Stephen Montoya
Strikers at the oldest news source in Fort Worth have laid down their picket signs and returned to work.
Membership of the Fort Worth NewsGuild, which went on strike 24 days ago, is poised to approve a contract with McClatchy, parent of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a source said.
The NewsGuild tweeted on Thursday that its members had gone back to work.
They received, it appears, something tantamount to a consolation prize. It was difficult to envision this ending well for them considering they had no financial leverage to hold over the company.
A GoFundMe page set up to lend support to pay light bills, foodstuff, and presumably beer with whatever was left over had raised close to $51,000.
And, indeed, employees did not return to work because McClatchy met all their demands. The company conceded a mere smidgen, said Kaley Johnson, NewsGuild unit chair and Star-Telegram reporter.
“I think we all had to come to the unfortunate realization that the company was never going to give us something that was fair,” Johnson said. “They had no intention of doing that. We just fought as hard as we could for something close to fair.
“They had no priority to [meet us] on those things. Their priority was to save as much money as possible and they don’t really care what else.”
The NewsGuild announced its strike after two years of negotiating. The NewsGuild was seeking better wages. Members say that McClatchy’s base wage was $45,000. Guild leadership was seeking $57,500, citing the cost of living in Fort Worth as its source of calculations. The Guild tweeted that the company moved ever so slightly to the higher mark.
The NewsGuild was also negotiating for better severance pay and sick leave policies.
Isaac Winds, a Star-Telegram reporter, told us earlier this month McClatchy has shown a pattern of unfair bargaining practices. In fact, the Fort Worth NewsGuild filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in August, alleging that McClatchy violated federal labor law by refusing to negotiate fairly. This is just one of several complaints against the California-based company regarding alleged unfair labor practices.
In the midst of the strike, public figures came out in support, including U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth) and state Rep. Ramon Romero (D-Fort Worth). Michael Glynn, president of the Local 440 Firefighters organizing arm, also loaned his support and $10,000 from the 440.
Steve Coffman, president of the Star-Telegram, said at the time that the company continued to “bargain in good faith.” Coffman had not responded to a query by the time we packed it up for the day.
Johnson, of course, said that’s hooey, a claim of bargaining in good faith.
The company initially met the demands by canceling the employees’ health care benefits and listing their jobs as open. The company held all the financial leverage in the stalemate, though Johnson said, “it is evident we got a better package than we would have if we had not gone on strike.”
In 2020, McClatchy sold to Chatham Asset Management, a New Jersey hedge fund in a deal, valued at $312 million, worked out in bankruptcy court. McClatchy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after more than a decade of losses and cutbacks, which included rounds of layoffs.
The Star-Telegram, which once employed more than 1,400, is shell of that today. For four or five years beginning in 2008, McClatchy gutted the Star-Telegram newsroom.
Johnson expected a “natural tension” to develop in the newsroom between employees and management when strikers returned. (As a veteran of the newsroom myself, tension was as abundant as ink on most days. And it as natural.)
“They have made it clear they are not going to give us certain things simply because they want to now punish us,” Johnson said. “We’ve been disruptive and unruly because we really believe in the policies we’re fighting for. Instead of working with us over the past two years and in this process, McClatchy has instead decided they it’s more of a power play for them and they don’t want to give us certain things.
“It’s tough because it’s hard to go back and work for a company that showed you in every way possible that they don’t care about your newsroom or you as an employee. I love the Star-Telegram and many of us do, and I love Fort Worth. I would love to continue to be able to report for the community. But it is a difficult decision whether or not I can continue to work for McClatchy because of the tactics we saw during this process.”