(NewsNation) — Several journalists for the Chicago Tribune filed a lawsuit against the newspaper’s owners, alleging women and Black journalists are being paid less than their white male counterparts.
Seven journalists filed the complaint Thursday in federal court in Chicago as a class-action claim. It names Tribune Publishing Co. and Alden Global Capital, which took control of the Tribune in 2021.
The journalists seek a jury trial and a permanent injunction against unequal pay based on sex and race discrimination. It also seeks all the back pay that affected employees should have received had they been paid the same as white males in similar jobs.
“My beat has been about Black and Brown communities and inequities — the disparities, the wealth gap, homeownership, all of that,” Darcel Rockett, a reporter and one of the seven named plaintiffs, told The Washington Post. “And to report on this routinely and then, in your own house, for it to fall on deaf ears … it’s debilitating.”
In 13 years, Rockett said she has received one raise, the outlet reported.
In their lawsuit, the reporters allege that Tribune Publishing used diversity recruitment programs “as a source of cheap labor to depress the salaries of women and minority journalists.”
It also alleged that the newspaper intentionally hired women and Black employees from suburban newspapers because they knew the pay was much lower than major newspapers.
“White employees, particularly white male employees, on the other hand, are more often recruited from other major news organizations and are offered higher salaries as a means to induce them to accept employment with defendants,” the suit argues.
The lawsuit alleges the newspaper’s owners “foster a culture of secrecy surrounding the pay and salaries of their workforce.”
Michael Morrison, an attorney who represents the journalists, told the Post that being a reporter is an “exceptionally important role, still, in this society” and that “protecting journalism starts with making sure that people that entered this profession are paid fairly, and that protected characteristics are not deciding their income level.”
Earlier this year, 76 Tribune reporters, photographers and editors joined staff at six other newsrooms around the nation in a 24-hour strike demanding fair wages and protesting what they called the slow pace of contract negotiations.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.