ProPublica journalists strike over AI policy, wages, and job protections
About 150 workers at ProPublica walked off the job Wednesday for 24 hours, marking the first major labor action at the investigative nonprofit newsroom. The strike came after more than two years of failed contract negotiations between the company and its union, which formed in 2023.
The core disputes center on three issues: wage increases, layoff protections, and how the company deploys artificial intelligence. Workers want a say in AI adoption decisions, protections against job replacement by the technology, and disclosure requirements when AI is used in reporting.
Katie Campbell, a video journalist at ProPublica for eight years, said the strike sends a message about worker involvement in the company's direction. "ProPublica is its workers, and when more than 100 people step away from their work for a day, that's significant," she said.
The union filed an unfair-labor-practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday, accusing ProPublica of implementing an AI policy without bargaining with workers first. ProPublica's policy requires that any work using AI assistance be reviewed by journalists and disclosed to readers.
Tyson Evans, ProPublica's chief product and brand officer, said the company had shared the AI principles with the bargaining committee before publishing them. A ProPublica spokeswoman said the company was "committed to reaching a fair and sustainable first contract."
AI protections becoming standard in newsroom contracts
Newsrooms across the country now face similar negotiations over AI use in reporting, editing, and distribution. High-profile errors-including Bloomberg's corrections for AI-generated summaries and inadvertent publication of AI-written articles-have raised stakes for both publishers and workers.
Unionized newsrooms increasingly include contract language that protects jobs from AI replacement and sets guardrails for its use. ProPublica's union is represented by the NewsGuild of New York, which also represents journalists at The New York Times and has negotiated similar protections elsewhere.
ProPublica's union authorized the strike on March 20, with 92 percent of members voting in favor. The organization, founded nearly 20 years ago, relies on philanthropic foundations and individual donors. Its investigative reporting has won multiple Pulitzer Prizes.
For writers and journalists, understanding AI for Writers and the broader implications of Generative AI and LLM technologies has become essential as these tools reshape newsroom workflows and labor negotiations.
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