The New York Times’s long-running labor dispute with its technology staffers is reaching a breaking point, with a potential Election Day strike threatening to interfere with the newsroom’s ability to cover the closely watched presidential race.
The Wall Street Journal reports some executives and journalists at the paper are worried that a walkout by members of the 600-person technology workers’ union could disrupt publishing and the quality of election-coverage tools available to subscribers on a day that traffic is expected to surge.
“We have made it clear that we need to reach an agreement before the election in order to avert a strike,” the Times Tech Guild’s bargaining team wrote in a letter to the paper’s board of directors, urging them to intervene.
A spokeswoman for the Times called the election deadline timing “arbitrary” and said that it “feels both unnecessary and at odds with our mission.” A representative for the tech guild didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The stance by the Guild, which represents software engineers, data analysts and designers at the Times marks the first test of the union’s labor muscle since it was formed in 2022, the outlet said.
According to the union, members voted to walk off the job by a 95% margin in September if the company did not meet their demands, which include job security in the face of improving AI technology and pay equity for women and minority union members.
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