Update: The union ended its strike Saturday after reaching a tentative contract agreement with Gannett. Members returned to work on Sunday.
Unionized journalists at The Desert Sun launched an open-ended strike Friday to protest what they say is bad faith bargaining on the part of parent company Gannett.
The work stoppage is the first indefinite strike in The Desert Sun’s 97-year history, according to the union. Workers at the Palm Springs, California, newspaper publicly announced their union campaign in December 2020 and have been negotiating a first contract for three years. The union is expecting all 15 members to participate in the strike, unit steward Tom Coulter said.
Though one-day walkouts have become an increasingly common tactic among newsroom unions, open-ended strikes are relatively rare. The Desert Sun strike is the fifth such work stoppage in the U.S. in recent history. Coulter, who covers four cities in the Coachella Valley for the paper, said the union needed to take this step to help workers stay at the Sun and continue local reporting.
“We felt like this was really what we had to do to send a clear message that we’re serious about getting a contract that protects our current workers and enables them to live in the Coachella Valley, where the cost of living is continuously skyrocketing,” Coulter said.
One of the biggest sticking points in contract negotiations has been raises, according to Coulter. The union has proposed annual raises to account for cost-of-living increases. Gannett countered with a proposal that would give workers a raise after their fifth year of service and another after their tenth year of service, Coulter said. Under Gannett’s plan, a new hire who joins the paper next year wouldn’t be guaranteed a raise until 2030.
“We just think that Gannett can and should do better if they’re truly committed to protecting and enhancing local journalism here,” Coulter said.
The union is also seeking protections against sudden increases in health care costs. Coulter said that several workers at The Desert Sun have left the newsroom in recent years over issues of pay. The union hopes to secure a contract that would provide workers with more financial stability.
Gannett labor relations counsel Amy Garrard wrote in an email that the company is committed to preserving local journalism: “Our goal is to preserve journalism and serve our community as we continue to bargain in good faith. Desert Sun readers can be assured there will be no disruption to our ability to deliver content and trusted news.”
The strike is the fourth work stoppage at The Desert Sun since 2022. The union previously held one-day walkouts in November 2022 and February 2023, and a five-day stoppage in June 2023. This time, they are prepared to strike until they can get a contract they feel is fair, Coulter said. They have been fundraising to support workers for the duration of the strike, and they are asking that readers not engage with Desert Sun content or agree to interviews with people reporting for the Sun.
“Gannett knows what they need to do to close this deal,” Coulter said. “But I am hopeful that we potentially could see some progress here in the near future.”
The Desert Sun strike marks the 25th work stoppage with NewsGuild members this year, according to NewsGuild president Jon Schleuss. Since January, the guild, which is the largest news union in the country, has staged walkouts at the Los Angeles Times, Condé Nast, Forbes and San Antonio Report, as well as multiple Alden-owned papers, including the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune.
Those walkouts were limited in scope, and many of them lasted for only a day. It is unclear how long The Desert Sun strike will last. Previous indefinite strikes at Gizmodo Media Group, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Insider took anywhere between six and 24 days. In each of those cases, workers were able to secure contracts. Meanwhile, workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are currently on the 500th day of their strike.
Striking is a last resort for unions. But as contract negotiations drag on and newsrooms cut workers, media unions are increasingly willing to forego pay and withhold their labor. Prior to the Gizmodo Media Group strike in March 2022, the last indefinite media strike took place in 2000, when journalists at The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer walked off the job.
The NewsGuild has been vocal about staging more work stoppages if necessary. The New York chapter, which represents workers at some of the largest media companies in the country including the New York Times and Reuters, has in recent weeks adopted the rallying cry of “more in ‘24.”
