By Kari Mar

May 1 — International Workers’ Day — is a reminder that workers’ rights were fought for, not freely given. At La Conner Community News, we chose to honor that legacy in a simple way: by building this newspaper to pay a living wage.

From the beginning, that was nonnegotiable.

With guidance from Washington State University’s Murrow College, we set a salary of $55,000 — right in the middle of what journalists earn across Washington. It’s not lavish. It’s just enough to live with dignity in the community you serve.

That decision runs against a long-standing industry model: get the most labor for the least money. In a different era, when newspapers were highly profitable, maybe that tension was easier to ignore. But today, journalism is no longer a high-margin business. Squeezing workers doesn’t save it; it drives people out.

Newspapers are becoming something closer to public goods. But that doesn’t mean the people doing the work should go without. Local journalists carry the weight of democracy. They show up, do the hard reporting and help communities understand themselves. That labor has value.

I learned that early. I was raised in a union household where my dad was a machinist at Boeing. I remember picket lines, long nights of dry egg salad sandwiches and the year he went on strike when I was a freshman at Western Washington University. That Christmas, my parents spent $100 — a week’s strike pay — on a single gift to support my education. It was a sacrifice I’ve never forgotten.

Our region holds harder stories, too. In 1916, workers and law enforcement clashed in Everett in what became known as Bloody Sunday. Men died in a conflict rooted in unsafe conditions, low wages, banned speech and a system that treated labor as expendable. That history is not distant. It’s part of who we are.

At La Conner Community News, paying a living wage is our way of drawing a line. If this work matters — and it does — then the people doing it deserve to live.

That’s the lesson of May Day.

Kari Mar is the editor and publisher of La Conner Community News.