The primary goal of the union is to secure higher wages.
"We're not asking for the sky. No one's trying to get rich. We just want to be able to afford to live in our communities," said Michael Lycklama, chair of the Idaho NewsGuild.
Last Thursday's pledge to strike is part of a nearly year-long negotiation between the Idaho NewsGuild union and California-based McClatchy Media, according to Lycklama.
He said many Statesman employees don’t make enough to afford necessities. He says McClatchy’s pay hasn’t kept up with inflation, and workers are actually making less than they did when the union signed its first contract in 2022.
"Workers are struggling every day just to get by. Yet McClatchy always seems to have money for the latest AI toy," Lycklama said.
McClatchy’s adoption of artificial intelligence is another concern for reporters in the union.
In 2025, the Idaho Statesman’s AI integration technology falsely claimed a local brewery was closing, causing a plunge in sales.
Lycklama said the company is also not keen on the disclosure of AI-generated content.
"As a reader of The Idaho Statesman, you deserve to know whether or not the story you're reading was written by A.I. or not. And that is something that we're having to fight the company about," Lycklama said.
The Idaho NewsGuild partnered with the Washington NewsGuild in voting to pledge to strike, but the union isn’t sharing what conditions would cause them to walk off the job.
