New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike during Election Week

No contract meant no election needle and no games as over 600 tech workers at the New York Times stepped off the job on Monday for an open-ended unfair labor practice strike amid stalled contract negotiations. 

Tech workers at the New York Times have been working on a contract for two years – since they unionized in 2022. Other Times workers ultimately put up the needle for Election Night, but this marks the first NewsGuild work stoppage to coincide with a presidential election day in 60 years. 

“It’s really unfortunate we got to this point,” said Kathy Zhang, unit chair of the Tech Guild, during the Monday picket line. 

Among the tech workers’ key concerns are protections for remote and hybrid work, pay equity and fair pay, and “just cause” job protections, which the newsroom union has had for decades. Their digital picket line is not playing any of the Times games (striking workers have created their own versions) or using the Times cooking app. 

“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,” said Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokesperson for the Times, via email. 

The Objective reached out to the guild for comment and did not receive a response by time of publication. 

The paper has overall been profitable, meaning it could likely afford to give workers the raises they’re asking for: The Times said operating profit rose 16% compared to this time last year, as it added 260,000 paid digital subscribers.

New York Times’ publisher AG Sulzberger said in a statement (obtained by Semafor’s Max Tani) that he was “disappointed” in the strike and that it was “designed to put all this work at risk.” 

Though the Tech Guild is part of the larger New York Times Guild, the entire newsroom union has not gone on solidarity strike (some members have showed up at the picket line). The tech-specific guild encompasses software and QA engineers, designers, data analysts and scientists, project and product managers. Over 95% of voting members authorized a strike in September. 

The strike also comes amid broader calls from Writers Against the War in Gaza, a grassroots collective of writers and journalists pushing for people to boycott, divest, and unsubscribe from the Times at large for its coverage of Israel’s bombardment of Palestine.

Times workers have been under strict directive not to use the words “genocide”, “ethnic cleansing”, and “occupied territory” to describe the devastation in Palestine, and Writers Against the War on Gaza specifically calls out the Times’ debunked Oct. 7 “exposé” as just one example of the harm the publication has done.

“By refusing to name the perpetrator — the Israeli occupation forces—of the deadliest war on journalists in history, the editorial board of [the New York] Times has shown that they do not even serve their own profession,” the group wrote. 

The union or paper have not issued a public statement in response to the campaign. 

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This piece was edited by Gabe Schneider.

James Salanga is the co-director for The Objective and the podcast producer for The Sick Times.