New York Times Tech Guild, also known as the Times Tech Guild, is a labor union affiliated with the NewsGuild of New York, Local 31003 of the left-of-center Communications Workers of America. The NewsGuild of New York is the local union in New York City for the NewsGuild-CWA, the largest union of staffers for newspapers, magazines, online news publications, and other media organizations. ^{1 2 3}

The Times Tech Guild, operating separately from the New York Times Guild represents roughly 600 technology staff members at the New York Times, primarily serving as software developers. The Times Tech Guild won a certification vote in 2022 that provided them collective bargaining rights. Following this, the group started a campaign to secure new contracts which included demands including “pet bereavement leave, a four-day work week — and even a ban on scented products in break rooms.” ^{4 2 3}

Background

The Times Tech Guild was formed in 2022 to work in parallel with the New York Times Guild as a separate bargaining unit. Both the Times Tech Guild and the Times Guild are local bargaining units of the NewsGuild of New York, a local of the Communications Workers of America and the NewsGuild-CWA. ^{5 6 7}

Following the Times Tech Guild winning its 2022 certification vote, it was reported that the union was the “largest unit of tech workers with bargaining rights in the country” consisting of over 500 engineers, project and product managers, designers and analysts at the New York Times Company. During the voting process, the new union allegedly requested the New York Times to voluntarily recognize the union. However, the newspaper refused, arguing that the union should be limited to only the software developers employed by magazine, which ended up the certification vote. The union later held a work stoppage and filed multiple unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) before the certification vote. ⁸

Potential 2024 Strike

According to a report by Semafor, in 2024, members of the Times Tech Guild union threatened to strike unless a new list of demands were met. These allegedly included “pet bereavement leave, a four-day work week — and even a ban on scented products in break rooms.” ¹

The report by Semafor further claimed that the union’s demands also included a call for unlimited sick time, job security for non-citizens who are in the United States on work visas in the event of layoffs, and mandatory trigger warnings when discussing news events. ¹

In the same report, a spokesperson for the New York Times Company claimed that, “the average total compensation of someone in the Tech Guild unit, including salary, bonuses and restricted stock options, is $190,000 — $40,000 more on average than journalists in the Times Guild.” ¹

1. Tani, Max. “New York Times’ tech staff threatens strike during Election Day crunch.” Semafor. September 18, 2024. Accessed October 13, 2024. https://www.semafor.com/article/09/15/2024/new-york-times-tech-staff-threatens-strike-during-election-day-crunch
2. “How To Win Your Union Certification Vote — With Style.” New York Times Tech Guild. April 2, 2022. Accessed October 13, 2024. https://nytimesguild.org/papers/2022-04-02-win-with-style/
3.  Zilber, Ariel. “NY Times tech union’s bizarre demands to avert strike include four-day work week, ban on scents in break rooms.” New York Post. September 17, 2024. Accessed October 13, 2024. https://nypost.com/2024/09/17/media/ny-times-tech-unions-bizarre-demands-to-avert-strike-include-higher-pay-for-non-white-workers-ban-on-scents-in-break-rooms/
4. ^[1] Tani, Max. “New York Times’ tech staff threatens strike during Election Day crunch.” Semafor. September 18, 2024. Accessed October 13, 2024. https://www.semafor.com/article/09/15/2024/new-york-times-tech-staff-threatens-strike-during-election-day-crunch
5. Bruell, Alexandra. “New York Times Staffers Form Journalistic ‘Independence Caucus’ amid Concerns over Union’s Actions.” The Wall Street Journal, December 17, 2023. https://www.wsj.com/business/media/new-york-times-staffers-form-journalistic-independence-caucus-amid-concerns-over-unions-actions-f9be2a58
6. Tani, Max. “New York Times, Reuters Journalists Clash with News Union.” Semafor, June 7, 2024. https://www.semafor.com/article/06/06/2024/new-york-times-reuters-journalists-clash-with-news-union
7. “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion: New York Times Employee Recommendation Memo.” The NewsGuild of New York, July 31, 2020. https://nyguild.org/front-page-details/diversity-equity-inclusion-new-york-times-employee-recommendation-memo
8. Fu, Angela. “After more than 10 months of public organizing, New York Times tech workers vote 404-88 to unionize.” Poynter. March 3, 2022. Accessed October 13, 2024. https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2022/new-york-times-tech-guild-union-victory/