‘They have left us no choice but to demonstrate the power of our labor on the picket line,’ the union’s spokeswoman said.
A union of New York Times tech workers on Monday morning went on strike, just one day before the Tuesday General Election.
In a social media statement, the New York Times Tech Guild wrote that NY Times managers were provided “months of notice” before its deadline, saying it now has no choice but to act.
“They have left us no choice but to demonstrate the power of our labor on the picket line,” Kathy Zhang, the guild’s unit chair, said in a statement confirming the strike. “Nevertheless, we stand ready to bargain and get this contract across the finish line.”
The group said that it will now protest outside the NY Times headquarters in Manhattan, starting at 9 a.m. local time on Monday.
“Our union members and bargaining committee have done everything possible to avoid this … strike,” said Zhang, who works as an analytics manager at the NY Times. “But management is more willing to risk our election coverage than they are to agree to a fair deal with its workers.”
Its website says that the guild comprises more than 600 technology workers, including data analysts and software engineers who maintain the NY Times’ infrastructure and website.
Members of the guild voted in September to walk off the job if the NY Times did not meet their demands, including more job security and increased pay for women and minority workers. They are also seeking to impose more diversity among the paper’s workforce and have management provide just cause for firing.
More than a month later, the guild warned in a Nov. 1 letter to management that an agreement needed to be hashed out “before the election in order to avert a strike.”
A NY Times spokesperson said in an article that the newspaper has “robust plans in place to ensure that we are able to fulfill our mission and serve our readers” ahead of the election.
Meanwhile, two NY Times executives said in messages to workers on Sunday evening that they had made a considerable offer to the now-striking tech workers.
Hannah Yang, the paper’s chief growth and customer officer, and Jason Sobel, the chief technology officer, said that they put “a strong offer on the table” to the workers and are now “disappointed that the Tech Guild leadership is attempting to jeopardize our journalistic mission at this critical time.”
A spokeswoman for New York Times Company told The Epoch Times Monday that the newspaper is “looking forward to continuing to work with the Tech Guild to reach a fair contract” to meet its demands, noting that they “are already among the highest-paid individual contributors.”
The company also appeared to take issue with the timing of the strike ahead of Election Day, according to the emailed statement.
“We’re in one of the most consequential periods of coverage for our readers and have robust plans in place to ensure that we are able to fulfill our mission and serve our readers,” the spokeswoman said. “While we respect the union’s right to engage in protected actions, we’re disappointed that colleagues would strike at this time, which is both unnecessary and at odds with our mission.”
Traffic to news websites, including the NY Times, is expected to surge on Election Day on Nov. 5. More than 75 million people have voted so far, breaking early turnout records in some states, according to tracking website data.