New York Times Guild Members Pledge To Walk Out

[cjericho]

Even for a planned one-day work stoppage?

if it is just for one day, they prob go back.

 

[BTExpress]

Sure, masthead myrmidons will have enough copy in the hopper to keep that homepage humming for a little while, and it's not as though the app on your phone will suddenly go blank

Always good to learn a new word. I never got into Greek history.

 

[britwrit]

What do you think of the New York story I posted?

It was short on the details. I couldn't see - maybe I missed it - how much more money they were actually asking for, what percentage bump, and how much an average reporter made. It also seemed to gloss over some important things with a couple of short sentences -

The letter demands a weeklong marathon bargaining session over health-care funds and return-to-office policies and their pension plan. But what the employees really want is permanent increases in base pay.

You know, that minor stuff. Like how they're going to pay for their health care, how much they're going to save for their retirement, commuting costs, etc. etc.

If you get a below-inflation raise and the above things now cost more, it makes for a loss.

Are the details all that mysterious, or really anything that can be gotten wrong? The guild mostly wants higher base pay. The company has been balking. The guild sent a letter saying they are walking out on December 8 if there is no contract. The details don't seem that complicated, as is usually the case with labor disputes.

Again, the devil is in the details. I admit I biased. The company I work for over here in London has been involved in a fierce labor dispute for months now. And talking about a labor dispute gets very, very boring quickly. But these are the things that matter if you're a journalist.

 

[cjericho]

Commuting costs?? Huh?? is that discussed in any contract dispute ever? has the company relocated?
everyone who took a job there knew where the place was and where they lived

 

[britwrit]

Commuting costs?? Huh?? is that discussed in any contract dispute ever? has the company relocated?
everyone who took a job there knew where the place was and where they lived

But working from home has been a backdoor pay-raise for a lot of people - even if it's just $20 or $30 a week. This is what unions look out for. Their members have to spend a grand more every year so the execs can glance at all the busy worker drones on their way up to their suites?

I'll say one thing that is universally true. People get really, really good at math and longterm thinking when it's their paycheck involved.

 

[The Big Ragu]

If the NYT's journalists don't have leverage right now, I'm not sure any union in journalism will ever have leverage.

The NY Times is a profitable company that saw an earnings take a big jump about 4 years ago, saw a slight pullback during the first year of the pandemic, and then had a killer 2021 during which its profits more than doubled.

But the workers' leverage isn't just a function of how well the company did last year.

Right now, the economy is teetering close to recession, ad revenue-based businesses have seen a cutback in ad budgets, and companies throughout media as a broad category have already started hiring freezes, and in some cases large-scale layoffs. The WaPo, which is the closest competitor to the NY Times, has been struggling, it just killed its magazine citing "economic headwinds," and there were just more cuts at Gannett, for example.

That all plays into how much leverage that guild has. The company is projecting a slowdown (whether it plays out or not) based on those conditions, and it's not like there aren't other journalists out there already working at the NY Times' pay scale currently facing layoffs, pay freezes and a shrinking pool of jobs.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

But working from home has been a backdoor pay-raise for a lot of people - even if it's just $20 or $30 a week. This is what unions look out for. Their members have to spend a grand more every year so the execs can glance at all the busy worker drones on their way up to their suites?

I'll say one thing that is universally true. People get really, really good at math and longterm thinking when it's their paycheck involved.

This is such a great point. And I don't think this happened at NY Times, but many media companies forced pay cuts on workers during the pandemic. Happened to me. And guess what? That wasn't a pandemic pay cut. It was permanent. Shocking, I know. So for a lot of people, being forced back into an office is a double pay cut.

 

[motorsportwriter]

Not being cynical or snarky, but I do have a legitimate question: since The Athletic is now part of the NYT family, does that mean they will also walk out?

 

[cjericho]

Not being cynical or snarky, but I do have a legitimate question: since The Athletic is now part of the NYT family, does that mean they will also walk out?

Are they allowed in the building? Have to be in to walk out.

 

[Readallover]

https://nypost.com/2022/12/05/ny-times-to-meet-with-journalists-after-union-threatens-to-strike/

 

[Azrael]

just a reminder

 

[Readallover]

Wordle is a tough habit to quit.