Labor Strife at New York Times Intensifies, Dividing Staff

In the fourth quarter of 2018, NYT’s revenues grew 6.2% year-on-year, with digital advertising up 11.3%. (Bloomberg)
In the fourth quarter of 2018, NYT’s revenues grew 6.2% year-on-year, with digital advertising up 11.3%. (Bloomberg)

Summary

Publisher calls lack of progress in negotiations troubling as staffers air frustrations in Slack

Labor tensions at the New York Times are intensifying, with the publisher expressing concerns about the union’s tactics in the negotiations and Times staffers taking to Slack to vent frustrations with management.

After two years and over 50 bargaining sessions, the union and management have been unable to agree on wages and healthcare benefits, among other issues.

Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger last week sent a note to members of the union’s bargaining group for the first time, expressing his concern about the lengthy negotiations. Mr. Sulzberger claimed the committee is refusing to negotiate in person in small groups, a chance “to lock eyes, shake hands and hash out a deal," according to a copy of the email reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

He argued for bringing in a neutral third party to help reach a deal. “Given the troubling lack of progress after more than two years, I wanted to reach out to share my concerns about the process that has gotten us to this point," Mr. Sulzberger wrote.

The union responded to Mr. Sulzberger in its member newsletter the same day, disputing that the Guild hasn’t met with management in small groups. “The only way we can get a deal that responds to our concerns—including our push for raises that keep up with inflation—is by working together in good faith," the Guild said.

Meanwhile, Times staffers have taken to the messaging app Slack to express their frustrations, according to several staffers and messages reviewed by the Journal.

In one widely accessible channel, “#celebrate," several unionized staffers highlighted a recent securities filing from the company that detailed what top executives earned last year, including performance-based stock awards based on metrics such as the company’s adjusted operating income and digital-subscription revenue.

“I want to #celebrate the fact that those fat executive bonuses were the result of the company hitting its business goals—which it did because of the hard work of its employees, including nearly 1,500 Guild members," wrote one reporter and active union member last week.

Another staffer posted a picture of a 2017 Times graphic showing that only the ultra wealthy in the U.S. had seen their income significantly jump over the past several decades.

“I’m hoping we will soon all be able to #celebrate a new contract—with wages that come close to keeping pace with inflation," another staffer wrote.

“We remain deeply committed to working with the NYT NewsGuild to reach a contract that financially rewards our colleagues for their important contributions to The Times’s success," a Times spokeswoman said in a statement.

Divisions have also surfaced among staffers over whether the union is playing a constructive role in the newsroom.

Some veteran reporters have argued for using a mediator to help resolve the contract dispute, while other union members want to vote to authorize a strike. Times union members held a one-day strike in December.

Michael Powell, a Times reporter covering issues around free speech, in an email to fellow union members challenged a claim he said the Guild had made that mediation would elongate the dispute and result in a less desirable contract, according to a copy of the email reviewed by the Journal. He presented an example of a 2012 dispute that relied on a mediator and ended with a deal.

The concerns about the union’s approach in the contract talks follow internal debate over its role in a recent controversy over the outlet’s transgender coverage.

In February, Times contributors and some staff signed an open letter to the news organization’s standards editor laying out concerns about transgender coverage, including what they said was excessive attention to the debate over “the propriety of medical care for trans children." The letter—which was sent on the same day activist group GLAAD delivered a similar rebuke of the Times’s coverage—mentioned specific Times articles and authors.

Executive Editor Joe Kahn and Opinion Editor Katie Kingsbury in a note to staff defended the paper’s coverage, saying the Times prohibits journalists from aligning themselves with advocacy groups and wouldn’t tolerate participation by Times journalists in protests or attacks on colleagues.

The Guild weighed in. “As you know, employees have a right under federal law to engage in protected concerted activity to address workplace conditions," wrote New York NewsGuild President Susan DeCarava in a letter to Mr. Kahn and Ms. Kingsbury.

Times reporter Jeremy Peters sent a letter to Guild leadership signed by other members that criticized the Guild’s involvement. “Regretfully, our own union leadership now seems determined to undermine the ethical and professional protections that we depend on to guard the independence and integrity of our journalism," he wrote, according to a copy viewed by the Journal.

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