Reporters and editors at The New York Times are participating in a one-day walkout on Thursday as “talks between their union and the company had dragged on and showed limited progress,” the publication reported.
According to The New York Times, The Times and The New York Times Guild’s contract expired over a year ago in March 2021 and roughly 40 bargaining sessions have been held. “Negotiators have failed to come to an agreement on salaries, health and retirement benefits, and other issues,” the Times reported.
Not every staff member at the Times will walk out, but a majority are participating. The Times has more than 1,800 employees who work in the newsroom, and over 1,100 of those employees signed a pledge to strike for 24 hours.
“Their wage proposal still fails to meet the economic moment, lagging far behind both inflation and the average rate of wage gains in the U.S.,” the union said in a statement, per The New York Times.
“We’re incredibly fortunate to work for one of the few places in media, or print media, that is profitable, healthily profitable,” said sports reporter Kevin Draper, per BBC. “And yet the proposals that management have made are barely better than what we got last time.”
Meredith Kopit Levien, the chief executive of the Times, labeled the walkout a “drastic action,” reports The Washington Post. On Wednesday night, Levin shared a note with employees that claimed the Times has shown “clear commitment” in contract negotiations and offered “Times journalists with substantial pay increases, market-leading benefits and flexible working conditions.”
According to BBC, the union was pushing for a $65,000 starting salary and 5.5% pay raises in 2023 and 2024 to make up for the higher cost of living. “The Times has offered union members a 5.5 percent raise upon ratification of the contract, 3 percent raises in 2023 and 2024, and a 4 percent retroactive bonus to compensate for a lack of raises since the contract expired,” according to the Times.
“My rent went up 8% last year,” senior staff editor Andrea Zagata said, per BBC. “So I guess my question is: what is a 2.8% raise doing for me, especially when the company is spending so much on executive salary, stock buybacks and dividends?”
According to The Washington Post, Times executives said in their latest earnings call that they have grown the business to a higher operating profit — which is expected to be between $320 million and $330 million by the end of the year.
“That’s where it feels more than just a matter of disagreement on numbers, but really a slap in the face,” said film critic A.O. Scott, per The Washington Post. “We have devoted so much of our time, energy, work and love to this paper, which seems unwilling to recognize or to reward that contribution.”
This is the first major walkout at the publication since 1981, when work stopped for just 61⁄2 hours. In 2017, Times staffers held a brief lunchtime walkout to protest staff layoffs and the removal of the copy desk, per The New York Times. In 1978, a strike of the pressmen lasted 88 days and stopped publication of the Times.