TIDEWATER VA: (WSVA) -Staffs at two large Virginia newspapers are striking today to demand higher wages for workers and a stop to what one reporter called “continuous cuts.”
Newsrooms at the Virginian-Pilot and the Daily Press are taking part in a larger 24-hour strike by hundreds of other Tribune Publishing employees against their owner Alden Global Capital, which also owns the Chicago Tribune.
Virginian-Pilot reporter Katie King wrote on social media that journalists had asked for a minimum salary of 50-thousand-dollars – a proposal that Alden rejected. The company also recently announced plans to stop matching its employees’ 401(k) contributions.
Another former writer for the paper said the strike is a product of four-and-a-half years of fruitless negotiations.