Seattle Times Union files ULP over bad-faith bargaining

Newsroom workers “are ready and eager to meet when the company is ready to talk about wages,” per the union

SEATTLE, WA (June 16, 2026) — Months into bargaining a new contract with no management counterproposal on wages, the Seattle Times Union filed an unfair labor practice charge against the Pacific Northwest’s largest newspaper on Wednesday. The union is accusing the company of failing to bargain in good faith; for three months, management has refused to produce an initial management wage proposal until all other economic issues are negotiated.

At the first bargaining session in March, workers made clear that pay is a central issue this contract cycle. The union bargaining team came ready with a wage proposal, noting that many newsroom workers were struggling to afford basic expenses on current salaries. That readiness to negotiate a fundamental section of the collective bargaining agreement has not been shared by management, per the union.

Photo: Seattle Times Union via Instagram

“Three sessions in a row, the company showed up without their wage proposal. Instead, they told the bargaining committee we should settle all other issues before they would make us a wage offer,” wrote the bargaining committee in a statement on the Seattle Times Union website. “They said their wage proposal was ‘not ready’ until other issues were settled. It’s a tactic that pressures us to make decisions about our other economic proposals on behalf of members before we have all information on the table.”

The median salary for the workers is $77,000; the Seattle Times reports a $92,000 salary is needed to afford a “modest, one-bedroom apartment” in King County; that affordability metric assumes a renter is spending up to 30% of income on rent. That means many newsroom workers are rent-burdened, spending more of their pay on housing than is sustainable.

The bargaining team surveyed membership to produce data illustrating to management how low pay is impacting the newsroom. One in three bargaining unit members have taken on other work to make ends meet. Nearly half have been pushed to look for work elsewhere because of low pay.

The Seattle Times is an invaluable news source in a region often overlooked–or poorly understood–by national media. Losing experienced, dedicated journalists because one of the West Coast’s largest newspapers fails to pay a fair wage is a loss for communities across the Northwest.

“Both sides are obligated to bargain in good faith,” the union’s statement continues. “The union has taken those obligations seriously, and we have been ready to constructively engage. But we are not obligated to negotiate against ourselves in lieu of a real wage proposal from the company.

“We are not refusing to bargain. We are ready and eager to meet when the company is ready to talk about wages.”