Tech Employees of New York Times to Protest Over Office Reopening Regulations and Contract Delays

Technology workers at New York Times Co. are preparing to stage a strike for half a day on Monday afternoon, alleging that the media company is attempting to compel their return to the office without engaging in sincere negotiations.

The workers, who include software engineers and product managers, voted 404-88 last year to join the NewsGuild, extending a wave of organizing across U.S. technology and media companies.

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The walkout will begin at 1 p.m., the New York Times Tech Guild said, and the union will hold protests on Zoom and in person outside the Times’ Manhattan headquarters, with some wearing Halloween costumes. Most of the almost 700 employees of the technical guild have agreed to participate in the strike, the union said.

The workers have been in contract negotiations with Times management for 15 months and said the company has stalled negotiations in an attempt to curb their ability to work from home. Prosecutors with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board have concluded that the company violated federal law by unilaterally implementing the reinstatement plan and failing to negotiate it with the union, according to Kayla Blado, a government spokeswoman. Without a resolution, the agency’s regional director will file a complaint against the Times, Blado said in an email.

New York Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha denied wrongdoing, saying the company had followed government guidance on Covid-19 protocol, adding that no NLRB member or judge has objected to the company’s approach. He said Times management has met regularly for contract negotiations with the guild and has offered to meet more often in smaller groups rather than the guild inviting the entire membership to attend.

“We believe that the flexibility to work in one office at times and remotely at times benefits everyone by ensuring that we maintain the strong collaborative environment that has defined our culture and fueled our success,” said Rhoades Ha. e-mail.

By unilaterally setting policies and threatening workers with punishment if they don’t follow them, Times management is acting as if workers would never join a union, said Kathy Zhang, president of the tech guild.

“The company is still operating as if we don’t exist,” said Zhang, who works on the Times’ audience team. “We hope that when we show how much solidarity we have and how many members strongly oppose the management’s actions, they will understand that we are serious.”

He said Times technicians have been inspired by other notable workers this year, including members of the United Auto Workers and Hollywood writers and actors.

Monday’s strike is the first by Times technology workers since 2021, when they walked out in protest of the company’s response to their organizing drive, according to the NewsGuild, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America. Times reporters, who have been represented by the guild for decades, held a one-day work stoppage last December during their own contentious contract negotiations. According to the guild, these employees reached an agreement in May that includes protection for hybrid work and a ban on non-disclosure agreements in cases of abuse or harassment.

Last year, the Times settled a case in which NLRB prosecutors accused the company of unlawfully interfering with the organizing rights of its tech workers by telling workers it called “trainees” that they could not show support for unionization.

The Communications Workers of America has been fighting legal battles over hybrid work at employers including Alphabet Inc. and Grindr Inc., accusing management of using back-to-office mandates as tools to defeat union organizing campaigns. The companies have denied wrongdoing in the cases, which are still under investigation by the NLRB. Appeals from NLRB prosecutors are heard by agency judges, whose decisions can be appealed to members of the Washington Labor Board and from there to federal court.

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