Originally published in Labor Today
The New York Times Tech Guild, which builds and maintains critical programs and creates popular online games such as Wordle, voted to strike just before Election Day. The Tech Guild is a bargaining unit of The News Guild of NY and includes software engineers, product managers, project managers, data analysts, and designers. It is the largest union of tech workers with collective bargaining rights in the country.
The vote concluded with 89% of the union’s members voting and 95% approving the strike. Roughly half the workers in the bargaining unit work on election-critical programs.
Job security is one of the major issues the union is striking for. The company has discriminatory practices regarding disciplining and terminating its workers. Over half the members who were fired since the union’s formation were from under-represented groups.
The Tech Guild Members are fighting for “just cause” protections, which require management to have a just and fair reason to discipline an employee. They are also fighting against pay inequity. A pay study conducted by the Tech Guild found that women earn 12% less than men and black and Latina women make 33% less than white men.
The Tech Guild filed several Unfair Labor Practice charges against the NY Times with the National Labor Relations Board for unlawful actions, such as failure to bargain in good faith and unilateral changes to working conditions. Readers of the New York Times rely on the workers of the Times Tech Guild for access to digital news, games, and election updates from journalists. Susan DeCarava, president of the News Guild of NY, stated, “It’s up to Times management to decide what happens next.”
