More than 1,100 New York Times employees are set to go on a 24-hour strike that begins on Thursday, December 8, at midnight, following the company’s failure to reach an agreement with the Times’ union.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and others are encouraging readers not to “cross the digital picket line” and boycott the Times for 24 hours while the union workers are on strike.
Bowman said:
Peace and love, everyone. Tonight at midnight, 1,100 journalists from the New York Times are going to be going on a 24-hour strike. Do not cross the digital picket line. Let us stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are walking off the job in protest to make sure they earn the wages they deserve. Let us not cross the digital picket line. Let’s stand with them and tell your friends “do not consume their news from the New York Times tomorrow. We’ll get it from somewhere else but stand with our brothers and sisters in labor, peace and love.
NewsGuild of New York’s second vice president Amanda Hess similarly called for a boycott of the paper for one whole day.
“We’re asking readers to not engage in any @nytimes platforms tomorrow and stand with us on the digital picket line! Read local news. Listen to public radio. Make something from a cookbook. Break your Wordle streak,” Hess tweeted.
The over 1,100 Times workers who plan to go on strike for 24 hours make up a significant portion of the roughly 1,800 people who work in the Times’ newsroom.
The strike comes amid unsuccessful negotiations between the New York Times and the New York Times Guild to renegotiate the last contract that expired in March 2021. Since the contract’s expiration, roughly 40 bargaining sessions have occurred between the parties, but negotiators have failed to come to an agreement on salaries and health and retirement benefits, among other issues.
As the New York Times explained:
Compensation remains the most contentious aspect of the negotiations. The Times has offered union members a 5.5 percent raise upon ratification of the contract, 3 percent raises in 2023 and 2024, and a 4 percent retroactive bonus to compensate for a lack of raises since the contract expired. The union has proposed a 10 percent raise upon ratification, 5.5 percent raises in 2023 and 2024, and an 8.5 percent retroactive bonus.
New York Times executive editor Joe Kahn said the company will continue to report the news as usual during Thursday’s strike but said, “it will be harder than usual.”
Employees participating in the strike are expected to protest outside the Times’ main office building at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, where journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones is slated to speak.
New York Times employees rarely go on strike, with a brief walkout that lasted less than one day in 2017 to protest the elimination of the copy desk. Before that, the previous strike occurred in 1978, which lasted 88 days.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
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