Hundreds of journalists and staff members of the New York Times went on strike on Thursday in response to the failure of union negotiations. This was the first major strike for the newspaper in over 40 years.
Last week, the union representing the newspaper's staff members threatened to go on strike if a new contract wasn't reached, ABC News reported. The two sides have been negotiating since March 2021. The last contract for the staff members was set to expire in 2021.
The union announced on Twitter that its members would go on strike at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, and it noted that the walkout marked the first time in four decades that the company had experienced this type of disruption. It's hard to refuse to do what you love, but our members are determined to win a better deal for all of them.
Some of the issues that the union and the paper were arguing about included the implementation of policies that allow staff members to work from home after the coronavirus pandemic in China.
The union blamed the management of the newspaper for the failure of the negotiations. It noted that the two sides were still trying to reach a settlement when management suddenly decided to walk away from the table.
A spokesperson for the newspaper noted that the negotiations were still ongoing.
It's disappointing that the union decided to go on strike at this late stage of the negotiations. The company had already prepared for the strike, and it was working to maintain its operations, which include the input of international reporters.
In a statement, Cliff Levy, the Deputy Managing Editor of the New York Times, criticized the strike. He said that it was an unsettling moment in the negotiations and that the company was making efforts to reach a settlement.
According to Levy, the company had offered to give its staff members a wage increase of 5.5 percent, followed by further increases of 3 percent in 2023 and 2024. However, the union was asking for a wage raise of 10 percent.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on AM Greatness.
