As of Nov. 4 2024, the New York Times Tech Guild is on strike. The Tech guild represents workers like software developers and data analysts at the NYT. Per the NYT, the guild members are striking for fair wages after a union pay study found unfair wages for women and people of color, a “just cause” provision in their contract that would ensure terminations only occur for good reason, and for codification of two-day in office work weeks.
The Tech Guild strike comes just a day before election night. This has led to questions about NYT’s election coverage, such as the well known “needle” feature, text notifications, and real time updates. While a spokeswoman for the Times assures readers that election coverage will not be disrupted, an email sent out by Hannah Yang and Jason Sobel, chief growth and technology officers, acknowledges that the strike comes at a difficult time.
On election day, the NYT election tracker page seemed to be running well, although there have been no updates on whether a negotiation was reached between the Tech Guild and the Times. In the meantime, the Tech Guild is requesting Times readers to avoid playing NYTgames and using the cooking app to respect their digital picket line.
