ProPublica journalists strike over AI protections, wages after 2 years of failed negotiations

Unionized ProPublica staff are on strike over AI, layoffs, and wages

Unionized staff at ProPublica, one of the country's leading nonprofit newsrooms, are walking off the job for 24 hours beginning Wednesday and asking the public to honor a digital picket line. The roughly 150 members of the ProPublica Guild are in the midst of negotiating a collective bargaining agreement after unionizing in 2023. The union says key issues are still in contention, including protections around the use of AI, "just cause" provisions around disciplining or firing an employee, layoff protections, and wages. "We've been working to resolve this quietly for over two years," says Katie Campbell, a ProPublica Guild member. "This is a moment to make clear to management and to the public how important these issues are to the people who produce this work." The unit voted in March to authorize a strike if a deal was not reached with ProPublica management. One of the major issues workers are walking out over is how generative AI will be used at ProPublica -- and disclosed to audiences -- going forward. Many newsroom unions are negotiating AI language in contracts for the first time since tools have become widely accessible in the last few years. ProPublica management recently introduced an AI policy, which Mark Olalde, a member of the bargaining committee, described as "unilateral implementation." The NewsGuild, which represents ProPublica staff, filed an unfair labor practice charge earlier this week over the implementation of the policy. "The guidelines are a little bit squishy because there's a general agreement that we're not using [AI] to write, we're not using it to create photos, videos, things like that at this point," Olalde says. "What's on the website is really as far as the company has written things formally, which is why we're trying to enshrine some of these things in an AI article in the contract." Some newsrooms have gradually started to embrace the use of AI, albeit in different ways. The New York Times, for example, has used AI to help its reporters parse documents related to Jeffrey Epstein; ProPublica reporters used AI tools in their investigation into the rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at nonprofits. On the other end of the spectrum, an editor at Fortune has churned out hundreds of stories written by AI. ProPublica staff have varying opinions on AI in the workforce, Campbell says. (The union represents both editorial staff like reporters and editors as well as staff working in development and product.) Some staff see AI as a way to automate tedious tasks, freeing up their time to work on bigger things. "I think that there are times when it can be very ethically, fairly, and accurately used as a tool, but when it starts to replace work that humans do and core functions that can be done better by humans, I think that's kind of the thing that some folks are struggling with," Campbell says. Above all, workers want protections against layoffs as a result of AI, and for workers to have input into the use of these tools as the industry and technology evolves. The union also wants public disclosures when AI is used to produce stories. In support of the 24-hour work stoppage, the union is asking readers and audiences to not visit ProPublica, click on stories, or otherwise engage with ProPublica content on other platforms and partner organizations. ProPublica management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

ProPublica Journalists Strike for a Day, Partly Over A.I.

Other sticking points for journalists at the investigative nonprofit included demands for wage increases and layoff protections. ProPublica journalists walked off the job on Wednesday, for 24 hours, after more than two years of negotiations that failed to yield a deal for a union contract. It was the first major labor action at ProPublica, one of the country's largest nonprofit newsrooms. About 150 of its workers, including reporters, copy editors and communications staff, unionized in 2023 and have been negotiating a contract since. The core disagreements were over wage increases, layoff protections and the use of artificial intelligence, said Katie Campbell, a video journalist who has worked at ProPublica for eight years. She said workers wanted a say in how A.I. was being adopted at the company, protections against being replaced by the technology and transparency for readers about its use. "ProPublica is its workers, and when more than 100 people step away from their work for a day, that's significant," Ms. Campbell said, adding, "We want to get back to work, but we want a fair contract to do this work." Newsrooms around the country are grappling with similar issues over the use of A.I. in reporting, editing and disseminating journalism. Some embarrassing errors, such as Bloomberg's corrections for A.I.-generated summaries or the inadvertent publication of A.I.-written articles, have raised the stakes. Collective bargaining agreements at unionized newsrooms increasingly contain language that offer protections against replacing jobs with A.I. and guardrails for its use. ProPublica's union is represented by the NewsGuild of New York, which also represents some journalists at The New York Times. A ProPublica spokeswoman said the company had made proposals that mirrored those accepted by the NewsGuild at other news organizations. She said ProPublica had never had layoffs. "ProPublica is committed to reaching a fair and sustainable first contract to cement the strong pay and benefits we've always provided our staff," the spokeswoman said. The unionized workers' authorization for the strike took place on March 20, with 92 percent of members voting in favor. On Monday, the union filed an unfair-labor-practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against ProPublica, accusing it of failing to bargain with the union before putting in place an A.I. policy. ProPublica's policy says any work done with the assistance of A.I. will be reviewed by journalists and disclosed to readers. Tyson Evans, ProPublica's chief product and brand officer, said the company had shown the principles to the bargaining committee before publishing them. The union has asked supporters not to visit the ProPublica website or read its content during Wednesday's strike. ProPublica, which was founded nearly 20 years ago, relies on support from philanthropic foundations and individual donors. Its investigative reporting has been awarded multiple Pulitzer Prizes.