According to a report from The New York Post, liberal media outlet The New York Times is having a hard time getting employees to return from remote working environments; nearly 1,300 say they won’t go back to HQ.
From The New York Post:
It’s just the latest blow in the increasingly bitter contract dispute between the News Guild journalists union — which includes reporters and photographers, as well as some editors and business-side employees — and upper management, over wages.
As of Monday, 1,316 Times workers had signed a pledge not to return to the office. This includes 879 members of the News Guild, but also members of the Times Tech Guild and the union for Wirecutter, the paper’s product-recommendation spinoff.
“People are livid,” Tom Coffey told The Post. A 25-year veteran editor at the NYT, he works on the news desk and serves on the union’s Contract Action Committee. “It’s not a mandatory three-day-a-week return to work, per se,” Coffey said, “but they really do ‘expect’ you to be back in the office three days a week.”
Instead of raises, The Times is trying to win back employees with a free lunch box. NYT video journalist Haley Willis shared the news on Twitter.
“The @nytimes is giving employees branded lunch boxes this week as a return-to-office perk. We want respect and a fair contract instead — so I’m working from home this week along with 1,300 of my @NYTimesGuild and @NYTGuildTech colleagues, with support from @WirecutterUnion.”
The @nytimes is giving employees branded lunch boxes this week as a return-to-office perk. We want respect and a fair contract instead — so I’m working from home this week along with 1,300 of my @NYTimesGuild and @NYTGuildTech colleagues, with support from @WirecutterUnion.
— Haley Willis (@heytherehaley) September 12, 2022
The lunch boxes were reportedly empty and had no handles.
Nice try, New York Times.
Over 1,300 New York Times employees pledge not to return to office. https://t.co/V0dyUnkNvV via @nypost
— Rosental (@Rosental) September 13, 2022