NYT tech workers strike ahead of Election Day

The big picture: If the strike continues into Tuesday, it will mark the first strike by a union represented by the NewsGuild-CWA to coincide with a presidential election in 60 years.

• The NewsGuild-CWA represents dozens of newsroom guilds across the country, including guilds that represent The Times' editorial workers and workers at The Times' consumer reviews site, Wirecutter, in addition to the tech workers.
• Both of those unions have held their own strikes amid testy contract negotiations in the past few years. The Wirecutter union just renewed its contract. The Times Guild signed a contract with management in 2023.
• The Tech Guild represents roughly 600 workers across engineering, product, tech and design roles.

Driving the news: The Tech Guild is asking readers to honor a "digital picket line" by not playing popular New York Times games such as Wordle and Connections, as well as boycotting use of the NYT Cooking app.

Zoom in: The work stoppage began at 12:01 a.m. ET Monday. Picketing for the strike began at 9 a.m. ET outside NYT headquarters in New York.

• The picket line will run 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, the guild said in a statement.
• Workers will be striking across a morning and afternoon shift, a NewsGuild spokesperson said. The morning shift, as of 10:30 a.m. ET, had more than 350 workers striking.
• The afternoon shift is supposed to be bigger, drawing close to 500 participants, the spokesperson added.

What to watch: It's unclear whether the tech workers will continue their work stoppage on Election Day and beyond, but a spokesperson for The Times said the company has "robust plans in place to ensure it can serve its readers during this important news moment."

• Hundreds of members of The Times' newsroom union, the Times Guild, pledged support for the Tech Guild as it considered a strike.

Catch up quick: Times' management had been anticipating a possible strike around the elections.

• The tech guild authorized a strike in September, Axios reported.
• Last week, the guild held a "practice picket" outside of The Times' headquarters that drew more than 400 guild workers in-person and another 200 that participated remotely.

What they're saying: In a statement, The Times said it looks 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."

• A Times spokesperson told Axios last month that workers represented by the tech guild, on average, receive a total compensation package of $190,000, which is $40,000 more on average than journalists in the main Times union that represents editorial workers.
• "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 spokesperson added.

The other side: "This ULP (unfair labor practice) strike by tech workers at The New York Times is a direct result of management's decision to undervalue their labor as a contract negotiation strategy," NewsGuild of New York president Susan DeCarava said in a statement.

• "We have been sounding the alarm for weeks and cleared our schedules to get this contract done before the election week deadline."

Zoom out: Union organizers at the tech guild are looking to set a precedent for other tech unions via the contract negotiations with The Times.

• That effort has pushed the guild to fight for more protections in its contract beyond wages, including remote work rights and unique just cause protections.
• In late October, The NewsGuild of New York representing the Tech Guild filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against The Times, claiming management violated the National Labor Relations Act by interrogating employees about their strike sentiments within the past six months.

What to watch: The strike could theoretically end before Election Day, if management and the guild agree to a new contract, although that seems unlikely.

• On Sunday, The Times' chief growth and customer officer Hannah Yang and chief tech officer Jason Sobel sent a note to staff internally saying they had "a strong offer on the table that should bring us close to a contract, making an Election Day strike entirely unwarranted."
• The guild sent them a revised proposal Sunday evening, they said, but its proposals "continue to maintain entirely unrealistic positions and even introduced new concepts into the negotiation."
• "The Tech Guild leadership's intent to strike is misguided and unproductive. Let us be clear: a strike will not bring us closer to a deal or result in a better contract. It will only lead to lost wages for those who choose to participate," the executives said.