{"id":916,"date":"2026-04-08T18:11:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T18:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/916\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T18:11:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T18:11:19","slug":"propublicas-union-staged-a-24-hour-strike-over-ai-job-protections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/916\/","title":{"rendered":"ProPublica\u2019s union staged a 24-hour strike over AI, job protections"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ongoing clash between newsrooms and their unions over the implementation of artificial intelligence escalated Wednesday as workers at ProPublica staged a 24-hour strike<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The union \u2014 which includes roughly 150 journalists and business-side staff \u2014 has been negotiating its first contract with the company since December 2023. The strike marks the culmination of an increasingly public campaign<\/a> the union has been waging out of frustration over what they say is ProPublica\u2019s unwillingness to agree to \u201cfair\u201d proposals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision to strike at all was not something that the unit rushed into,\u201d said environment reporter Mark Olalde. \u201cThis was something that only happened because of the absolutely wild length of time that we\u2019ve been negotiating, and, frankly, the intransigence from our senior management to agree to a fair contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

The union is seeking seniority protections in the case of layoffs \u2014 which it says are increasingly likely in an AI-driven industry \u2014 and \u201cjust cause,\u201d a basic stipulation that prevents companies from disciplining or firing workers without sufficient reason.<\/p>\n

Olalde, who is on the union\u2019s bargaining committee, acknowledged that ProPublica, unlike<\/a> many<\/a> media organizations, has never had layoffs. But he said the union wants a system in place to handle layoffs if they do happen, especially since they are a \u201creality of modern journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is, this is journalism in 2026,\u201d Olalde said. \u201cI\u2019m not naive enough to believe that layoffs won\u2019t happen, especially with the industry doing its latest pivot to artificial intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n

That pivot to AI has been a major sticking point in negotiations with ProPublica, mirroring conflicts across the country between newsrooms and their unions. On Tuesday, union leaders at The New York Times sent top leadership a letter<\/a> over concerns that the company\u2019s AI policies were \u201cwoefully inadequate\u201d and had led to errors like a book review that was found to have<\/a> similar language to that of a Guardian review. The day before, in the wake of news that The Associated Press would be cutting less than 5% of its staff, the wire service\u2019s union representing workers in the U.S. alleged that the company had ignored<\/a> a request to bargain over AI.<\/p>\n

In the past year, unions at McClatchy<\/a> and Politico<\/a> have also publicly taken issue with their companies\u2019 AI policies. In the latter case, journalists at Politico won an arbitration case in December that found that Politico had violated the union\u2019s contract by launching two AI products without notifying and consulting the union.<\/p>\n

The ProPublica union has made \u201cconcession after concession\u201d on AI, Olalde said, yet the company has still not agreed to proposals that would allow the union to have a say in how, why and when AI is implemented.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m asking for things like the ability for my members to say no to using a certain AI tool and not be disciplined for it if they in good faith believe that it would introduce factual inaccuracies into their work, slow down the workflow or break ethical guidelines that the company itself has written,\u201d Olalde said.<\/p>\n

A ProPublica spokesperson said that the rapid advancement of AI has made it difficult for the company to agree to certain proposals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too soon to know exactly how AI will affect our work. Rather than make promises we can\u2019t responsibly keep, we are exploring how these technologies can create more space for investigative reporting and thinking deeply and creatively, not less.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesperson added that the company\u2019s proposals on other issues, including just cause, mirror those found in contracts at The Atlantic and The New Yorker.<\/p>\n

\u201cProPublica is committed to reaching a fair and sustainable first contract to cement the strong pay and benefits we\u2019ve always provided our staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month, ProPublica published a list<\/a> of its principles and guardrails regarding the use of AI. The company said it sent those principles to the union\u2019s bargaining committee before publication, and \u201cthey offered no meaningful edits.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Olalde said the union was not given the ability to actually change or bargain over the policy. On Monday, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, which is responsible for enforcing federal labor law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe (ProPublica AI) policies speak not at all about worker protections, job protections, worker input or bargaining ability,\u201d Olalde said. \u201cSo that\u2019s a glaring hole.\u201d<\/p>\n

The union is also advocating for higher wages for its members, especially those on the business side who tend to make less than the outlet\u2019s journalists and are often required to live in New York City, where ProPublica\u2019s headquarters is. It is also seeking to address pay disparities between national reporters and local reporters, who tend to have lower salaries.<\/p>\n

The ProPublica spokesperson said that the outlet\u2019s salaries and benefits \u201calready exceed those of many other news organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the strike, the union is asking readers not to visit ProPublica\u2019s website. Members also organized picket lines in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Olalde said union members were originally scheduled to appear on a virtual panel ProPublica hosted Wednesday called \u201cHow to use our News App of Disclosures from Political Appointees<\/a>,\u201d but due to the strike, they will not be attending.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cScabby the Rat\u201d made an appearance at a union picket outside ProPublica\u2019s headquarters in New York City. Unionized ProPublica workers staged a 24-hour strike over the company\u2019s unwillingness to agree to certain worker protections, including those against artificial intelligence and layoffs. (Courtesy: ProPublica Guild)<\/p>\n

The Wednesday strike will last just 24 hours, and negotiations are ongoing. But the union has not ruled out the possibility of taking additional strike action in the future if necessary. Last month, 92% of union members voted to give the bargaining committee the ability to call a strike.<\/p>\n

Before Olalde joined ProPublica, he was an environmental reporter at USA Today Co., formerly known as Gannett. There, he helped unionize The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, California, in December 2020.<\/p>\n

Arriving at ProPublica, Olalde thought that dealing with a nonprofit on labor issues would be \u201cvastly different.\u201d While there have been notable differences \u2014 and he much prefers dealing with ProPublica \u2014 he said he has been \u201cdisappointed\u201d in how management at ProPublica have handled some of the negotiations. Other nonprofits, like Grist and CalMatters, have agreed to stronger protections than ProPublica has, Olalde said.<\/p>\n

Olalde said some of ProPublica\u2019s positions on AI and job protections closely resemble those of for-profit chains like USA Today Co.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they\u2019re not fighting us the same way on wages. They\u2019re not fighting us the same way on benefits, and I\u2019m grateful for that,\u201d Olalde said. \u201cBut ProPublica management is not acting like a number of other nonprofit newsrooms, which has surprised me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ongoing clash between newsrooms and their unions over the implementation of artificial intelligence escalated Wednesday as workers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,820,1203,1204,1205,1206,1207,1208],"class_list":{"0":"post-916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ai","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-labor","11":"tag-labor-disputes","12":"tag-labor-issues","13":"tag-propublica","14":"tag-strikes","15":"tag-union","16":"tag-unions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}