Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild Exposes Gender and Racial Pay Disparities at the Washington Post

The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA Local 32035, released a disturbing report this week revealing a big pay disparity at the Washington Post between men and women with the same jobs, and between white employees and employees of color.

According to the report, which examined the pay of every union-represented employee of the paper, male Post reporters earned an average of $7,000 more than women. Male columnists made an eye-popping $23,000 more than women doing the same jobs. Male editorial aides made $7,000 more than their female counterparts.

In nine of 12 job titles the report looked at, white employees earned significantly more than their non-white colleagues. Assistant editors of color made about 15 percent less than white assistant editors.

Fredrick Kunkle, a NewsGuild co-chair who works at the Washington Post, said: "We believe the problem is widespread at the Post and that the organization, despite complaints about disparity that go back decades, has not done enough to track or correct the situation. But we're hoping the company will take a fresh look at the data and engage with us in ways to address the issue. We recognize that this is a longstanding and complex problem not just at the Post, but society in general, and we're eager to collaborate on ways to address it."