The union that represents the reporters at the Baltimore Sun and management are trying to agree on a new contract. The major issues that need to be resolved are pay raises and job assignments. The byline strike, in which reporters withheld their named from their articles, was a union tool to protest the fact that Sun management has begun to train replacement workers in case of a strike.
See "Baltimore Sun Reporters Stage 'Byline Strike'", Frank Ahrens, The Washington Post, June 16, 2003