Tribune Newsroom Unions Planning To Strike

Journalists at the Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel and five other Tribune Publishing newsrooms across the country will hold a one-day strike on Thursday in a historic walkout to protest what the staffers’ guild says are unfair wages.

They’re also protesting cuts made by Alden Global Capital, who purchased Tribune Publishing in 2021.

According to The Wrap, an email from the Tribune Publishing Guild, the hedge fund has decimated the newsrooms it acquired and strip-mined its media assets for profits. Papers owned by Alden have “cut staff at twice the rate of their competitors, and circulation has fallen faster at their papers than at their peers.”

“We didn’t go into this job for the money, but Alden’s cuts have hit so close to the bone that we can’t even do our jobs as journalists anymore. Enough is enough. Journalists deserve to be able to retire with dignity,” said Madeline Buckley, criminal courts reporter at the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Tribune Guild unit chair in a release.

“The company’s insulting proposals on wages and benefits puts our future at risk, along with our ability to continue to produce the hard-hitting journalism this city relies upon,” Buckley added.

Journalists at the seven Tribune outlets will be holding a Zoom rally Thursday at 10:30 a.m. ET. In Orlando, a picket and press conference will be held from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. ET at Gaston Edwards Park.

Tribune Publishing journalists have been fighting for a contract since unions were formed at the following papers: The Chicago Tribune Guild (2018), the Tidewater Guild, representing The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press reporters (2018) Morning Call Guild, representing the Allentown Pennsylvania Morning Call (2019) and the Orlando Sentinel Guild in 2020.

Alden has suggested eliminating the company’s 401k match, refusing to provide any across-the-board pay increases, and proposing two years of $1,500 bonuses instead of a pay increase, the guild said.