Washington Post staffers stage walkout amid contract dispute

Hundreds of Washington Post employees walked off the job Thursday in a show of discontent with newspaper management amid an ongoing contract dispute.

The 24-hour walkout saw reporters, editors, and other staffers demonstrate outside the downtown headquarters. The spectacle marked the first such demonstration by the newspaper's workers since the 1970s, Politico reported.

"Washington Post employees have been negotiating with management for 18 months. We still lack a contract that keeps pace with record-level inflation and guarantees workers a living wage," the union stated. "Meanwhile, because of our previous publisher’s mismanagement, the company has tried to balance its books by laying off nearly 40 people in the last year. Then they offered 'voluntary' buyouts to another 240 staffers this fall. Now The Post has threatened that if they don’t get enough people to leave, more layoffs will be next."

In October of this year, Washington Post interim CEO Patty Stonesifer wrote to staff announcing a plan to offer voluntary buyouts to 240 staffers, just under 10% of the paper's roughly 2,500 employees.

"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," a spokesperson for the outlet told Politico.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.