AUSTIN, Texas — In the midst of the 47th annual Statesman Cap10k race, journalists for the Austin American-Statesman stood on the sidelines to send a message about their fight for better pay.
Workers held up signs that read, "You run better than our bargaining sessions," "Run for fair wages" and "Save the Statesman."
The signs centered around a battle between the Austin newspaper and its owners, Gannett. Nicole Villalpando is chair of the Austin News Guild – the union for Statesman employees – and explained that recently, the hope of reaching a contract failed and added to a long-standing roadblock the newspaper has been struggling with for years.
"We were offered raises that were only $0.50 an hour raise one time, and 17% of our newsroom has not had a raise since 2017," Villalpando said.
Amy Garrard, the vice president of Labor Relations for Gannett, released a statement on behalf of the company:
"Our goal is to preserve journalism and serve our community as we continue to bargain in good faith. Austin American-Statesman readers can be assured there will be no disruption to our ability to deliver content and trusted news."
Villalpando noted that the company blocked access to employees' accounts during the unfair labor practice strike. The strike started on Friday and is set to end Tuesday at 5 a.m., when workers are set to return to work, according to Villalpando.
The union has set up a GoFundMe page, which is aimed at supporting workers salaries during the strike.
The hope, however, is to get a contract in the works and end the back-and-forth once and for all.
"We'd rather be covering the Cap10K, which is our race, and the County Music Television (CMT) Festival," Villalpando said. "We'd rather be doing all of that. But instead we've been picketing. We've been handing out fliers, trying to get the company to come back to the table with a package that is much more serious and realistic for what it cost to cover news in Austin."