Save Seattle journalism — fair wages and AI protections now!
Seattle Times Publisher Ryan Blethen, President Alan Fisco and Executive Editor Michele Matassa Flores
The economy is unpredictable, the cost of living is soaring, the political landscape jolts wildly on a daily basis. This is not news to anyone who reads The Seattle Times. And yet, the members of The Seattle Times Union are being asked to tell these essential stories while pretending their own lives aren’t also affected.
That’s where you come in. The union is in the midst of bargaining for its next contract, and Seattle Times workers need your help.
For months, the company came to the bargaining table without a response to the union’s request for meaningful wage increases. It has finally, after sustained pressure, brought its own proposal. But it doesn’t add up.
Despite stark spikes in the costs of everyday life here in one of the country’s least affordable cities, The Seattle Times expects union workers to settle for a flat $48 increase per paycheck — a 60 cent increase per hour, amounting to a less than 2% raise for the vast majority of members.
Union members are hitting pause on family planning. They’re taking on second jobs. They’re spending half their paychecks on housing. And that won’t change with the company’s current wage proposal.
What’s more, the company has resisted a number of our other proposals, including improvements to bereavement leave and paid time off, and guaranteeing severance pay in the contract. Without these benefits and protections, our ability to produce high-impact, public service journalism is threatened.
Perhaps most worryingly, management has been unwilling to ensure that journalists aren’t replaced by artificial intelligence.
Since the union’s last contract was signed, the widespread expansion of AI has destabilized expectations around the economy, personal privacy, job security and the environment. That is why it is especially critical for The Seattle Times to remain a trusted place for Pacific Northwest communities to learn about these fast-moving changes. The Times currently has strong ethical guidelines around AI use, but has balked at the idea of inking these policies in a contract or committing to not using AI to replace union journalists.
The Seattle Times recently entered into its fifth generation of local family leadership. This legacy cannot thrive for future generations without the work of human journalists who can afford to live and put down roots in the communities they cover with meaningful job security and benefits. We’re calling on Seattle Times leadership to honor this commitment.
Sign your name below to join us in our calls urging The Seattle Times to recognize that the integrity and sustainability of local journalism means protecting human union members.
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To:
Seattle Times Publisher Ryan Blethen, President Alan Fisco and Executive Editor Michele Matassa Flores
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[Your Name]
We sign this petition in solidarity with workers at The Seattle Times. We believe strongly in the importance of robust, ethical and high-quality local journalism — and we know that union members at the company are foundational to that mission.
The Seattle Times recently entered into its fifth generation of local family leadership. This legacy cannot thrive for future generations without the work of human journalists who can afford to live and put down roots in the communities they cover. We call on Seattle Times leadership to honor this commitment: Put your money where your mouth is.
We ask the company to commit to:
• AI guardrails: Readers want to know our local journalism is created by living, breathing journalists. Rejecting commonsense proposals, like not replacing any newsroom workers with artificial intelligence, is an existential threat to local journalism. The company has offered some protections for reporters. But all union workers in the newsroom, including photojournalists, copy editors, social media producers and more, deserve basic job security.
• Real raises: The company’s latest wage offer — annual raises of $1,250, which is less than 2% for the vast majority of union members — amounts to a pay cut given Seattle’s soaring cost of living. One in 3 Seattle Times workers have taken on outside work to supplement their income. One in 3 spend 50% or more of their take-home pay on housing. Low wages mean journalists can’t afford to live in the communities they cover, eroding the quality of news you rely on.
• Layoff protections and severance: Mass layoffs at newsrooms across the city and country have devastated communities in recent years. The Seattle Times has refused to guarantee severance pay or benefits in the event of job cuts, falling short of financial safety nets offered by many newspapers with far smaller readerships. The union isn’t seeking a golden parachute; it just wants to know that it can rely on past practice.
If The Seattle Times wants to live up to the successes of its past, it can’t pretend we’re still living in it. Commit to wages and protections that acknowledge the realities of 2026. It’s the only way forward.
Thank you.