Scoop: NewsGuild files unfair labor practice charge against NYT

• "While we respect the union's right to engage in protected actions, threatening a strike at this time feels both unnecessary and at odds with our mission," a Times spokesperson said.

Catch up quick: The New York Times Tech Guild, which represents more than 600 staffers across engineering, product and tech, voted to unionize in March 2022. Contract negotiations with management began in July 2022.

• Last month, guild workers authorized a strike to protest stalled contract negotiations with the Times' management. The guild has been ramping up support from its colleagues in other Times unions.
• On Monday, nearly 750 Times journalists who are part of a separate Times union signed a pledge of support for the Tech Guild.
• On Tuesday, leaders from the union representing the Times' consumer reviews site Wirecutter sent a letter to the Times' management also pledging support to the Tech Guild workers.

State of play: The complaint, according to a copy seen by Axios, alleges the Times violated section 8(a) of the National Labor Relations Act that prohibits employers from interfering with, restraining or coercing employees in the exercise of their union rights.

• The NewsGuild claims, according to a spokesperson, that at least 20 Tech Guild members have been pulled into one-on-one interrogation meetings with their managers over the past few weeks to ask if they supported a strike.
• Those managers, the spokesperson said, told their employees that they had been asked to share certain information, including that guild members are not required to strike and if a guild member chooses to go on strike, they won't be paid.
• They also said they were asked to tell employees that if they choose to work during the strike, they would be connected with HR for a sign-up form to keep working in a discrete fashion, the spokesperson added.

The other side: A Times spokesperson said the Tech Guild "has not raised the issue with us or sent us a copy of the complaint and their filing is devoid of any facts or details." The NLRB website, they noted, has a vague listing on its website that doesn't offer any details.

• "We look forward to continuing to work with the 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," they added.

• The average total compensation package of someone in the Tech Guild unit is $190,000, which is $40,000 more on average than journalists in the Times Guild, the Times spokesperson said.

The big picture: The Tech Guild represents the largest union of tech workers with bargaining rights in the country, and union organizers are looking to set a precedent for other tech unions via its contract negotiations with the Times.

• Beyond higher wages, the guild is also advocating for certain workplace policy changes around remote work rights and just cause protections.
• The Tech Guild has claimed that management has stonewalled certain negotiations over the past two years.
• A Times spokesperson rejects that notion, arguing it's a NewsGuild problem. "The average first contract under the current NewsGuild leadership has taken 2.5 years. In the last two decades, the Times Company has negotiated over 30 contracts. Only contracts negotiated under the current NewsGuild leadership have taken more than two years," the spokesperson said.

What to watch: Talks between the two groups have more recently become productive, according to a Times spokesperson and a union representative.