The New York Times union has urged readers to boycott the newspaper — as well as its famous crossword puzzle game Wordle — after negotiations on higher wages and more flexible remote work collapsed on Wednesday.
In a strongly worded tweet, the NYT News Guild reiterated the strike threat to thousands on social media, urging users not only to forego the Times’ print and digital publications, but also their beloved jigsaw puzzle game.
It comes as the union — made up of more than 1,100 Times employees — threatened a 24-hour strike in a letter to Times Publisher AG Sulzberger on Friday, setting a deadline for the talks to be settled for next Thursday.
Since then, however, negotiations have stalled, even after a final appeal to the top reportedly lasted more than 12 hours and lasted from late Tuesday into Wednesday.
Those talks seemed to have achieved little as both sides – led by union leaders Bill Baker and Sulzberger respectively – remained divided over demands that include higher wages to fight inflation and improved health care benefits.
Now, just hours away, Thursday’s deadline seems hopeless as the Times News Guild is now taking to Twitter to urge readers to join their protests — by any means necessary.
The New York Times union has urged readers to boycott the newspaper — as well as its crossword game Wordle — after negotiations on more pay and flexible remote work collapsed on Wednesday
The guild’s tweet, posted just after 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, identified one such avenue Times readers could take to support their cause — namely, to stop playing Worlde, which was launched earlier this year by was bought by the New York Times Company.
“@NYTimesGuild members have no deal soon, we ask readers to stop participating in @nytimes platforms tomorrow and stand with us on the digital picket line!” The post read, advising news consumers to “read local news” instead and “listening to public radio”.
“Pull out a cookbook,” the post continued, before reminding would-be pickets not only to put down the paper and its online counterpart, but to shut down the puzzle game – which recently emerged as the most searched term of 2022.
“Break your Wordle streak,” organizers wrote, sharing a graphic meant to resemble a Wordle game board.
However, instead of the usual mishmash of random letters, a message has been written on the game face. Times Union Staff Walks, it warned of the impending strike, which is set to begin Thursday at midnight.
Should the protest erupt, the newspaper could remain severely understaffed, as around 2,000 people currently staff the New York newsroom.
However, a strike would result in more than half of these workers refusing their daily chores, likely leaving behind an emergency crew to ensure both the Times website and its print version are running as they should.
Those talks seemed to have achieved little as both sides — led by union leader Bill Baker and Times Publisher AG Sulzberger respectively — remained divided on demands that include higher wages to fight inflation and improved healthcare benefits
During the strike, reporters plan to protest outside NYT headquarters in Manhattan for a 24-hour walkout that could soon be followed by a longer strike, a Times reporter told New York Magazine.
“Of course, if we get stuck at the negotiating table, the next step is to consider things like a vote to authorize a strike,” reporter Michael Powell told the newspaper this week.
He added that “none of us would want to enter the Terra Incognita unless it is seen as a significant warning shot”.
Meanwhile, employees have said a strike on Thursday is more than likely, and financial reporter Stacey Crowley – who also represents the NYT News Guild – said that even after the latest negotiations, “there’s still a pretty big rift between us.” on … a range of subjects.’
Supporters of the strike, meanwhile, include a number of members of the newspaper’s notoriously fast-moving live newsroom, which covers real-time news for the digital newspaper.
The union has also claimed that several of the newspaper’s major editorial offices could lose up to 90 percent of their workforce as a result of the strike.
But a Times spokesman said that wasn’t the case, telling The Associated Press on Wednesday that the company had “solid plans” to continue producing content even during a strike.
The unrest at the newspaper can be traced back to March, when a group of nearly 600 tech workers voted to unionize amid claims the company had unlawfully interfered in organizing workers.
In a letter signed by more than 1,000 employees last week, the NewsGuild said talks with management had been going on for much longer, claiming that the newspaper’s top management had been “lagging” with negotiations for almost two years.
He added that “time is running out to reach a fair deal by the end of the year”.
Employees have said they are particularly upset by the perception that the company and upper management are operating on cash and not sharing enough of the profits.
Baker’s letter cited the company’s projected operating profit for this year of $300 million, and insiders are furious about a fat raise recently received by publisher Sulzberger, the 41-year-old son of longtime Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr Has.
Licensing filings showed that Sulzberger — the sixth member of the Ochs-Sulzberger family to serve as Times editor since Adolph Ochs bought the paper in 1896 — took home $3.6 million last year, 50 percent more than the equally stunning $ 2.4 million he had last year.
NYT NewsGuild Unit Chairman Bill Baker sent the above letter to Times Publisher AG Sulzberger and CEO Meredith Kopit Levien on Friday, threatening a December 8 strike
But Times management insists their contract offers were generous.
“The majority of bargaining unit members would earn 50 percent or more additional revenue over the life of the new contract than they would have had they continued with the old contract,” the NYT spokesman told .
‘Additionally, our companion health and retirement offerings provide sustainable, premium options for guild members.’
“As additional context, under our latest proposal, a reporter in the union earning $120,000, which is slightly below the median base salary in the unit, would receive approximately $33,000 in additional income over the term of the new contract — or 57 percent more than if the old contract had continued,” the statement said.
“A reporter in the union earning $160,000 would receive approximately $44,000 in additional income over the term of the new contract, or 108 percent more than if the previous contract had continued.”