We love our jobs and are proud of our work. But we need a fair contract — just cause, fair wages and basic AI guardrails — to do this work well.

So we’re striking today. Don’t cross the picket line.

Two ProPublica employees holding up blue and yellow signs that read "ProPublica workers on strike for a fair contract." One employee also holds a white and red megaphone to his mouth.

ProPublica workers on strike, standing on the street and holding up signs.

A line of ProPublica workers chanting and holding up blue and yellow signs that read: ProPublica workers on strike for a fair contract.

Eight ProPublica workers can be seen in the background of this photo, holding up strike signs. In the foreground is a cluster of orange and yellow flowers surrounded by a black gate.

Our DC members are out in full force!

Today we’re striking to demand a fair contract, including layoff protections, AI guardrails, fair pay and a clear disciplinary process.

Join us: www.gofundme.com/f/support-pr...

I hate that contract negotiations are not going better, but this is where we are. Today my colleagues and I @propublica.org are walking out. We need management to come to the table with more serious contract proposals that address our real concerns about discipline, job protections and fair wages.

We're on strike! Don't visit propublica.org on April 8

We’re on strike today! Support our fight for a fair contract by NOT visiting the @propublica.org website or engaging with ProPublica stories today.

Tell ProPublica’s management you won’t cross the picket line: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

I take no pleasure in saying that I and my @propublicaguild.org colleagues are on strike.

It shouldn't have come to this and i can only hope that seeing the overwhelming majority of staff walk out today opens management's eyes and convinces them we're serious about our demands.

Selfie of Anna in front of a window, wearing a ProPublica Guild T-shirt.

I love my job. I believe in ProPublica's mission. I have so much work to do today on a story that should publish soon.

But today, I'm on strike with my colleagues at the @propublicaguild.org. Hoping we get over the finish line SOON on our very first contract -- and a fair one.

Journalists turn in access badges, exit Pentagon rather than agree to new reporting rules Journalists at the Pentagon turned in access badges and cleaned out their workspaces on Wednesday, the price for refusing to agree to new restrictions on their jobs at the seat of U.S. military power.

“What they’re really doing, they want to spoon-feed information to the journalist, and that would be their story. That’s not journalism,” said Jack Keane, a retired U.S. Army general and Fox News analyst, said on Hegseth’s former network.

Via @apnews.com

ProPublica Guild Secretary Jeff Ernsthausen presents CEO Robin Sparkman with our petition signatures.

ProPublica Guild members gather in CEO Robin Sparkman’s office delivering petition signatures.

ProPublica Guild members gather in CEO Robin Sparkman’s office delivering petition signatures.

ProPublica Guild members gather in the hallway outside CEO Robin Sparkman’s office, delivering petition signatures.

Today we delivered to senior management in NY a petition signed by 1,300 ProPublica readers, donors and supporters, as well as fellow journalists at peer newsrooms and former ProPublicans. It’s clear that we have wide support for a fair contract NOW.

Let's get clickbait out of local news.

We are a group of Idaho and Washington journalists, and our publishing company, McClatchy, wants the ability to punish us for not meeting arbitrary story quotas.

THREAD

What ProPublica Is Doing to Build a Diverse and Inclusive Workplace ProPublica is committed to increasing the diversity of our workplace and our industry, while ensuring equal opportunities for all. Read our annual report detailing these efforts.

NEW: ProPublica is committed to increasing the diversity of our workplace as well as the journalism community more broadly, while ensuring equal opportunities for all.

Each year we publish a report on those efforts. This is the report for 2025.

Dear Katrice and Geraldine, We are deeply concerned about the manner in which The Marshall Project has been treating our members and approaching the bargaining process. Recently, The Marshall Project leadership has betrayed our organization’s values and compromised our position in the industry and the journalism we pursue. It’s time for that to change. The guild has worked tirelessly and in good faith on proposals that would keep high-quality health care affordable for Marshallers. We have also been steadfast in asserting that all recognized members deserve due process and fair treatment required under the law. The organization, in turn, has increasingly taken anti-worker stances that have eroded trust and created a culture that makes it difficult to do the work that makes us proud. Since the organization has taken such a hardline stance, refusing to work with the guild on the items listed below, we will be filing unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board and stepping up our public efforts to make it clear that we demand fair treatment.

