NY Times Tech Workers Unite: Hundreds Strike on Eve of Presidential Election, Bringing Newsroom to a Standstill

Union: “Firing without reasonable procedures, even racial and gender discrimination”
New York Times “Unnecessary strike at this time… “I’m disappointed.”

The New York Times, a representative left-wing media outlet in the United States, faced a labor strike one day before the presidential election day.

The New York Times Tech Guild, the New York Times technical union, went on strike on the 4th (local time) to protest the company’s unfair labor practices.

The Tech Guild, which includes about 600 employees in the technology field, including software developers, issued a statement saying they would go on strike at 9 a.m. and protest daily in front of the New York Times headquarters in Manhattan, New York, until their demands are met.

According to the New York Times, Tech Guild union members work in several fields, including engineering, product production, design, data and project management departments, as well as the back-end (server management) systems that support the newspaper’s digital operations.

The media industry believes that this strike will inevitably cause some disruption in the reporting of the presidential and Senate election results by the New York Times, one of the three major national newspapers in the United States.

The Tech Guild, which was formed in 2021, has been negotiating wages and working conditions with newspaper executives since March of the following year.

The union is demanding ▲prohibition of dismissal of employees without reasonable procedures ▲guarantee of remote work ▲restrictions on subcontracting ▲correction of wage gaps based on race and gender.

The union’s claim that the New York Times, which was a leader in spreading progressive ideologies such as banning racial and gender discrimination, has actually discriminated against its own employees is being analyzed as having a negative impact on the newspaper’s reputation.

“(The company) failed to realistically address the key issues of concern to skilled workers,” union president Cathy Chang said in a statement. “Our union members and the bargaining committee did everything possible to avoid a strike due to unfair labor practices.” He said.

He continued, “However, management showed a willingness to take risks in reporting the election by refusing to agree to a fair agreement, and we had no choice but to show the power of workers through strikes and picket protests.”

The New York Times management explained that they had been negotiating until the 3rd, the day before the strike, but were unable to narrow differences in opinions on several issues, saying, “We have already made a strong proposal promising generous wages and benefits to technical workers.”

The Tech Guild held a vote for or against a strike in early September, and later decided to go on strike during the election period if labor-management agreement was not reached. It appears to be intended to increase bargaining power by demonstrating how important the role of technical unions is during election periods and when newspaper traffic surges.

The Washington Post quoted a senior developer who is part of the New York Times union as saying, “Elections put a strain on our systems by dramatically increasing website traffic,” adding, “If we don’t have skilled engineers to handle the sudden surge in additional traffic, it will have a huge impact.” “It can be done,” the report said.

New York Times spokesman Daniel Rose-Ha said in an interview with conservative media outlet Fox News that he was “disappointed” with the employees’ decision to strike.

“The union members in question are already among the highest-paid employees at The New York Times,” a spokesperson said. “While the company respects the union’s right to strike, it is disappointing that our colleagues are striking at a time like this. “It is an unnecessary action and a betrayal of our mission,” he criticized.

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Meanwhile, on the 30th of last month, the Tech Guild revealed on the social media

A New York Times spokesperson had no response to these revelations.

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