Hundreds of workers walked off the job at the Washington Post Thursday unhappy with the company’s stance on a new contract — an agreement the union says it has been trying to reach for 18 months.
Workers say post management is trying to weaken their contract and they’ve had enough. They joined a noisy picket line outside the newspaper’s downtown office.
“We have tried to come to the table and bargain fairly, and the company has unilaterally shut down negotiations,” one picketer said. “We think that is in violation of the law, and 750 of my colleagues agree, and that is why we are not working for 24 hours today.”
In recent weeks, Post management told the workforce it was trying to cut costs by offering buyouts, looking to trim as many as 240 jobs.
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Workers say their pay is not keeping pace with inflation and they want protection from layoffs.
“What we are fighting for at the table is for the buyout package to be more voluntary, truly voluntary,” the picketer who spoke to News4 said. “A lot of people feel like they’re layoffs by another name.”
“They have threatened that if they don’t get the number they need they will layoff people by the end of the year,” she added.
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Post workers say they are fed up after 18 months of trying to get a fair contract. With the one-day walkout, they hope to send a message that their union has never been stronger.
In a statement, Post management said, “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.”
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