PNW journalists picket, pledge to strike

Gearing up for a possible strike, union journalists organized with the Pacific Northwest NewsGuild are spreading the word about their fight for a fair contract

OLYMPIA, WA (May 13, 2026) — 90% of newsroom staff at the Tacoma News Tribune, Olympian, Bellingham Herald and Tri-City Herald — and workers just over the border at the Idaho Statesman — have pledged to strike the McClatchy-owned media outlets over the company’s continue resistance to settling a contract with fair wages.

Hedgefund-owned McClatchy Media Company operates 30 newspapers across 14 states, including outlets in Florida, North Carolina, Kansas, Texas, and California. The Washington & Idaho NewsGuilds (part of the Pacific Northwest NewsGuild) have been jointly bargaining a second contract with McClatchy since May 2025.

The workers have been focused on three key demands: layoff protections, guardrails on artificial intelligence, and improving low wages. In a year of negotiations, they have made some headway at the table, securing slightly improved layoff protections, stronger just-cause language. After a public campaign sounding the alarm on McClatchy’s push to introduce unfettered AI into newsrooms, workers secured AI protections that are described as best-in-company by the unions.

Photo: Fedor Kozyr. Design: The STAND

But workers proposals on wage improvements have been met with shockingly low offers from management. Initially, McClatchy offered 1% annual raises; with inflation, a net wage loss for the workers. After several months of bargaining, the company is refusing to budge from an updated offer of 3% upon contract ratification with 2% annual raises in the following years. That offer is still a net loss for newsroom staff; the consumer price index rose 3.8% in April over a year prior. And the company wants to keep a low minimum salary of $50,000 for new hires and $52,000 for current workers, far below the pay offered at comparable local outlets — and McClatchy-owned papers in Kansas and Florida, per the union.

“More than 75% of current McClatchy journalists in Idaho and Washington make less than their area’s stable household income as determined by United Way, the charitable organization on whose boards McClatchy CEO Tony Hunter has long served,” wrote Becca Mast in an article published on the Washington & Idaho NewsGuilds’ website.

Low pay is bad enough. But management also wants journalists to significantly increase their article output; the Washington & Idaho NewsGuilds report that McClatchy wants 20% more work from newsroom staff, effectively pushing for ten times more work than the company’s wage offer.

From Mast’s article: “All six staff members who spoke with the Washington State News Guild and Idaho News Guild last month said they struggle to make ends meet, despite being asked to do more work than they had initially agreed to upon hire.”

Public pressure helped workers secure strong AI-protections. Now the union journalists at the Tacoma News Tribune, Olympian, Bellingham Herald, Tri-City Herald, and Idaho Statesmen are asking for support as they push for fair wages for their work.

Journalists are taking action each Thursday, running informational pickets at the Tacoma Farmers’ Market. Supporters can join them from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. outside the Rhodes Center at 950 Broadway (just look for their red NewsGuild shirts). Workers are also asking supporters to send an email to McClatchy management urging the company to pay a fair wage.

And with a strike pledge in their back pocket, newsroom staff are also accepting donations to their strike fund so they can exercise their right to strike if the company continues refusing to agree to salaries workers can actually live on.