Newsletter: Election Day Strike at the New York Times | The NewsGuild – TNG-CWA

Yesterday, I joined our picket line at the New York Times in the largest tech worker strike in U.S. history. The energy was extremely high, culminating in a rally at 1 p.m. in front of the Times. We’ve got 675 colleagues in the New York Times Tech unit, which unionized in March 2022 and has been fighting for a first contract ever since.

This is the first NewsGuild strike to directly coincide with a presidential election day in 60 years. Our members are out on the street making history as you read this newsletter. When they win, they’ll set new standards for all of our contracts, for the New York Times and for tech workers everywhere. 

That’s a big reason NYT management is fighting them so hard. They don’t want to give them just cause. They don’t want to give them pay equity. They don’t want to ensure the 50% of the workforce that was hired remotely can remain remote. 

That’s why we have to fight together. 

CLICK-IT LINE: We ask that you not cross our digital picket line by playing any of the NYT Games (Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee) as well as not using the Cooking App. You can continue to read news on the New York Times and continue to keep your subscription.

“It’s really unfortunate we got to this point,” said Kathy Zhang, unit chair of the Tech Guild, during yesterday’s rally.

Workers bargained throughout the weekend and management walked away from the table. The company was warned two months ago that a strike would happen during the election, imperiling coverage, the infamous needle and threatening the website and apps that deliver not only the news from talented journalists, but the millions and millions of rows of data from counties across the U.S. 

New York Times upper management is just stupid. I don’t know how else to say it. Yesterday the company announced a profitable quarter, raking in more than a million dollars a day in profits. Profits that need to be shared with New York Times workers. And because of the strike the stock price for the company slid 7.7%.

Local politicians and labor leaders joined the rally and the picket line, standing with our family at the Times. 

And Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York, closed us out with an impassioned speech.

“Whether or not the Times wants to give you what you deserve, they will have to!,” Susan said. “Let’s keep withholding our labor because they can’t do it without you! We want a contract and we’re going to get it!”

Watch the full live stream from the picket line here.

Election Day is practically a ‘holy day’ for newsrooms, so how did we get here? Over the last three years, Management at the New York Times management made it clear that they have no intention of bargaining in good faith with its tech workers for the job protections they deserve. We’ve filed about a dozen unfair labor practices against the company for breaking federal law.

Times Tech workers announced their intention to unionize in 2021. Almost immediately, they faced illegal union-busting tactics by NYT Management, and we filed labor charges against the company.

Despite Mangement’s disregard for federal law, the tech workers won their union election in 2022 in a blowout, becoming the largest tech worker union in the United States with more than 600 members.

Since then, members have been at the bargaining table while stalls and refuses to bargain in good faith. The Tech Guild union authorized a strike in September with 95% member approval. But still, two months later, management continues to refuse to come to the table in good faith, forcing a strike ahead of Election Day.

So, what are tech workers fighting for? The Tech Guild has been bargaining over three key issues that are most important for workers:

Just Cause: Just Cause protects workers, especially union members, from being targets of management’s at-will firings and discipline. Just Cause is a cornerstone of NewsGuild contracts and has been in the main New York Times contract for decades. That one is simple and reads, “There shall be no dismissals, demotions or suspensions except for good and sufficient cause.”

Without Just Cause in the contract, the company could fire workers for practically any reason. Tech workers deserve the same protections as folks in the newsroom to ensure fair treatment in the workplace and protections from indiscriminate terminations and discipline. 

Pay Equity: The Tech Guild conducted a pay study using salary data from management and found that women and people of color experience pay disparities of up to 33%. With this contract, tech workers seek to close that gap.

Remote/hybrid worker protections: NYT management hired hundreds of tech workers to work fully remote, part of an understanding that most of these talented software developers, project managers and graphic designers could get jobs at major tech companies that would pay a lot more. Management now wants to claw back their remote work provision and force them to move to New York and work in the office. Our members are trying to protect their colleagues who work remotely in this contract.

Hear from the workers directly on what they’re fighting for in their contract in this interview with Tech Guild workers.

Our strikers need our support and there are a couple of ways that you can help: Don’t cross the “click-it” line (that means no Wordle!) and support the Tech Guild strike fund which has already raised over $100,000!

In other Election Day news, the Baltimore Sun Guild launched a seven-day byline strike this week, running through November 10. Our members are withholding their names from their stories and photos over sliding journalistic standards and union-busting proposals raised by management at the bargaining table. Workers held a kick-off event for the byline strike at the Sun office on Monday.

We’re still on strike against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Last Monday Executive Vice President Marian Needham and I attended an injunction hearing brought by the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing is going to be continued later this month and we’ll be back alongside our members still striking after two years. The company continues to break federal law and fight journalists and other media workers. 

The Pittsburgh Union Progress, our strike paper, endorsed Kamala Harris for President. Pointing to Jeff Bezos’ decision to keep the Washington Post from running their endorsement of Harris, our PUP strikers wrote, “The thing with billionaires is this: They really care about their billions.” Our strikers ran through the reasons why an endorsement matters and wrote why they’ve endorsed Harris:

“It’s the only choice for us. We’re a publication produced by working people on strike — for more than two years, now — and the first Trump term was not good for working folks. We expect a second term would be worse.

“But the big reason for our endorsement: The level of our dysfunction is getting out of hand. It’s going to kill our communities. And it’s happening because one person wants it that way. We can begin the long process of cooling down on Tuesday.”

Today, a supermajority of the Forbes union voted NO CONFIDENCE in Forbes executives. For nearly three years, the Forbes Union has been bargaining for a fair contract. For most of this time, Forbes management has stonewalled, delayed, slow-walked, stalled, and dragged its feet. They haven’t responded to more than half the proposals the union submitted months or years ago.

The letter states:

“Under your leadership, more than 70 staffers have left the company, many of them departing because they were not fairly compensated for their work. Pay that recognizes the value we bring to Forbes was a central reason why we organized our union three years ago.

​​We all want to see Forbes succeed. We remain hopeful that we can move forward and reach a contract agreement that would ensure Forbes becomes a better place to work.”

Read the full letter here: