Members of the Times Tech Guild protesting in front of The New York Times building in New York, November 5, 2024. (Credit: David DeTurris)
While tens of millions of readers worldwide visited The New York Times website for coverage of the 2024 election this week, the unionized employees who ensure the site runs smoothly have been picketing outside the newspaper’s headquarters over unfair labor practices since Nov. 4.
The Times Tech Guild’s decision to strike during the election is not coincidental. The strike comes after a two-and-a-half-year back-and-forth between the union and The New York Times. This September, the union gave Times management an ultimatum: if demands were not met before the Sunday leading up to election day, Times Tech Guild members would go on strike, leaving the news organization vulnerable.
Members of the Tech Guild are a “crucial part of election coverage,” according to Carrie Price, a staff software engineer for The New York Times, who spoke from the picket line. The striking employees are tasked with analyzing data for reporting purposes and helping to maintain the paper’s website – which averages over 100 million weekly active users, according to The New York Times.
Workers on strike held signs listing their demands. (Credit: David DeTurris)
The Tech Guild represents over 600 workers who are demanding fair and equitable wages, more stringent rules for employee termination, and reconsideration of remote work policy changes.
Jeff Sisson, a principal engineer for the Times who is also on strike, complained about unpaid, on-call troubleshooting.
“They have some kind of system where the company can kind of wake them up at 4 a.m. or something like that in the event that the website is down or something isn’t working with an app,” Sisson said. “There are no rules around how that works.”
As a part of their demands, the union wants the Times to clarify the rules and compensation for this kind of work.
Sarah Duncan, a striking staff software engineer, voiced her frustration with the company’s work-from-home policy, which was implemented during the pandemic and later revised without input from the union.
“They tried to insist that workers who are in the New York City area or who didn’t have full-time remote work status come back to the office at least two days a week,” Duncan said. “It’s something that we reject.”
The Times’ reporters and editorial staff, who are represented by a separate union called the Times Guild and cannot strike, are continuing election coverage.
Jim Luttrell, a senior staff editor and Times Guild grievance chair, said “it’s obviously a very important news time. We have a lot of responsibility.” But he also believes an agreement with the Tech Guild should be met, saying that the paper’s tech staff, “are our future in a large regard.”
Members of the Times Tech Guild chanting and holding signs in front of The New York Times headquarters entrance in New York, November 5, 2024. (Credit: Ollie Ieltsov)
In an emailed comment in response to questions, the Times 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.” The Times also said it plans to continue negotiating with the Tech Guild to reach “a fair contract that takes into account they are already among the highest paid individual contributors in the Company.”
With “robust plans in place,” according to a press team, the Times’ broader election coverage and real-time “Needle” tool were not disrupted by the strike.
On election night, the paper’s “Needle” feature, which follows the election’s trends using real-time polling data, went live and ran until Donald Trump was named the president-elect by the Associated Press after 5 a.m. on Nov. 6.
While some Tech Guild members said they were upset they were unable to work on election coverage, they were also adamant on continuing their strike until a fair contract is reached.
“I would much rather be working than striking, even though it’s great to be out here with my colleagues,” Duncan said. “It was definitely not a decision we made lightly, but we have a lot of power right now and we’re gonna use it.”
