For the first time in three decades, editorial staff at the Daily News walked off the job Thursday and formed a picket line in the heart of Manhattan.
Staffers organized a 24-hour work stoppage, citing pay gripes and budget cuts, according to those who report for the paper, affectionately dubbed New York’s hometown paper.
Grabbing picket signs, the journalists circled 1412 Broadway where the company has some office space after their headquarters closed in 2020.
“Daily News is my dream job,” said Michael Gartland, a reporter, while on the picket line. “But I also feel in this situation, what’s going on isn’t right and I feel like we need to say something about it.”
The workers were critical of Alden Global Capital, the paper’s owner, noting that the company has been laying off staff and cutting the hours of freelancers. They argue that it is difficult for the remaining staff to covering the Big Apple properly, which the paper has done for more than a century.
“It’s a city of 9 million. We’re trying to do it on a skeleton crew and even after we’re already at a skeleton crew, they’re cutting, they’re continuing to cut more and more. And it just makes the job harder and harder,” said Graham Rayman, a Daily News reporter.
The Daily News Union is currently under contract negotiations with Alden Global Capital, which has been ongoing since 2021. However, reporters now say higher-ups implemented a new overtime policy in October requiring approval of their overtime in advance. Many argue that they have to work long hours to complete their assignments—given staff shortages—and that the new policy means that they are essentially required to work for free.
“Everyone I work with cares so much about this paper and this city, but Alden only cares about extracting money instead of investing in us,” said Ellen Moynihan, unit chair and Metro reporter. “Reporting and producing a newspaper is not a job that fits neatly into an eight-hour box, and if we are not allowed to report the news as it happens, stories go untold.”
Alden Global could not be reached for comment.
