Gannett Union Press, “to continue coverage of important events that the community depends on, like local sports.”
In the meantime, the NewsGuild-CWA, which represents some 50 Gannett-owned newsrooms, is planning a 1 p.m. Zoom rally.
Bob, a feature writer and editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is currently on strike and serving as interim editor of the Pittsburgh Union Progress. Contact him at bbatz@unionprogress.com.
