New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

Post by legitster » Mon, Nov 04, 2024, 6:36 PM UTC

39896880 wrote: post #581

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…

> Striking during election week is kind of a crappy move to pull. Can we get a definitive list of weeks where workers’ rights are officially less important than $world_event? That way we can schedule our requests appropriately. We don’t want to inconvenience anyone.

Post by johndhi » Mon, Nov 04, 2024, 6:37 PM UTC

dopylitty wrote: post #64

johndhi wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck. I'm curious what you feel about the following: These days news publications generally have a pretty weak business model and a lot of competition. Does it still make sense to have a union in this case? Why?

Something I've learned from 404 media is journalism actually has a fine business model. People are willing to pay for good journalism. The problem is (much like the rest of the economy) what passes for news media is incredibly top heavy and bloated with managers, executives, and shareholders who suck up money without providing any value. For every journalist there are 15 managers and editors hired for nepotism reason…

Post by xdennis » Mon, Nov 04, 2024, 6:39 PM UTC

donohoe wrote: post #561

calibas wrote: post #431

Why would anybody trust a NYT article about internal drama at the NYT? Does HN not understand bias? Compare the NYT article to other reporting, and you can see the difference. There's a few things the NYT forgot to mention, like the fact that these negotiations have been drawn out for 2 years now. Or this: "Throughout the bargaining process, Times management has engaged in numerous labor law violations, including imp…

Hello - former NYT employee here, who would have been part of the Guild union if I worked there still. The story is written by a reporter, Katie Robertson, who is also part of their own union (Times Guild). The Times has been pretty good at covering itself imho.

Post by sonthonax » Mon, Nov 04, 2024, 6:39 PM UTC

lallysingh wrote: post #582

sonthonax wrote: post #513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's low for the market why choose to work at the NYT? Being a tech worker isn't like being a steelworker where you're kinda screwed if the plant shuts down. You're fully capable of moving job if you're dissatisfied. > Why they have 600 people is a question for management, no? It's a question for everyone at the organisation. If you're joining a firm with a massively bloated headcount you need to think if you're g…

Well let's get into what NYT does: apps and widgets for several platforms, a separate paid "games" product, advertising backend, podcasts on separate apps, visualizations for key stories.. the list goes on. And at a very large scale. NYT isn't comparable to The Guardian. It's subscription based so the news isn't enough. They have to add cooking, games, The Athletic, etc, across a ton of different apps, feeds, and pre…

Post by marcinzm » Mon, Nov 04, 2024, 6:40 PM UTC

insane_dreamer wrote: post #161

Have devs at any of the large tech companies ever tried to unionize? If not, why not?