The world's richest man has drawn the ire of Washington Post workers who are displeased with union contract negotiations.
On Tuesday, the Washington Post Guild, a member of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, went public with its dissatisfaction with the newspaper's contract offers after several months of negotiation. The union fumed after the newspaper offered its reporters an average raise of $520 per year and refused to increase its current retirement contribution match of 1 percent of employee salary even as it asked for severe cuts in severance pay and layoff procedures.
"We have been surprised and unsettled by the Post’s stance since bargaining began in May. The company has refused to negotiate at all over things that are of importance to us, such as improving our retirement benefits or increasing paid parental leave, while demanding significant concessions from us," union spokesman and Post transportation writer Fredrick Kunkle said in an email.
A Washington Post spokeswoman declined comment.
The company's opening salvo did not reflect its return to profitability, according to Kunkle. It offered a two-year contract that included a $600 lump-sum payment to reporters in 2018 with raises of just $8 per week in the second year. Kunkle said the company should pay up in light of its success, as well as the tax reform package signed by President Donald Trump. The Washington Post editorial board may dismiss wage hikes at large employers across the country in the wake of tax reform as "public relations," but Kunkle said the paper should share those savings with the workforce.
"The company and its owner have received an extraordinary tax break and yet show no sign of passing on some of those proceeds to its staff, unlike other major corporations," he said.
Retirement benefits remain the largest divide. The union allowed the Post to reduce its 401(k) match to 1 percent in 2014—the year before Amazon founder and current World's Richest Man Jeff Bezos bought the paper—to help deal with a struggling financial situation. Workers expected retirement benefits to return to normalcy as the paper's condition improved. That has not happened, according to Kunkle. The Washington Post 401(k) match rate is dismal compared with the rest of the country, according to a July report from the Washington Post. With the economy booming, unemployment low, and the stock market shattering records, companies have boosted match rates for 401(k)s to 4.7 percent, a 20 percent increase from 2015. The Washington Post's match rate still lags behind the 3 percent average at the height of the recession in 2009.
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos bought the Post in 2013 for $250 million. Bezos earned $20 billion in the opening weeks of January, further cementing his status as the world's richest man with an estimated net worth of $116 billion. The paper has flourished in recent years, leading to hiring spikes and boastful statements from management. After many years of dwindling subscription rates and red ink, the company returned to profitability in 2016 with the entrance of Donald Trump into politics. Publisher Fred Ryan credited workers for the 50 percent increase in web traffic.
"Thanks to the incredible work of the entire team, The Washington Post will finish this year as a profitable and growing company," he said in a December 2016 memo.
Trump's first year in the White House inspired the paper to adopt the slogan, "Democracy Dies in Darkness," and sales skyrocketed. Digital subscriptions topped 1 million in September and ended the year double that of 2016. Chief revenue officer Jed Hartman told the New York Times the Post would exceed $100 million in digital ad sales on the year, providing it with its third consecutive year of double digit growth. Ryan struck a more cautionary tone than in 2016 even as he praised staffers for making the Post "the world's only '140 year old start-up.'"
"Despite the many accomplishments of 2017, we must remain mindful that the modern media world changes rapidly and poses constant challenges," he said in a December employee memo. "We cannot rest on this year’s success, but instead must build on it by relentlessly innovating, experimenting and disrupting even our own practices."
Those gains have not manifested themselves in tangible benefits for workers, according to the guild. While the union praised Bezos for investing in the Post, it says the contract terms offered by management have not gone far enough to reflect the contributions of workers. The union said the company had accepted terms to allow workers to request salary reviews to curb racial and gender pay disparities.
The Washington Post editorial board said wage increases, bonuses, and enhanced leave policies at major employers in recent weeks are the result of the "enhanced bargaining power for workers." Kunkle and the union hope to prove that is true at D.C.'s most influential newspaper, as well. The union encouraged its reporters to change their Twitter avatars in protest and hopes the campaign will bring management back to the bargaining table. Kunkle said the union is keeping its options open regarding a potential strike, but hopes public pressure can lead to more equitable bargaining at future sessions.
"We’re hopeful that the people who lead this company will see that treating its journalists fairly will only increase its standing in the public’s eyes," Kunkle said.