Washington Post employees strike for the first time since the 1970s!

In the US, employees of the Washington Post newspaper decided to strike for the first time since the 1970s. The newspaper's 700 employees staged a 24-hour work stoppage to protest the suspension of contract negotiations and expected layoffs, in accordance with a decision taken by their unions.

The Post Guild Union said in a statement that they had been negotiating a contract with the newspaper's management for 18 months, but that management "refused to bargain in good faith" and halted negotiations.

Union leaders emphasized that this was the first strike in the media organization since the 1970s, and that the newspaper's subscriber numbers have stagnated recently.

It was reported in the country's press that the number of subscribers of the Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, dropped from around 3 million in 2020 to about 2.5 million this year. Patty Stonesifer, the interim general manager of the newspaper, announced in October that 240 people would be laid off, citing financial difficulties.