The New York Times Tech Guild, which has over 600 employees handling the back-end systems of the media company, has gone on strike. That means, more than 600 software engineers, data analysts, designers and product managers have stopped work.
The protestors intend to hold demonstrations outside the Times headquarters every day. The strike does not come as a complete shock because negotiations between the Guild and The New York Times have been going on since 2022. For over two years now, the Guild has been seeking its first union contract with The New York Times.
The walkout was planned in early September when the Guild had announced that if a fair deal wasn’t struck, a strike would be called and that too at a crucial time.
Sure enough, the strike has come at a time when the election has reached a crucial stage in the US. Considering that the number of online subscribers of The New York Times exceeds any other newspaper in the US, the disruption will be immense. In fact, this is the worst time for any media firm to be faced with a strike.
Among other things, the Guild wants the management of the media firm to address the racial disparity in terms of pay and discipline that is unfair to the women and employees of colour working for the paper. In addition to addressing pay inequalities, increments and return-to-office policies, the Guild is also reportedly fighting for the ‘just cause’ provision that does not permit NYT to fire employees unless in a case of misconduct.
