- New York Times tech workers are ending their strike after a weeklong stoppage, Business Insider first reported.
- The strike threatened to disrupt election coverage but had limited impact on the Times’ operations.
- The Tech Guild, formed in 2021, represents 600-plus engineers.
New York Times tech workers are ending their strike and returning to work Tuesday after a weeklong work stoppage.
The Tech Guild chose a crucial day to go on strike, the day before the November 5 US presidential election, in a move that threatened to disrupt the paper’s important election coverage. Its parent, the NewsGuild-CWA, called it the “largest tech worker strike in US history.”
But the Times’ site and its famous election needle that shows how a race is tilting operated just fine on election night, which could have deprived the guild of some of its leverage.
Dozens of tech workers crossed the picket line, showing splinters within the unit. The strike also exposed division between the guild and some Times journalists (who are represented by a different unit of the same NewsGuild of New York), who previously expressed to BI a lack of sympathy for the tech workers given their relatively high salaries and the potential for the strike to impact the outlet’s core journalism mission.
The NewsGuild said in a statement that it wrapped up what it called an “election week” strike after showing Times management the power of its members unity. It said the guild received strong support from subscribers and other supporters who showed solidarity by not crossing a digital picket line and by contributing close to $260,000 to a strike fund.
The guild said the strike had a number of impacts on election night coverage, such as a lack of state-level election needles on the site, ads intermittently not being displayed, and subscriber emails with broken links.
The guild didn’t say whether Times management had made any concessions.
A Times spokesperson disputed the union’s claims, saying the site’s election performance was the “smoothest” ever. The rep also said the Times doesn’t run every needle on every election, that the paper removes ads proactively on heavy traffic days, and that the problem with email links was due to a vendor.
Formed in 2021, the Tech Guild represents more than 600 engineers. It has been bargaining since 2022 and has been at odds with management over issues including remote-work protections, pay equity, limits on subcontracting, and just cause.
Times management has countered that it made a strong offer promising tech workers generous pay and benefits, including total compensation (salary, bonus, and restricted stock options) of $190,000 — $40,000 more on average than journalists in the Times Guild. Under its latest proposal, the Times says, almost 60% of the unit would have a target compensation package of more than $200,000 next year.
Both sides are expected to resume bargaining at some point.
“We look forward to continuing to work with Tech Guild to reach a fair contract that takes into account that they are already among the highest paid individual contributors in the Company and journalism is our top priority,” the Times spokesperson said.
