The New York Times (NYT) tech union is threatening an Election Day strike over stalled negotiations, with insane demands including mandatory trigger warnings.
Anything else? wtf is this? Imagine if coal miners made these demands? pic.twitter.com/plqI5RwAwI
— Mark Groubert (@lordbuckly) September 18, 2024
Union workers from the Times Tech Guild, which includes roughly 600 software engineers and other non-editorial tech workers at the far-left newspaper, authorized the strike last week — claiming that it is a critical move, as the strike would occur during the busiest and most crucial time of the year for the media, effectively holding the outlet hostage over ridiculous leftist ideas.
These workers are making several unusual requests, including mandatory trigger warnings when discussing new events, a four-day workweek, unlimited sick time, job security for non-citizens in the U.S. on work visas in the case of layoffs, and pet bereavement leave. They have also demanded a ban on scented products in break rooms and additional pay for non-white workers to attend conferences.
That the @nytimes tech guild union members advocate for plainly racist, anti-American policies is frankly unsurprising.
But working at a *newspaper* and demanding trigger warnings in meetings reveals how deeply out of touch the firm is with the society it claims to serve. pic.twitter.com/kXlytzysP5
— Tomás Sidenfaden (@tomassidenfaden) September 16, 2024
The tech union has been having a difficult time trying to reach contract negotiations over the last two years, as their insane demands would practically bankrupt the company. Speaking to Semafor, New York Times chairman AG Sulzberger explained that the union’s economic demands would result in a staggering $100 million price tag for compensation and benefits for the Times over the course of the proposed three-year contract.
The NYT tech union’s members already make well-above the average American salary, receiving a staggering $190,000 annually, which includes their salary, bonuses, and restricted stock options. According to the company, this is roughly $40,000 more than the union members’ colleagues in the Times’ journalist unions.
The outlet also reported that employees are given even more benefits that most other organizations don’t even offer, including $10,000 reimbursements for adoption or surrogacy expenses, $50,000 for fertility care, and discounts on pet, home, and auto insurance.
In a Tuesday statement to the New York Post, NYT spokesperson Danielle Rhoads Ha explained that the Times “looks forward to working with the group to reach a fair contract, that takes into account that they are already among the highest paid in the company and journalism is our top priority.”
“Since July 2022, bargaining has been focusing on a broad range of non-economic proposals from the TechGuild such as pet bereavement leave, unscented cleaning products, and banning machine learning among many other topics that are typically not part of the collective bargaining agreements,” Rhoads added.
