Post Workers Hit Street Today in Protest

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Here’s why Washington Post workers will hit the street outside the Post today. While Post Publisher Katherine Weymouth collected a generous 16.4% raise last April, as well as a tidy $1.5 million bonus, she’s offering a paltry $800 lump sum payment and no increase over the next two years. On top of that, the Post is demanding that protections against the effects of outsourcing be stripped out of the Guild contract, which expired last May. Meanwhile, more than half the Guild-covered Post employees haven’t received a raise since May 2008. In addition, more than half of Guild-covered Post employees haven’t received a raise since May 2008. The Post demands would “eviscerate” current layoff rules, says the Guild’s Rick Ehrmann, “so that if Post workers are laid off, they would no longer have the right to be called back to work if their job or a comparable job opening occurs. Push back!” Ehrmann urges, “Join us at lunchtime today!”