Thirty-one employees at four Washington newspapers, the News Tribune, the Bellingham Herald, the Olympian and the Tri-City Herald, helped organize the one-day strike.
TACOMA, Wash. — Journalists across Washington state took to picket lines Tuesday morning to demand higher wages and oppose what unions say is a threat to replace them with new ones. AI.
The one-day strike was organized by the Washington State Press Association, which represents 31 workers at four Washington newspapers: the News Tribune, the Bellingham Herald, the Olympian and the Tri-City Herald. The newspapers are owned by McClatchy Media. The strike coincided with a similar demonstration at the Idaho Statesman Building in Boise.
“McClatchy Media hopes you won’t notice that it replaces human stories with AI-generated content. The company thinks you’ll happily consume clickbait instead of real community stories,” the union writes on its website.
Organizers said they have been in collective bargaining with the company for a year and have reached an impasse over issues such as wages, artificial intelligence policy and newsroom workloads. The union said McClatchy refused to raise the annual salary floor above $52,000.
“No one expects to get rich in this business, but it shouldn’t be out of reach for us to save for retirement or have children. A sudden car repair or unforeseen medical expense shouldn’t be a crisis,” said a fundraiser hosted by the guild.
The Washington newspapers affected by the strike were all more than a century old: The Olympia (1852), The News Tribune (1883), The Bellingham Herald (1890), and The Tri-City Herald (1918).
Other newspapers in Washington went through a similar process in 2024, after Carpenter Media Group acquired West Coast newspapers including The Everett Herald and other black publishing properties.
KING 5 reported at the time that more than a dozen newsroom employees received layoff notices, and the newsroom was roughly cut in half in size.
McClatchy Media could not immediately be reached for comment.
