Editorial members of the Austin American-Statesman’s Austin NewsGuild picket along the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas on Monday, June 5, 2023. The mostly one-day strike aims to protest the company’s leadership and cost-cutting measures imposed since its 2019 merger with GateHouse Media.
“Gannett CEO Mike Reed didn’t have a word to say to the scores of journalists whose livelihoods he’s destroyed, nor to the communities who have lost their primary news source thanks to his mismanagement,” DeCarava said in a statement. “During a very challenging time for our industry and economy, Gannett strives to provide competitive wages, benefits, and meaningful opportunities for all our valued employees,” Anton said in a statement.
At the shareholder meeting, NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss said the union proposed lowering Gannett’s median CEO-to-employee ratio from 66:1 to 20:1. But Schleuss said the meeting lasted just eight minutes and Reed didn’t address any questions. In a series of tweets, Schleuss called the meeting a “complete joke.”