Nytimes news desk8/15/2023 ![]() “We know what we’re worth,” the union added. “We were ready to work for as long as it took to reach a fair deal but management walked away from the table with five hours to go,” it said. On Wednesday evening the union said via Twitter a deal had not been reached and the walkout was happening. Negotiations took place on Tuesday and part of Wednesday but the sides remained far apart on issues including wages and remote-work policies. “We have members whose landlords have asked for rent increases of $1,000 over the last year.” “That’s not a living wage in New York City, which is the most expensive city in the world,” Goldstein said. The union is asking for at least $65,000. Goldstein also expressed disappointment with the salary floor, currently $45,000 a year. In this economic climate, and given the really, very wonderful profits that the Times is making as a successful company, just a 3% annual raise is not enough for our members.” Goldstein said: “The raises they are offering to less than a 3% annual raise over the course of this contract. Union members including Dana Goldstein, a domestic correspondent who has been with the company for six years, said the offered wage increase was “discouraging”, particularly at a time when layoffs are sweeping the news industry and the US economy is being battered by inflation. We all have things we’d rather be doing.”Ī major point of conflict in negotiations is a wage increase that averages out to 2.875%, far less than the 5% average increase the union has asked for. “Today, I’m stepping back from my keyboard, because I feel that in order to build a New York Times that can serve our readers best in the future, we need a better deal with the people who are here.” “Our job is to cover the story,” he said. Nick Confessore, a political correspondent on the paper’s national desk, told the Guardian that being on strike felt like being “in mourning”. ![]() Members of the larger parent union, Communications Workers of America (CWA), also showed up in support of the strikers. ![]() Tourists stopped to look on at the unusual scene of journalists banging on drums and chanting in unison: “We got the power … union power”. Commercial trucks slowed down to honk, with some drivers raising a fist out of the window and nodding in solidarity of the union members on strike. Reporters from other news outlets covered the event. Supporters of the union members refused to cross the digital picket line and were also opting out of reading its content or playing Wordle for the day. ![]() ![]() Outside the HQ, which is near Times Square in Manhattan, picket signs that read “New York Times Walks Out” flooded the street. Last week, the union announced that over 1,100 employees would stage a 24-hour work stoppage starting just after midnight on Thursday until management struck a deal on the employees’ contracts.įor a busy news day that saw the release of Brittney Griner from a Russian penal colony via a prisoner swap and the imminent passage of a new law that protects same-sex marriage, it’s tough for journalists to stomach stepping away from the keyboard to pick up a picket sign. The strike comes amid frustrations that bargaining has dragged on since the contract of employees in the NewsGuild union expired in March 2021. ![]()
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