NY Times Tech Guild goes on strike one day before the election

Brian Zak/Sipa Press (via AP)

More than 600 members of the New York Times Tech Guild went on strike just after midnight on Monday, a crucial move that could shake up the newspaper’s ability to provide crucial election coverage.

The indefinite strike by the coaching staff, announced at 12.01am, comes after lengthy contract negotiations failed to reach an agreement. The timing of the strike, one day before a major election, is no coincidence as it accuses the Guild Times management of the refusal to make essential concessions.

The Tech Guild, made up of 600 employees including software engineers, product managers and data analysts, is critical to maintaining the backend systems that power the Times’ digital infrastructure, from live blogs to mobile alerts and the famous election needle.

Times senior software engineer and guild member Kait Hoehne told the Washingtonpost: “We love our work and we look forward to doing it. But we haven’t seen enough action from management and we’ve been negotiating for far too long… the ball is in their court.”

Hoehne noted that increased election traffic could create “infrastructural ripples in the pond,” impacting systems without skilled engineers to directly manage them.

Monday’s strike is rooted in the Guild’s complaints about “unfair labor practices,” specifically management’s return mandates and alleged interrogations of staff about strike plans. In response, Tech Guild members have urged readers to observe a digital picket line by staying out of the issue Times apps and games.

More than 750 journalists signed a pledge to support the Guild in solidarity and urged its leaders to finalize a deal.

“We can’t do our work without the Tech Guild,” read the statement.

The times’ message about the strike included a response from Hannah Yang – the company’s Chief Growth and Customer Officer – and Jason Sobel, Chief Technology Officer. Yang and Sobel said in an email to technology workers Sunday evening that management “had a strong offer on the table.”

“We are disappointed that the Tech Guild leadership is trying to jeopardize our journalistic mission at this critical time,” they said in the email, according to the Times.

Furthermore, a Times spokeswoman assured readers that the reporting would have no impact — saying the company had “robust plans to ensure we can fulfill our mission and serve our readers.”

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