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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

#781

Post by Spivak »

ceejayoz wrote: post #746
slt2021 wrote: post #735

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>According to the study, Black tech workers at the newspaper make 26 percent less than white workers >>women, who make up over 40 percent of the Tech Guild, earn 12 percent less on average than men claims like these always irk me, like did you just compare averages by race/gender? Whoever made this claim, did they control for other factors, like job title/level or productivity? its like the famous "gender pay gap" c…

> Whoever made this claim, did they control for other factors, like job title/level or productivity? You get that "all the black people are in lower roles or somehow all deemed less productive" is worse, right?

Jesus christ thank you, folks on the internet are so quick to dismiss pay gaps just because we know what causes them as if that magically makes it not a problem.

Take one factor, women earn less because of mid-career halts due to having children, like the father didn't also have a child. Women bear the brunt because we're expected to be the primary caregivers, and this hurts men too due to the "father babysitting his kids" problem of considering the father's involvement as secondary.

You can say this isn't a problem for her employer to solve but as long as we have no intention of upsetting the standard nuclear family gender roles men and women taking the default life path shouldn't consistently make one worse off than the other.

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#782

Post by Seattle3503 »

gorjusborg wrote: post #337
Seattle3503 wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So many people underestimate the cost of coordinating across global time zones.

As well as take shared cultural context / communication for granted. That isn't to say that teams should be monocultural, but expecting to have high performing teams without any thought to culture, time zone, or communication ability is optimistic.

IMO those issues are fixable with good hiring and firing. But all the fixes for large timezone differences that I've seen have significant costs and tradeoffs. Usually you pay with velocity.

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#783

Post by lxgr »

miltonlost wrote: post #776
lxgr wrote: post #761

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but why add "with AI"?

"Because if a "machine/AI" does the work, it's not scabbing!" - executives, lying through their teeth. They're using AI as smokescreen for anti-labor practices, as all AI tech executives are.

> "Because if a "machine/AI" does the work, it's not scabbing!"

Who is claiming that in this thread, the linked Techcrunch article, or the tweet quoted in that article?

And even if the Perplexity CEO in particular, or AI tech executives generally were to make that claim elsewhere: Misquoting somebody to strengthen a point like that immediately and significantly reduces my trust in a source.

Also, I'd say that the fact that Techcrunch just changed the headline speaks for itself.

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#784

Post by Steuard »

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…

The impact on election news coverage may not be that serious. Quoting from a NYT newsroom person:

"NYT Games and Cooking are BEHIND THE PICKET LINE. Please don’t play or engage with Games or Cooking content while the strike lasts!

News coverage — including election coverage — is NOT behind the picket line. It’s okay to read and share that, though the site and app may very well have problems."

(https://bsky.app/profile/maggieastor.bsky.social/post/3la4qg...)

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#785

Post by Spooky23 »

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…

Do NYT reporters wait for a quiet time to pump sources for information?

Time and space is strategic. If you have a unionized workforce without a contract or productive negotiations in progress ahead of a critical time, you’re rolling the dice.

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#786

Post by shadowgovt »

syndicatedjelly wrote: post #747
shadowgovt wrote: post #677

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have more-or-less hit upon the reason unions exist.

Which is what?

Individual employees do not matter. Get a group of employees together to act in concert and you have a negotiating bloc that a company cannot ignore.

Especially as the bloc grows. If the "someone abroad" is also part of the same bloc, management ends up running out of people to turn to. A rising tide floats all boats.

(It's even more extreme in some countries. I've heard tale of situations in Scandinavian nations where a restaurant owner who mistreats their serving staff will find, in addition to the staff leaving and nobody being willing to scab for them, that their deliveries are delayed because nobody will drive ingredients to them and if their sink breaks down no plumber will take the contract to fix it).

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#787

Post by segasaturn »

lxgr wrote: post #761
micromacrofoot wrote: post #757

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The full quote is > Hey AG Sulzberger @nytimes sorry to see this. Perplexity is on standby to help ensure your essential coverage is available to all through the election. DM me anytime here.” it's absolutely scab behavior

Sure, but why add "with AI"?

What non-AI solutions does Perplexity have to provide to NYT?

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#788

Post by marricks »

seabass-labrax wrote: post #759
marricks wrote: post #733

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> when they have specific demands that management is able to meet It's just wild how management is able to unilaterally decide what is and isn't reasonable, and just label unions as childish. "We want to help you, but you're hurting us!" is one small step away from "gosh we love the idea of unions but it causes too much friction between workers and management, and trust me, management knows best."

I don't think parent is defending the management here; rather pointing out that it's a strategic error to play your strongest negotiating card before you are ready to make the deal. True, the New York Times will miss out on the election coverage bonanza this time, but unless the union can say "sign here to make this problem go away" they are just hurting the management for nothing. I've only heard of the story today,…

Pretty sure they're ready to make the deal if they get just-cause, work from home, and salary.

It's been a long time they've been trying to make a deal so it's disingenuous to say they're pulling the card early. Management refused to come to the table until recently.

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#789

Post by dangerwill »

lxgr wrote: post #719
ChrisArchitect wrote: post #710

Related :/ Perplexity CEO offers to replace striking NYT staff with AI https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/04/perplexity-ceo-offers-to-r...

Did he actually say that? Because in the article, there's only a tweet of him saying that Perplexity is "on standby to help", of which "offering to replace striking staff with AI" seems a pretty strong mischaracterization. Update: The headline (but not the URL) was just changed to "Perplexity CEO offers AI company’s services to replace striking NYT staff" (emphasis mine).

You are either being wilfully ignorant or don't know how strikes work. Offering to "help" during a strike is scabbing by definition

Re: New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike

#790

Post by ceejayoz »

slt2021 wrote: post #771
ceejayoz wrote: post #746

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whoever made this claim, did they control for other factors, like job title/level or productivity? You get that "all the black people are in lower roles or somehow all deemed less productive" is worse, right?

Deemed “as less productive” by whom? We have a free labour market, if it was true that NYT underpaid Black workers for the same productivity, they could easily jump ship to other company and make more $$. What is stopping “black people” from escaping the supposed inequality at NYT and making more money elsewhere ????

> Deemed “as less productive” by whom?

You've attempted to explain away pay gaps by saying it's because of lower roles and/or lower productivity, but that's just the same problem with an extra step. Why are they in lower roles? Why are they assessed as less productive? Are they inherently dumb/lazy/bad, or are we just back to "the pay gap exists because of biases" again?

> What is stopping “black people” from escaping the supposed inequality at NYT and making more money elsewhere ????

Black NYT employees are likely very well aware that the biases they encounter are not unique to the NYT.

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