• by Ray Schultz , February 1, 2024

Alden Global Capital was hit on Thursday with a 24-hour strike at seven newspapers. 

More than 200 employees walked off their jobs in the former Tribune Co. newsrooms, the biggest labor action since Alden acquired the properties in 2021, according to the NewsGuild-CWA union.  

The walkouts affected The Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Morning Call, Virginian-Pilot, Suburban Chicago Tribune, Design and Production Studio that designs Tribunes's papers, and the Tribune Content Agency. 

The workers are protesting the company’s alleged refusal to pay journalists, designers and editors a fair wage and its threat to take away a 401k match benefit. 

“We didn’t go into this job for the money, but Alden’s cuts have hit so close to the bone that we can’t even do our jobs as journalists anymore,” says Madeline Buckley, criminal courts reporter at the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Tribune Guild unit chair. 

Buckley adds, “Enough is enough. Journalists deserve to be able to retire with dignity. The company’s insulting proposals on wages and benefits puts our future at risk, along with our ability to continue to produce the hard-hitting journalism this city relies upon.” 

Last week, newsroom staff at New York Daily News, another Alden property, staged a one-day walkout as their union, NewsGuild of New York, negotiates its first contract at the paper.