Members of the New York Times Guild Tech took a big step forward in their unionization campaign on Wednesday: They asked management to negotiate terms for an expedited online vote supervised by the American Arbitration Association by the end of August.
Approximately 70% of Times tech workers members signed a letter to management pledging to vote in favor of unionizing.
“We stand in solidarity, ready to vote,” they said. “We look forward to winning this vote and getting to the bargaining table to fight for a more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace.”
Taylor Poulos, a product designer, said, “Everyone I work with at The Times is incredibly thoughtful, kind, and compassionate. I’m so excited to form a union with these folks, and believe that together we’ll be able to work with management to build an equitable, fair, and just workplace.”
There are more than 600 tech workers at the Times, including engineers, product managers, project manager, designer, quality assurance staffers, data scientists and analysts. They build and maintain the digital products and systems that enables the Times to deliver news to millions of readers and subscribers daily. More than 1,300 editorial and business staff at the Times are already represented by The NewsGuild of New York Local 31003.
Tech workers are emerging as an important new area of union organizing and, along with the Alphabet Workers Union, the Times Tech Guild is one of the largest.
Follow them on Twitter @NYTGuildTech or visit their website, NYTGuild.org/tech.