New York Daily News Staff Stage Walkout Over Cuts
The paper's hedge fund owner — Alden Global Capital — "wants to pay less to create a worse paper," tweeted the staff's union. New York Daily News union workers staged a 24-hour walkout to protest "constant cuts" by the paper's hedge fund owner, Alden Global Capital. The union claims that Alden has been reducing overtime for reporters who work round-the-clock to provide quality coverage. The walkout was supported by actor Alec Baldwin, who called for facts about the city's impending collapse. This is part of a larger struggle for the 105-year-old newspaper, which has seen significant turnover since Alden's takeover in 2021.
Published : 3 months ago by Matt Troutman in Finance
That was the message New York Daily News union workers spread Thursday as they staged a 24-hour walkout to protest "constant cuts" by the paper's hedge fund owner. Alden Global Capital — labeled variously as "the vulture fund that picked American newspapers apart" and the "destroyer of newspapers" — has bedeviled staff at the 105-year-old New York City institution since it acquired the tabloid in 2021, union staff said.
Most recently, its management moved to cut overtime — a necessity for reporters who work round-the-clock to provide quality coverage, union members contend. "Instead, Alden wants to pay less to create a worse paper," the union tweeted.
"Our tiny staff cannot cover New York City and hold the people who run it to account with little to no overtime," tweeted reporter Molly Crane-Newman. Management is trying to cut overtime across the board.
Because the staff is so small, Metro reporters often work overtime to provide the best possible coverage.
Instead, Alden wants to pay less to create a worse paper. 📰
— Daily News Union (@NYDNUnion) January 25, 2024 The walkout dovetailed with a union picket outside the paper's diminished new office in Manhattan that drew support from actor Alec Baldwin, according to a tweet by reporter Chris Sommerfeldt.
Baldwin called it "imperative" for New Yorkers to have facts about potential dire goings-on in the city. "I rely on the Daily News for facts about what's going on in New York City," he said.
The protest and walkout is only the latest turmoil to hit the Daily News. Even before Alden's takeover, the Daily News' former owner closed the paper's newsroom. After Alden, staff quit in droves as they said the workplace grew worse and worse. Editorial staff formed a union, but the paper's management has not sat down to bargain. "As it is, Alden sends an attorney who has no intimate knowledge of how the Daily News works," Sommerfeldt tweeted. "Our top editor refuses to meet with us."
"In reality, we’re being crushed for cash," said Michael Gartland, a Daily News reporter and union steward, in a statement published in the New York Times. "As a result, staff is diminished, which means our ability to cover the city is diminished."