After nearly 2 years without a new contract, unionized New York Times staff members have kicked off a 24-hour-long strike after the paper’s management ceased participating in negotiations. The strike began at midnight, Eastern time on Thursday morning.
The strike is the first work stoppage involving New York Times employees since the 1970s — though staffers staged a lunchtime walkout in 2017 in response to possible layoffs.
The New York Times Guild indicated the strike was inevitable at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, an outcome they said was squarely the fault of management.
“Today we were ready to work for as long as it took to reach a fair deal, but management walked away from the table with five hours to go. It’s official: @NYTimesGuild members are walking out for 24 hours on Thursday. We know what we’re worth,” Earlier Wednesday, Guild members urged readers “not engage in any New York Times platforms tomorrow,” which, yes, includes Wordle. “Stand with us on the digital picket line! Read local news. Listen to public radio. Pull out a cookbook. Break your Wordle streak,” the guild tweeted, with a Wordle grid that spelled out “TIMES UNION STAFF WALKS.”
More than 1,000 union staffers are expected to participate in the strike,
“We had hoped to reach a fair deal before our deadline, but more than 1,100 of us are ready to take a stand together, for each other and for journalists everywhere,” reporter Jenny Vrentas said in a statement Tuesday.