NEW JERSEY – Employees of news giant Gannett went on a one-day strike on November 4 to protest low pay and other poor working conditions.
According to a press release from NewsGuild, the union that represents many of the reporters – including those at The Record and The Asbury Park Press – more than 200 journalists across 12 newsrooms walked off the job.
The strike was in response to a number of growing concerns, but most recently the company laid off 400 employees in addition to cutting another 400 open positions in August, which represented 3% of staff. Meanwhile, Gannett announced a $100M stock buyback program for shareholders earlier in the year. Gannett CEO Mike Reed receives an $8 million annual salary, according to the guild.
“Gannett has no news to print, no stories to publish online, no photos, no content to share without the hard work and dedication of our members,” said Susan DeCarava, President, NewsGuild of New York. “Gannett executives have been robbing journalists and the communities they serve by decimating newsrooms and underpaying workers while lavishing company executives with extravagant pay, outrageous bonuses and artificially inflating the value of stocks with buyback schemes. We have had enough.”
A leaked company email said that Gannett stopped matching employees’ contributions to their 401(k) accounts. It also instituted mandatory unpaid leave of five days during the month of December. Additionally, employees were offered voluntary severance options or the ability to work fewer hours for adjusted pay, or unpaid sabbaticals for one to six months. During this time, they would still maintain health insurance as long as they paid their normal amount into it. Gannett also began a hiring freeze except for key positions.
Many companies make their cuts during the fourth quarter of the fiscal year in order to improve their final numbers. This is not the first time Gannett has furloughed employees, ignored their portion of employee contracts, or cut staff.
A Gannett spokesperson issued the following statement to Poynter.org (a publication about news media): “Our goal is to preserve journalism and serve our communities across the country. Despite the anticipated work stoppage in some of our markets, we will not cease delivering trusted news to our loyal readers. In addition, we continue to bargain in good faith to finalize contracts that provide equitable wages and benefits for our valued employees.”
