New York Times Tech Staff Goes on Strike, Asks Readers Not to Play Wordle and Other Games in Solidarity

The New York Times technical staff has started a strike action in protest of alleged unfair labor practices, asking people not to play the Times’ games – which also includes Wordle and Connections – to “honor the digital picket line” .

The strike, which began today after “multiple rounds of intensive negotiations” in which management failed to reach an agreement, is organized by The Times Tech Guild, a union of 600 employees responsible for creating and maintaining the technology that powers the New York Times. ‘website and games.

According to one statement The Times Tech Guild, shared by the NewsGuild of New York — the union representing more than 6,000 news organization employees in the area — had raised a number of key concerns with management ahead of today’s strike. These include remote/hybrid work protections, “equitable” job protections (which the Times newsroom is said to have had for “decades”), subcontracting limits, and equal pay/fair pay.

Times management is accused of committing “numerous labor law violations” during the bargaining process, including the implementation of a return-to-office mandate without negotiations, and the intimidation of staff through “interrogations about their strike intentions’.

As a result, New York’s NewsGuild filed unfair labor practice charges against the Times for “numerous” labor law violations, and the work stoppage began at 12:01 a.m. ET on Monday, as Tech Guild members protested outside the Eighth Avenue entrance. In addition, the editors’ union has promised not to engage in strike work, as stipulated in their contract.

The Times Tech Guild’s strike action will continue daily from 9am to 6pm if no progress is made in negotiations – threatening to impact the Times’ US election coverage this week – and the union is asking readers to “respect the digital picket line and do not play popular NYT Games such as Wordle and Connections and do not use the NYT Cooking app.”

“Our union members and bargaining committee did everything they could to prevent this ULP strike,” Kathy Zhang, president of the Tech Guild unit, said in the statement. “But management is more willing to jeopardize our election coverage than strike a fair deal with its employees. They have left us no choice but to demonstrate the strength of our workers on the picket line. Nevertheless, we are ready to negotiate. and get this contract over the line.”

In one response given to PolygonNew York Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha said: “We look forward to continuing to work with the Tech Guild to reach a fair contract that takes into account the fact that they are already among the highest-paid individual contributors within the company and that journalism is our top priority.

“We are in one of the most transformative news periods for our readers and have robust plans in place to ensure we can fulfill our mission and serve our readers. While we respect the union’s right to engage in protected action, I am disappointed that colleagues would strike at this time, which is unnecessary and inconsistent with our mission.”