Several weeks ago, our parent company Tribune Publishing delivered a devastating proposal to The Baltimore Sun Guild to effectively gut our union as we know it.

We, the reporters, photographers, columnists, editorial writers, advertising reps, commercial artists, customer service reps, building department workers, clerks and librarian who make up the Baltimore Sun Guild, believe this proposal would put Baltimore on a path toward losing its essential journalistic institution.

Among the worst of Tribune’s proposed changes, the company wants to be able to:

Eliminate jobs by outsourcing

Eliminate salary step increases that enable young hires to reach a living wage

Eliminate seniority

Remove the advertising employees from the Guild, leaving them totally unprotected

Eliminate the requirement of four weeks’ notice before layoffs

Move Guild members into different jobs, with the ability to cut pay by 25% and to fire those who cannot perform their new role to managers’ satisfaction.

Unilaterally extend the 40-hour work week across six days at the publisher's discretion.

This is unsustainable.

On this Labor Day, we’re reflecting on how the company’s proposal would destroy the quality of our publication. The Baltimore Sun has been our watchdog, ready to call out injustice and corruption in the city we love. So we are giving management a taste of what the newspaper might be like if all of the reporters and photographers who deliver the news were no longer around.

Starting today, The Baltimore Sun Guild will be withholding our bylines for a week ending Sept. 9, to demonstrate what is at stake. When you see an article or photo without a byline this week, imagine what our daily newspaper would look like without these stories.

Our top priority is to preserve The Baltimore Sun and ensure its journalism will be around for years to come. We ask that you support our mission to #SaveOurSun.