Employees of The New York Times declared a 24-hour work stoppage Thursday following the failure of negotiations between unions and the paper’s management over a wage increase and telecommuting, the first such work stoppage since 1981.
The strike was confirmed Thursday by The NewsGuild of New York union on its Twitter account. «Refusing to do the job you love is never an easy decision, but our members are willing to do whatever it takes,» it has made known. «It takes a better newsroom for everyone,» he added.
In the corresponding statement, the ‘NYT’ works council denounces the company for «lack of good faith» in the negotiations.
The spokeswoman for the newspaper’s management, Danielle Rhoades Ha, regretted the position exhibited by the unions, whom she accused of launching the strike in the middle of the talks.
«It is disappointing that they are taking such extreme action when we are not at an impasse,» she lamented in statements picked up by The Poynter Report. «While we are disappointed, we are also prepared to ensure that the Times continues to serve our readers without interruption,» he added.
In response, the committee had acknowledged «a slight change in tone at the bargaining table and greater urgency on the part of company representatives,» but ultimately «Times management did not agree on the core issues.»
Management, the committee argues, continues to reject the $65,000 (about 61,000 euros) salary minimum and its proposal «lags far behind both inflation and the average rate of wage gains in the United States.»
The employees plan to cap their walkout with an afternoon rally in front of the newspaper’s offices in New York’s Times Square.
