Some Fort Worth Star-Telegram (FWST) employees have gone on strike, claiming that the paper’s parent company is engaged in unfair labor practices.
More than 20 workers, representing the majority of unionized employees at the newspaper, went on strike Monday, alleging that the owner, The McClatchy Company, refused to bargain with them in good faith.
On Tuesday, The Dallas Express met with members of FWST and The Fort Worth News Guild (FWNG) as they continued to march and protest.
“We’ve been bargaining with [them] for two years, and for two years, they have stalled and stonewalled us at the table,” said Kaley Johnson, vice president of FWNG, speaking Tuesday to The Dallas Express. “They have made zero movement on any of the proposals we have brought to the table.”
“We’ll submit a proposal over something like wages, and it’s an in-depth well-researched proposal that our bargaining committee put together,” Johnson continued. “Then they’ll send us back the exact same company policy that already exists, or they’ll mark out all of our proposals and revert it back to their initial proposal.”
“And they’ll do that again, again, and again; that’s not how bargaining is supposed to work,” Johnson claimed.
Additional issues that the striking Star-Telegram employees want to address include workplace policies regarding salaries, sick leave, layoffs, and severance.
In response to the strike, Johnson told The Dallas Express they had been locked out of their accounts, and their healthcare had been revoked.
She said their jobs had been posted online in what she believes is an attempt to force and scare her and other journalists at the newspaper to give up their cause.
In August, the union filed an Unfair Labor Practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the Sacramento-based publishing company of failing to bargain in good faith.
McClatchy also faces two other complaints of unfair labor practices.
“Check out our Twitter, do some research on what’s going on at other unionized newsrooms because the companies like to put out a lot of misinformation or half-truths,” said Johnson.
The Star-Telegram is not the only DFW area media organization to face a union strike. Employees from the Dallas Morning News created the Dallas Guild union in 2020. In early November 2022, union members walked out, claiming unfair labor practices were undercutting local journalists.
Employees at the Telegram announced their unionization in 2020 after McClatchy finalized its sale to Chatham Asset Management, a New Jersey-based hedge fund.
The sale was valued at $312 million and came six months after McClatchy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy following more than a decade of layoffs and losses.
For its part, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram President Steve Coffman responded to the strike by saying, “The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is serving our communities today, covering the news that matters to Tarrant County and North Texas … We look forward to reaching an agreement with our valued employees.”