The Omaha World-Herald Guild has spent months bargaining with Lee Enterprises for a fair contract with modest pay raises this year and next. Lee’s representatives at the bargaining table claim that after a difficult financial year, they cannot match our pay proposal.

We aren’t buying it.

We are fighting for what we deserve, and we are asking you to help us. Fair wages are the final piece of the puzzle. Help us cross the finish line by writing to company executives to invest in our newsroom.

Lee’s new chairman, renowned entrepreneur David Hoffmann, has already pledged to reinvest in local journalism. He infused $50 million into the company and has created new positions, including among our staff. We welcome these changes and look forward to being a part of the growth that Hoffmann has pledged to lead. We want to be a part of Lee’s future and to continue providing Omaha and Nebraska with essential journalism. But to do that, we need fair compensation.

While Hoffmann has presented an uplifting public image about Lee, his representative at the bargaining table says there is not enough money for our proposed increase of 3% each year — the same as our previous contracts and a figure Lee agreed to with two of our sibling newsrooms in recent months. Lee has countered with 2.5% this year and 2% next year. The space between our proposals is a drop in the bucket to them, but a major difference to each one of us.

We are also not numb to the difficulties of last year because we felt them firsthand. We dealt with the internal technology issues that resulted from the major cyber attack on the company. We said goodbye to far too many colleagues who were laid off, bought out or not replaced in 2025. They represented decades of experience and camaraderie, and we were shaken to lose their knowledge and skills. Yet we forged on, delivering while being asked to do more with substantially less.

We covered a historic mayor’s race right after our city hall reporter was laid off. We chronicled a historic year of Nebraska sports achievements with a diminished support staff in the newsroom. We kept up with the Legislature and state government with one reporter where there had recently been two. We had two guild photojournalists bring our stories to life visually, but that was reduced to one last year.

We are dogged in our work and dogged at the bargaining table. Great journalism depends on the people who produce it. Stand with our guild and tell corporate leaders it’s time to agree to fair wage increases.

Use this form to write to Lee Enterprises leaders to show that their readers are in this fight with us.