(Washington) Several hundred employees of the Washington Postone of the most prestigious daily newspapers in the United States, will be on strike for a day on Thursday, announced their union, which denounces management’s lack of desire to “negotiate in good faith”.
The work stoppage comes after 18 months of discussions on a new agreement, in vain, which notably concerned salary demands or teleworking; and after the management of the newspaper owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos warned that new layoffs were possible.
“Taking this historic step is not a decision we took lightly,” said the Washington Post Guild union in a letter sent to readers Tuesday announcing the strike.
According to him, management “refused to negotiate in good faith, and – repeatedly and illegally – interrupted negotiations on key issues, including salaries, support for employee mental health, and voluntary departures”.
The Washington Post Guild represents some 1,000 daily employees in both editorial and support roles, according to its website.
In October, “WaPo” indicated, regarding voluntary departure plans for 240 people, that the company had around 2,500 employees.
Traditional American media have been experiencing difficulties for several years, in a context of a sharp decline in readership in favor of social media platforms.