Journalists at the Los Angeles Times are ready to walk off the job if their union can’t reach a offer with management soon.
The L.A. Times Guild received 85% approval on its recent strike authorization vote, it said Thursday. Just over 200 members, which represents about 98% of the total membership, participated in the vote.
A strike has not been scheduled yet, though the vote gives the guild’s leadership the authority to immediately call a work stoppage when they see fit.
The L.A. Times Guild, a unit of the Media Guild West, represents reporters, editors, designers, photographers and other journalists at the West Coast’s largest newspaper. The union has been negotiating with Times management for more than three years on a new contract. In that time, membership has been drastically reduced from about 450 in 2022 due to several rounds of layoffs and buyouts.
“These negotiations have dragged on for far too long, and today’s vote results show that our members are fed up,” Matt Hamilton, chair of the L.A. Times Guild and an investigative reporter at the paper, said in a statement. “immediately is the time for management to come to the table with a proposal that is truly fair for our members and helps restore The Times.”
Earlier this year, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing Times management of “trying to intimidate Guild members out of participating in collective bargaining or other union activities.” In April, the NLRB ruled the allegations have merit, scheduling a hearing on the matter for 2026.
In addition to cost of living wage increases, the guild is also seeking to preserve layoff protections and add new guardrails to the contract that prevent work from being outsourced to third-event companies and/or non-union labor.
The L.A. Times Guild was formed in 2018, shortly before the newsroom was acquired by biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong. The union negotiated its first ever contract the following year.
Of the new negotiations, Bill Shaikin, co-chair of the Guild’s bargaining committee and a veteran sports columnist added in a statement of his own: “We’re fighting for our livelihood, for our community and for our owner’s investment. Unfortunately, in a moment when several other news outlets are expanding into Los Angeles, management at The Times continues to make bargaining proposals that risk devaluing the brand and, in turn, the owner’s investment.”
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