In a landmark move for Chicago's storied press, the Chicago Tribune's unionized newsroom staff plans to down pens and picket signs in a 24-hour strike slated for Thursday. This action is a direct challenge to the paper's parent company, Tribune Publishing, now under the umbrella of hedge fund Alden Global Capital, according to details first released by the Chicago Sun-Times.
More than 200 journalists and production workers spanning seven national newsrooms are joining forces to protest stagnant wages and potential 401(k) cuts — the latter being a bone of contention since Alden's controversial purchase of Tribune Publishing in 2021, a deal that also left the company $278 million in the red. “Enough is enough. Journalists deserve to be able to retire with dignity,” Chicago Tribune Guild chair Madeline Buckley told the Chicago Sun-Times in a poignant moment of clarity.
Tribune Publishing journalists, embroiled in five years of fruitless contract negotiations, have not seen raises since 2018, according to statements from The NewsGuild-CWA. Alden Global Capital, notorious for its austerity approach, has been accused of placing the workers' future and capacity for quality journalism at risk. Echoing her colleagues' disgruntlement, reporter Caroline Kubzansky expressed to the Sun-Times, “We are going to keep fighting until we get a contract, and if this doesn’t move management, we are not going to be defeated.”
Friday's edition of the Chicago Tribune is likely to suffer as a result of the strike, with the Guild signaling expectations of subpar content produced by a "shoestring staff of non-union workers," as reported by CBS in their coverage at CBS Chicago. Such an outcome would demonstrate the critical role the striking staff plays in the production of the Tribune's journalism. Attempts were made to reach Tribune Publishing for comment, but as of late Wednesday, no response had been received.
The strike comes amid a backdrop of increasing unrest in the media industry, with over 300 Los Angeles Times employees also walking out earlier in the month to protest extensive layoffs. This rising trend of newsroom strikes casts a murky forecast for the future of journalism, an industry grappling with plummeting print advertising revenues and a fierce migration of audiences to digital landscapes. However, as detailed in the Sun-Times, analysts like Alan Mutter highlight the intrinsic value of journalism for a democratic society, cautioning that its decline could herald a fall in "good civic behavior."
