About 700 Washington Post employees walked off the job for 24 hours Thursday in protest over stalled union contract negotiations and expected layoffs.

The strike is the first at The Post since the 1970s, union leaders said, and comes as the publication struggles with stagnant subscription numbers and low morale.

The union, the Post Guild, said it had been negotiating a contract for 18 months but that Postal Service management had “refused to negotiate in good faith” and halted negotiations on key issues. The union represents more than 1,000 employees, including journalists and some people on the business side of the company.

In a statement, a Post spokeswoman said the company respects the right of its union members to strike.

“We will ensure that our readers and customers are affected as little as possible,” the spokeswoman said. “The Post’s goal remains the same as it has been since the beginning of our negotiations: reaching an agreement with the Guild that meets the needs of our employees and the needs of our business.”

The Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has struggled to attract paying online readers in the post-Trump era. The number of subscriptions fell from a peak of three million in 2020 to around 2.5 million this year. Earlier this year, The Post was on track to lose $100 million by 2023, according to people with knowledge of the company’s finances.

While it is still known for its Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism, The Post has also seen a mass exodus of top journalists and business executives over the past two years.

In October, The Post’s interim chief executive, Patty Stonesifer, announced the company would cut 240 jobs from its 2,600 employees, citing business challenges. She replaced Fred Ryan, who resigned as CEO in June.

The 240 jobs were initially expected to come through voluntary takeovers, but Ms Stonesifer told employees last month that layoffs might be needed to reach that number.

In early November, The Post named Will Lewis, a former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, as its next CEO and publisher. Mr Lewis will start on January 2.

Sarah Kaplan, a climate reporter and chief steward of the Post Guild, said in an interview that a sticking point with the new contract was wages. The Post has proposed a 2.25 percent increase, which Ms. Kaplan said amounts to “a pay cut” when inflation is taken into account.

“We see all the ways that The Post as an institution is being weakened by mismanagement on the part of the company’s leaders with these buyouts and the inadequate contract proposal,” Ms. Kaplan said.

“What drives many of us to participate in this is the feeling that we want to have a say in the future of The Washington Post, because we care about this place, and we think it can be better,” she added.

The Union readers asked not to comment on post content in print or online on Thursday, saying in a letter that “taking this historic action is not a decision we have made lightly.”