The News-Press, Naples Daily News walk-out

The reporters and photographers for The News-Press and The Naples Daily News are going on strike -- and we're asking you, our community, to support us.

Gannett is America's biggest newspaper publisher. It owns hundreds of papers across the U.S., including The News-Press and The Naples Daily News. But instead of managing its funds smartly, it has laid off our colleagues left and right, removed layers of editing, and killed local events we used to put on for our communities. As we've lost editors, photographers and reporters our papers have gotten thinner, and our front pages often look exactly the same, despite covering different communities.

The News-Press and The Naples Daily News alone lost more than half its staff since 2018. Many were laid off, while others took buyouts after years of being denied raises, all the while being asked to cover for the colleagues we lost.

Together, our papers unionized in 2020. But we still don't have a contract with our parent company, Gannett.

All we want is a fair contract, and pay that will allow us to live in the communities we cover. So far, the answer has been no.

So we're standing up. And on Monday, June 5, we are walking out.

For many of us, this comes at great personal cost. For some, going without a day's pay can be the difference between buying groceries or visiting the food bank.

But we can no longer afford to let Gannett take advantage of us and our sense of responsibility to our communities. And we can only do this with your financial help.

We aim to raise $200 for each of our journalists in need. Funds will go directly to the journalists who cannot afford to miss a day's pay.

Instead of reporting, shooting photos or writing, we will spend the morning volunteering in our community.

We want to be here; we want to give back. And we need a fair contract so we can continue to do so.

The Southwest Florida News Guild reserves the right to return donations we feel are a conflict of interest. Funds in excess will be donated or used for future actions.

*Funds from the Southwest Florida News Guild Strike Fund are collected independently from The NewsGuild or Communications Workers of America Local 3108.