The following recent actions by the organization have taken an immense toll on the workers of The Marshall Project: 1. The organization has repeatedly denied steward representation to a member facing a Performance Improvement Plan and possible termination, as well as denying another member representation in their termination meeting last week. This denial is illegal, egregious, and completely out of line with standards across our industry and the labor movement going back decades. We are shocked that the organization would take such a hypocritical and prohibitive stance on this, given our mission. The union has filed an Unfair Labor Practice about this illegal violation of members’ Weingarten rights and demands that members be allowed steward representation in any meeting they feel is appropriate. 2. The organization has caused a retaliatory ripple effect with its actions against one employee that has touched an entire newsroom in Cleveland with negative effects that go against the stated purpose of collaboration with local media and our ability to make good on promises we made to readers. When the organization recognized members it had a duty to follow the law and not proceed with layoffs without bargaining. We have filed an Unfair Labor Practice for the illegal layoff of employees and management retaliation.

3. The organization made a unilateral change to our outside employment policy without bargaining, changing expectations to require managerial approval. We have always maintained a workplace where outside work is permitted and the organization’s sudden termination of Chris Vazquez without a steward, without an opportunity to stop the freelancing project, and without severance is unjust and defies our values. 4. The organization is employing a strategic erosion of status quo through small changes to past practice while we bargain our first contract, including erasure of our cost-of-living adjustment, a significant change to our health insurance, and modifying the evaluation process. The organization has inconsistently complied with requests for information, which does not reflect good faith in bargaining. The Marshall Project, in retaining union-busting law firm Kauff McGuire & Margolis, is willingly participating in the erosion of worker protections across our industry, a project that takes advantage of the current anti-worker political environment. When The Marshall Project voluntarily recognized our union last year, it touted a “longstanding commitment to a fair, equitable and inclusive workplace, with generous benefits.” We are demanding a return to these values.

Today, we sent a letter to @themarshallproject.org‬ leadership expressing concern about their denial of bargaining obligations. Management has repeatedly denied members Weingarten rights, engaged in an illegal layoff, and more — we need your help to demand that management bargain in good faith.

I love working at ProPublica. I would love it more if it could guarantee us just cause protections. Go union.

We want a fair and equitable process with robust just cause. We deserve no less than our peers in other unionized newsrooms. I’m not in NY but still lunching out in support.

ProPubli-paws love Just Cause 🐾

Members in Chicago, Seattle, Berkeley and across the country are lunching out to show support for Just Cause protections that apply to every ProPublica Guild worker, every time.

Helene’s Unheard Warnings As Hurricane Helene barreled toward Yancey County in North Carolina, communities along the Cane River in the Black Mountains were particularly vulnerable. But there were no evacuation orders, and few ...

While reporting this story about Hurricane Helene in NC, I was struck by how many people were asleep near creeks and rivers largely unaware of the coming danger.

They were left to swim from homes. Or worse. 100+ died

Texas is sounding so tragically similar.

www.propublica.org/article/hurr...

“It’s a nasty loan.”

New from @friedmanadam5.bsky.social:

‘Go Do Good’: Oakhurst mourns beloved teacher and community member Thomas Benefield was an optimistic person who made custom stickers bearing his signature motto: “Go Do Good.”

The best teachers leave the biggest legacies. decaturish.com/2025/05/go-d...

Former “We Buy Ugly Houses” Franchise Owner to Plead Guilty in Fraud Scheme That Cost Investors $40 Million Charles Carrier agreed to plead guilty to one count of felony wire fraud that carries a potential 20-year prison sentence. The plea follows a ProPublica report detailing how Carrier bilked investors a...

NEW: Former “We Buy Ugly Houses” Franchise Owner to Plead Guilty in Fraud Scheme That Cost Investors $40 Million @anjeanette-damon.bsky.social @mrsimon22.bsky.social

Former “We Buy Ugly Houses” Franchise Owner to Plead Guilty in Fraud Scheme That Cost Investors $40 Million Charles Carrier agreed to plead guilty to one count of felony wire fraud that carries a potential 20-year prison sentence. The plea follows a ProPublica report detailing how Carrier bilked investors a...

