This content originally appeared on Ethan Marcotte’s website and was authored by Ethan Marcotte
Something momentous is happening this week — it’s happening right now, in fact. And no, I don’t mean that thing. It’s something else entirely: namely, the largest union of tech workers just went on strike.
The New York Times Tech Guild walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. Monday, making good on a threat that has loomed over the company for months and could disrupt the newspaper’s ability to cover this week’s election results. The Tech Guild called the open-ended unfair labor practice strike after increasingly intense negotiations between the guild and Times management failed to yield a contract agreement, Tech Guild representatives told The Washington Post.
Laura Wagner for The Washington Post, “New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike”
Why does this matter? Well, let’s start with what a strike is. Here’s a quick definition from my most recent book, You Deserve a Tech Union:
A strike is simply another kind of collective action workers can take. In fact, collectively withholding your labor — collectively stopping work — is possibly the most powerful form of action at a worker’s disposal. When used intelligently, it can draw public attention to an important issue, which in turn can apply pressure to your employer. But it exerts internal pressure, too: when a group of workers withhold their labor, that slows productivity, which impacts their employer’s bottom line. That pressure can, in turn, be used to win concessions from an employer.
We’ve seen strikes in the tech industry before.
- In 2020, the New York Times Tech Guild conducted a walkout alongside workers across the Times newsroom, protesting their employer’s decision to publish an extremist op-ed that called for violence against Americans.
- In 2022, Twitter’s trust and safety team held a one-day “sickout” to protest the new owner’s mass layoffs.
- And of course, twenty thousand Google workers walked off the job in 2018 to protest their employer’s atrocious response to sexual harassment at the company.
These are just a few quick examples, mind. (If you need more, I can recommend Collective Action in Tech’s open database of worker-led actions.) But in each case, those workers identified something wrong with their workplace, and decided collectively to withhold their labor: applying pressure to their employer by walking off the job, all in service of fighting for something better.
At the same time, these strikes have been timeboxed. They’ve often lasted a few hours, or maybe an entire day. Now, don’t misunderstand me — these shorter actions still very much matter. I simply mention their length to note that what we’re seeing at the Times is something new: for the very first time, tech workers have decided an open-ended strike, one that could last days, weeks, or longer. And they’re doing this precisely because the company’s leadership has failed to negotiate in good faith with the union: after two years of fighting, the union still doesn’t have a contract:
Times senior software engineer and Tech Guild member Kait Hoehne said the group was hoping to avoid a strike as negotiations continued late Sunday night, but that management’s failure to make concessions on key issues left tech employees feeling like they had no other option.
“We love our jobs and we’re looking forward to being able to do them,” she said, “but we haven’t seen enough movement from management and we’ve been bargaining for far too long … the ball is in their court.”
Over the last decade, we’ve seen tech workers become increasingly comfortable flexing their labor muscles — from workplace petitions to protests and, increasingly, to strikes. With the Tech Guild’s fight, I think we’re entering a new chapter for the tech industry’s labor movement — and a win for them truly is a win for the rest of us.
Want to support the workers of the New York Times Tech Guild? Well, you’re in luck: there are two solid options available to you. First and foremost, the union has declared a virtual picket line, as noted in The Washington Post’s piece on the strike — and they’re asking us not to cross it:
The striking employees will picket in front of the newspaper’s Times Square office from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily and are asking readers to honor the Tech Guild’s digital picket line by not accessing Times games or cooking apps.
In other words, they’re asking us to abstain from our favorite word games and cooking apps, in the hopes that the dip in traffic will help bring the company’s leadership back to the negotiating table. Break game streaks, not strikes.
Second, the Tech Guild has opened a strike fund, and could use our financial support. What’s a strike fund, and why does it matter? Here’s the union’s explanation:
Going on strike means we lose our paychecks for the duration of the strike. While this is an important sacrifice in order to win a fair contract, many of our union members will need financial assistance, particularly those who are the primary earners for their families. No one deserves to face financial hardship for taking action with their coworkers. Your donations will help us win this fight.
Strikes are incredibly hard for every worker on the line — they’re literally foregoing their wages to fight for a better deal. If you’re interested in helping them fight on, this is another way to do it.
This has been “Times to strike.” a post from Ethan’s journal.
This content originally appeared on Ethan Marcotte’s website and was authored by Ethan Marcotte
Ethan Marcotte | Sciencx (2024-11-04T04:00:00+00:00) Times to strike.. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2024/11/04/times-to-strike/
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