Idaho And Washington Reporters Are Ready To Strike, But They Need Your Help

The Idaho and Washington State News Guilds announced earlier this week that a stunning 90% of their union members at the Idaho Statesman, The Tacoma News Tribune, Tri-City Herald, The Olympian, and Bellingham Herald have signed a pledge to go on strike. But they can’t strike for fair pay and better working conditions without the support of the public. Union members are asking supporters of local media to donate to their strike fund on GoFundMe. As they wrote in a press release, “[t]he more money we raise, the longer we can fight.” 

For almost a year, union workers have been at the bargaining table with their bosses, McClatchy Media. McClatchy is owned by a New Jersey-based hedge fund, but has a huge nationwide reach, operating in more than 30 markets with roughly 65 million readers. But union workers say McClatchy is more interested in buying up “unproven AI technology and celebrity tabloids instead of investing in its newsrooms,” claiming they cannot pay their workers a fair, stable income. 

McClatchy’s latest offer for pay is pretty insulting: A $52,000 a year floor for current workers and a $50,000 floor for new ones, according to the Idaho and Washington State News Guilds. That means the bosses are offering a wage that would qualify many of their workers for low-income programs in the cities their papers are based in from Boise to Bellingham.  

To add insult to injury, McClatchy's proposed wage floor doesn’t even amount to a raise from the previous floor — $48,000 for current workers and $45,000 for new hires. That “raise” doesn’t even keep up with inflation, about 12.83% total since the current floor was established in 2022. In fact, the new floor rate actually amounts to a more than 4% cut when accounting for inflation. 

Besides the relative floor rate drop, The Idaho and Washington State News Guilds told The Burner that McClatchy is only offering 2% yearly raises, also well below the rate of inflation. 

“To have experienced eyes and ears in your community, you need journalists who can stick around and build a life instead of bouncing from job to job,” The Idaho and Washington State News Guilds wrote in a press release. “Nobody expects to get rich in this line of work, but it should not be out of reach to have a family, to dream of buying a home or to save for retirement. A sudden car repair or an unforeseen medical bill should not be a crisis.”

For readers, the stakes go beyond sympathy for underpaid reporters. A strike at McClatchy papers would mean fewer watchdogs keeping tabs on local governments, fewer investigations into corporate power, and fewer stories that hold institutions accountable.

Now, with a strike looming, the question isn’t just whether McClatchy will budge. It’s whether the public that relies on these newsrooms will step in to sustain them. Because if journalists can’t afford to stay in their jobs, the stories communities depend on may not get told at all.

“Every day we hear from people asking us to shine a light on untold stories or investigate corruption,” The Idaho and Washington State News Guilds wrote. “Now, it’s our turn to ask for your help. To go on strike, we need to find a way to keep making rent and paying bills.”

Earlier this week, the unions launched a GoFundMe page to raise money to subsidize their dues-backed strike fund. So far, they have raised a little more than $5,200 of their $6,000 goal.