Let’s remember when the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild went on strike against the Times and PI, on this day in 2000 (November 21)
Back when Seattle had two daily newspapers, they operated under a “joint operating agreement.” That meant, in part, that both the Times and PI would go on strike together when such an occasion would arise.
Per David Wilma and HistoryLink:
On November 21, 2000, more than 1,000 members of Local 82 of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild strike The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer after rejecting a final contract offer. The strikers settle with the P-I after 38 days and with the Times after 49 days.
The Times and the P-I were owned separately but negotiated jointly with unions. The Newspaper Guild represented approximately 900 news, advertising, and circulation workers at the Times and approximately 130 news and business department employees at the P-I. Under a joint operating agreement, the papers maintain separate newsrooms, with the Times handling advertising, production, and circulation for both papers.
At issue were salaries and the use of a merit-pay system. Picket lines were established around the papers’ buildings and the Newspaper Guild began publishing its own Seattle Union Record (named after a labor newspaper published from 1899 to 1928). During the course of the strike, the new Union Record produced 18 tabloid print editions and a website.
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