ProPublica, which describes itself as "an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force," but is in reality a left-wing investigative outlet bankrolled by left-wing foundations, left-wing donors, and anonymous benefactors, is facing a possible strike by workers who formed a union in 2023 but say management has been "unwilling to accept basic union protections" after more than two years of contract negotiations.
Employees picketed ProPublica offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Austin, and Chicago earlier this month, toting signs that said "Ready to Strike" and "ProPublica Workers Deserve Fair Pay." They appear to have been accompanied by a large inflatable rat, a frequent tool used by organized labor to depict management and non-union labor as vermin. The union has also raised more than $24,000 toward a strike fund to replace wages if workers go out.
"We are prepared to walk off the job and forgo our paychecks to advocate for our members, for ProPublica readers and, now with the looming threat of AI, for the integrity of accountability journalism itself," the GoFundMe page for the would-be-strikers says.
"We are fighting for a fair contract that includes industry-standard ‘just cause’ job security, a fair and transparent disciplinary process, union steward representation when requested and guardrails ensuring artificial intelligence does not replace journalists. Our management has said no to all these common-sense protections that we deserve," a petition circulated by the union says.
A ProPublica spokesman said the organization "is committed to reaching a fair and sustainable first contract" and has "already reached agreement on more than a dozen topics."
"We continue to work through the remaining issues, including wages and benefits, discipline, and the use of AI. These discussions mirror those taking place at many news organizations and the timeline and process here are consistent with bargaining across the industry," the spokesman said.
ProPublica’s November 2025 tax filing reports 230 employees for the 2024 calendar year; the union, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America, published a list of 160 of them that it says "are now publicly pledging to vote ‘yes’ on a strike." The tax filing also reports an annual surplus of $18,526,912 and total net assets of $98,057,409.
ProPublica is funded in part by grants from left-leaning foundations including the Sandler Foundation, which gave $2 million in the year ended June 30, 2024; the MacArthur Foundation, which has given a total of $8,050,000; the Hewlett Foundation, which has given $3,750,000, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, which has given $1,950,000. The Crankstart Foundation, run by Sequoia Capital’s Michael Moritz, donated $6.5 million in 2024.
The site’s news coverage is closely aligned with the Democratic Party agenda. Recent headlines include "New Moms in Wisconsin to Get Extension of Vital Benefits After GOP Powerbroker Ends Holdout," "Under GOP Pressure, Federal Agency Pulls Climate Change Chapter From Official Manual for U.S. Judges," and "A Year in Trump’s Mass Deportation Campaign." Among the most read stories in 2025 was an article headlined "To Pay for Trump Tax Cuts, House GOP Floats Plan to Slash Benefits for the Poor and Working Class." GOP is headline jargon for the Grand Old Party, which is to say, the Republicans.
ProPublica won the Pulitzer medal for public service in 2025 for reporting on abortion restrictions and in 2024 for attacks on conservative Supreme Court justices. The organization was also a recipient of sensitive tax information, including some of my own, stolen by an IRS contractor.
It’s unclear whether a strike would force ProPublica to cease publication or if it would continue publishing by having management or even replacement workers pump out copy demonizing Republicans. The organization is hiring; current openings include a defense reporter, to be paid $135,000 to $165,000 plus benefits, which include a retirement plan match of up to 5 percent of salary, 90 percent employer-paid health insurance, and "Company Issued Cell Phone or Cell Phone Bill Reimbursement (up to $80 per month)."
It’s almost tempting to contribute to the strike fund just to entice the Republican-demonizing reporters to walk off the job as midterm elections approach. If it works, the tactic could be used widely. Maybe a good investment would be funding cranky labor-union organizers at Zeteo, Drop Site News, Al Jazeera, and other hostile publications, especially since the things the organizers appear most eager for—restrictions on use of artificial intelligence and layoff protections that make it nearly impossible to fire employees—are precisely provisions that impede productivity gains.
A good story for ProPublica—though perhaps it might be too close to home—would be why Democrats in Congress and in the states are doing little to advance labor law reforms such as the Faster Labor Contracts Act—which is backed by pro-union Republicans like Senators Josh Hawley and Bernie Moreno. Instead, all the energy goes to performative measures such as the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2025, whose lead sponsor is Senator Bernie Sanders, the socialist of Vermont. Meanwhile, the share of private sector workers represented by a union has plummeted to 5.9 percent in 2025 from 16.5 percent in 1983.
Representatives for the union did not respond by deadline to questions about the state of the negotiations or plans for a strike. The ProPublica board includes two Harvard professors—Tomiko Brown-Nagin and Henry Louis Gates Jr.—as well as a private equity executive and a venture capitalist, but no representatives of organized labor.
