After a year of negotiation, Idaho Statesman union members have made a deal with their owners McClatchy Media.
In May, the newsroom staff of the Idaho Statesman, along with Washington-based newspapers Bellingham Herald, The Olympian, Tri-City Herald and the Tacoma News Tribune, went on a one day strike. They condemned what they called “unfair wages” and the company’s use of “AI slop.”
On Monday, the Idaho News Guild announced union members had voted to ratify new three-year contracts negotiated with McClatchy.
“It really shows that solidarity works,” said local sports reporter and Union chair Michael Lycklama.
In a statement, the News Guild said the deal included salary increases of 7.2% to 15.5% over the next three years.
“Some of our members are getting an immediate 11% raise, which just makes a huge difference in anyone's life,” he added.
The company agreed to ban the use of Artificial Intelligence to replace staff or decrease their hours. It also cannot force reporters to use AI, nor can it use the technology to impersonate them. The new contracts also prohibit mandatory production quotas in performance reviews. Lycklama said those should be bare minimum standards for the industry.
“Our jobs have to be done by us, by our members,” he added. “Any AI that touches our work, we get to review it; we have oversight of it. We are not just outsourcing our jobs to robots.”
“We're going to continue holding this company accountable for everything that it does and ensuring that Idaho has the news source that it deserves,” Lycklama said.
McClatchy did not respond to a request for comment.