NEW: Former “We Buy Ugly Houses” franchise owner Charles Carrier agreed to plead guilty to one count of felony wire fraud that carries a potential 20-year prison sentence.

The plea follows a ProPublica report detailing how Carrier bilked investors across Texas out of millions of dollars.

A Racist Harvard Scientist Commissioned Photos of Enslaved People. One Possible Descendant Wants to Reclaim Their Story. The images are among the oldest known photographs of enslaved people in America. Tamara Lanier’s fight to gain control of them shows there is no clear system in place to repatriate remains of captive ...

🧵NEW: In 2023, I wrote about Tamara Lanier’s quest to get daguerreotypes taken of nude enslaved people at the behest of a @harvard.edu scientist - and still housed at its Peabody Museum - moved.

She wanted them sent to @iaamuseum.bsky.social

It would mark a "homecoming," she told me then.

1/ The day after the Antioch High shooting, Nashville police arrested a 12-year-old for posting a concerning screenshot on Instagram.

His school was supposed to figure out if it was a valid threat. Instead, the school expelled him with no further investigation.

Prescient Warnings About Helene Didn’t Reach People in Harm’s Way. Here Are 5 Lessons for the Next Hurricane. After four months of reporting, ProPublica found that the warnings about Helene were eerily accurate. Yet, local residents remained largely unaware of the enormity of danger approaching as the storm c...

NEW: After four months of reporting, ProPublica found that the warnings about Helene were eerily accurate.

Yet, local residents remained largely unaware of the enormity of danger approaching as the storm closed in.

By @jenniferberryhawes.bsky.social @mrsimon22.bsky.social @cgaribay.bsky.social

Appreciate @marksimon.bsky.social’s efforts to highlight the work of all types of journalists!

Three of our colleagues are being placed on PIPs today and @propublica.org management has refused to allow stewards in those meetings. We're not shutting up about this — our colleagues deserve better and we're extremely disappointed in management for denying us this basic union right.

Three of our colleagues are being placed on PIPs today and @propublica.org management has refused to allow stewards in those meetings. We're not shutting up about this — our colleagues deserve better and we're extremely disappointed in management for denying us this basic union right.

1/4 UPDATE: This week, @propublica.org management informed a third bargaining unit member that they will be placed on a performance improvement plan and denied steward representation at the meeting where it is discussed. Our full statement 👇

“Incalculable” Damage: How a “We Buy Ugly Houses” Franchise Left a Trail of Financial Wreckage Across Texas Charles Carrier is accused of orchestrating a yearslong Ponzi scheme, bilking tens of millions of dollars from both wealthy investors and older people with modest incomes. Despite signs of trouble, Ho...

A “We Buy Ugly Houses” former franchise owner is accused of orchestrating a yearslong Ponzi scheme, bilking tens of millions of dollars from investors.

“It’s incalculable the amount of damage this guy did. He’s ruined some lives,” said one investor.

www.propublica.org/article/home...

“‘I never imagined the No. 1 franchisee with a fast-growing franchise company, HomeVestors,’ would defraud investors, he said.”

Thursday, May 8, 2025 ProPublica management continues to deny steward representation Yesterday morning, ProPublica management confirmed that it will deny steward representation to at least two more bargaining unit members it plans to discipline next week through the issuance of Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs). This is part of a larger pattern: management has denied steward representation in every meeting where members were placed on PIPs. The plans are the first step in a disciplinary process that often leads to termination. We have raised this issue repeatedly. Last Thursday, more than 70% of our unit sent an open letter to ProPublica leadership, urging them to stop resisting core union protections including steward access, just cause and accountability in the disciplinary process. This week, managers informed two employees that they would be placed on PIPs in meetings next week. Shortly afterward, ProPublica’s general counsel told Guild leadership that stewards will not be allowed in those meetings. ProPublica’s disciplinary process remains opaque, inconsistently applied and shielded from scrutiny. Blocking stewards from these meetings is out of step with our industry and the principles of fairness and accountability the newsroom claims to uphold.

1/ 🚨 Yesterday, @propublica.org management confirmed that it will again deny steward representation at disciplinary meetings. Our full statement 👇