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New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

washingtonpost.com

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Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#531

Post by MisterBastahrd »

mellosouls wrote: post #49

As much as I am a bolshy union member and supporter, this doesn't seem too bad on the surface, the article doesn't make clear what the issues with it are? Times management said in an email to workers on Sunday that it had offered a 2.5 percent annual wage increase, a minimum 5 percent pay increase for promotions and a $1,000 ratification bonus. It also said that the company would maintain its current in-office work r…

A 2.5% annual wage increase doesn't even cover inflation over the past few years. That is a complete non-starter.

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#532

Post by kergonath »

stickfigure wrote: post #342
legitster wrote: post #323

> The two sides negotiated until late Sunday. The sticking points in recent days were over whether they could get a “just cause” provision in their contract, which means workers can be terminated only for misconduct or another such reason; pay increases and pay equity; and return-to-office policies. This seems like a LOT of issues that still need to be hammered out. It would be one thing if they were disagreeing abou…

> workers can be terminated only for misconduct or another such reason This is such a weird request for technology workers. You want to work with low-performing coworkers?

Personally, I prefer having a few low-performing people around than being in a state of existential threat of being fired for no reason by a middle manager. They are easier to work around.

Anyway, no, that is not what they want.

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#533

Post by stego-tech »

chaostheory wrote: post #152
stego-tech wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I see people critique those numbers as being “too high”, or demands for additional compensation “unreasonable”, I can’t help but think those people don’t understand that $100k is very much the new $45k of the 2000s, and has much less purchasing power than the latter did at the time. Truth be told, for the present cost of living in the Northeast in general, you’re looking at a family income of $300k to be “comfor…

Remote work made so much sense for all the reasons you’ve listed.

And yet, remote work alone is not the solution to this issue. For those of us unable to drive, we must live in expensive cities with comprehensive mass transit systems if we want a decent quality of life and opportunities. For those of us who are LGBTQ+, we might not have the safety or support structures to thrive in different states. For those with chronic health issues, living in states with better patient protection laws or healthcare subsidies may be a necessity, driving up our costs on housing or transport to ensure our survival.

This is a global problem, and it requires solutions at all levels. Remote work is amazing, and I 100% support it (and exist on hybrid despite being in a major metro), but we need more on a local, state, and federal level as well. Heck, it’s so bad that we can’t even blame a singular or group of enployers anymore: the system is broken, and desperately needs updating so it can work again.

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#534

Post by Xelynega »

standardUser wrote: post #274
gsky wrote: post #37

I outright deny non remote positions. We got one life after all.

It's a luxury to be able to do that, though the more of us who do it the more companies must oblige. In that sense, these kinds of strikes are doing us all a favor.

I agree, it's only a luxury because it's being taken away so we should support those fighting to keep it when it doesn't make any sense for them to RTO.

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#536

Post by tqi »

bwestergard wrote: post #3

I am also a member of the union at NPR, on the subway headed to the picket line in solidarity right now. Happy to answer any questions. I encourage everyone to respect the picket line and get your news elsewhere until the workers get a deal. The Times Workers are holding the line against arbitrary return to office mandates and for Just Cause protections. The vast majority of HN consists of developers, designers, QA,…

> The vast majority of HN consists of developers, designers, QA, and PMs who stand to gain from a successful movement to win these rights.

Personally, I have considered the arguments and concluded that I am not interested in collective bargaining or joining a union.

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#537

Post by cool_dude85 »

lucianbr wrote: post #402
cool_dude85 wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Just cause" provisions are about an inch away from arbitrary termination, they are hardly "the other extreme."

That's really nice if that is the case. My understanding from the comments was that this prevents people who don't do their job from being fired, as long as they don't set fire to the servers or something. If I misunderstood, then the union is being nicer than they have to.

My own experience working in a white-collar union with a just cause provision is that the process is much more cumbersome and time consuming, and includes some off-ramps, but it is certainly possible to fire and or punish low performers. The more concretely "low performance" can be measured, the quicker and easier, but we're still talking months or years.

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#539

Post by everforward »

jajko wrote: post #493
kortilla wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don’t think RTO is reasonable, which is a completely logical stance to take if you’ve setup your life working from home (esp if it’s hours from the office).

... which is something people did on their own, without agreeing with their employers on duration etc. I love working from home, but its just a non-guaranteed perk that can go away anytime and eventually it will, and companies shouldn't break their backs to accommodate people. There is free job market to match one's expectations, triple especially in places like New York. I really, really don't get folks who setup th…

> and companies shouldn't break their backs to accommodate people.

Why isn't the inverse equally true? That workers shouldn't have to break their back to accommodate a change in company policy?

> You took the risk in maybe unclear situation, you bear the consequences if the risk doesn't pan out your way.

Again, I think this is equally true going the other way. Companies allowed their workers to move away from the office, why don't they assume any risk that workers won't want to return?

I get that there needs to be a balance of power, but I don't understand why any request from the company is valid by default and any request by workers is somehow an imposition that the workers need to justify. Why isn't the company asked to justify why workers need to RTO?

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#540

Post by mensetmanusman »

axus wrote: post #462
bko wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds good, but in my experience bad employees were known to everyone. It was difficult to pinpoint exactly why they were bad or toxic, but pretty much everyone agreed. If you gave them some benchmark they would need to hit (e.g. close tickets, be on call, etc), they would be able to do so. So creating a documentation trail is difficult, especially if its based on people saying they don't think he does good wor…

It's like the unpopular, friendless kids in high school, you just know. And there's nothing they can do to change it.

Less negativity and more listening by everyone can be a place to start.
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