Journalists at The Arizona Republic, a Gannett newspaper, have announced that they will part of a group holding a wave of nationwide strikes starting on June 5, the day of Gannett’s annual shareholder meeting, according to a report by Editor & Publisher, the national newspaper industry journal.
Hundreds of union journalists in two dozen newsrooms around the nation are expected to take part to demand that Gannett get serious about reinvesting in local news, in the largest collective action that Gannett employees have taken to date.
The walkouts will occur on the day of the meeting, with some newsrooms walking off the job for two days or more. The Gannett publications participating, in addition to those from Arizona, will come from more than half a dozen states, including California, Texas, Indiana, Florida, New Jersey and New York.
The NewsGuild-CWA represents more than 50 Gannett bargaining units, covering more than 1,000 employees.
Striking workers are calling on shareholders to withhold their vote on Gannett Co., Inc. Board Chairman and CEO Mike Reed at the June 5 meeting. Under Reed’s stewardship of the company following the merger of GateHouse Media and Gannett Media in November 2019, newsrooms have been hollowed out, local news coverage has dwindled, and Gannett share prices have fallen nearly 70—far more than peers in the industry like the New York Times and Lee Enterprises.
Two weeks ago, the NewsGuild-CWA sent a letter to Gannett shareholders urging a vote of no-confidence against Reed, pointing to grossly mismanaged finances and misplaced priorities, specifically the foregoing of investments in newsrooms in order to service its self-incurred debt burden. The letter warned that Reed’s shortsighted leadership was tainting the company’s reputation, turning off subscribers, forcing out talented staff and creating legal risks by hampering proper vetting of stories and violating federal labor law.
- From the June 1 edition of Editor & Publisher
