The media companies' years-long contract battle culminated in 2024. Unions at the New York Times, NBC and Forbes have warned management about its intentions during key events for the company in recent months.
Here are some of the biggest moments.
new york times tech guild
new york timesDuring this year's election week, hundreds of disgruntled technical staff at major newspapers went on strike to protest ongoing clashes with management over what they called “unfair labor practices,” leading to coverage on Election Day. and the ability to provide analysis was at stake.
Starting on November 4, the day before the 2024 election, the New York Times Tech Guild announced a strike that would last a week. The High Tech Guild resolved to form a union in March 2022, and has been negotiating with leadership for more than two and a half years to secure a contract.
The New York Times Tech Guild went on strike earlier this year, citing “unfair labor practices.” (Fox News Digital)
Tech Guild's 600 members work in engineering, product, design, data and project management offices and are responsible for the back-end systems that power the paper's extensive digital work.
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During election week, Times staffers dressed in red held Scabby, a giant inflatable rat symbolizing New York City's labor unrest, outside the paper's midtown Manhattan offices at 620 Eighth Avenue. They marched outside and raised their voices.
“We're not kidding. We're not playing around,” the guild leader told the crowd on Nov. 4.
A New York Times spokesperson previously said: fox news digital The newspaper said it was “disappointed” by the timing of the strike.
New York Times tech workers strike (Fox News)
At issue was the Times' famous “election needle,” indicating the likelihood that either Trump or Harris would win. The needles were eventually posted on the NYT website, albeit a little later than usual, but no state-level or non-presidential needles were distributed on election night.
Additionally, as a result of the strike, IOS News is intermittently without ads, significantly reducing the company's revenue, apps and websites loading slowly, and publishing issues affecting readers and Times readers of articles and updates. Subscriber received an error message. The NYT Tech Guild said it received hundreds of thousands of emails with broken links.
But in a statement to Fox News Digital, a Times spokesperson said the paper's coverage during election week was “the site's smoothest performance to date during the election period.”
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After a week-long strike, New York Times technology workers returned to work without a contract. But on Dec. 11, New York's NewsGuild, which represents the Times Tech Guild, reached an agreement on a three-year contract following the union's week-long strike in November.
Members of the New York Times news department went on strike in solidarity with technology workers on Election Day 2024. (Fox News Digital)
NBC Digital Union
NBC's digital employees also took action this year to win contracts with the newly formed media union. On the night of Nov. 21, the group posted a scathing message to 30 Rock, accusing the company's leadership of stalling the deal.
The NBC Digital News Guild, the collective bargaining arm of the New York State News Guild, issued this call: NBC News Executives have been indicted on charges of “illegal conduct” by lighting up “breaking news” messages at the company's flagship building in midtown Manhattan.
The NBC Digital News Guild, which represents NBC News Digital's reporters, editors, designers, video journalists, animators, social media strategists and editorial staff, is in its first contract negotiations since the group unionized in 2019. are.
Hundreds of New York Times tech workers go on strike ahead of Election Day
The forecast includes NBC Universal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde, NBC News Editor-in-Chief Rebecca Blumenstein, Vice President of Programming Janelle Rodriguez, Vice President of News Katherine Kim, TODAY and Lifestyle. Vice President Libby Leist was particularly targeted for her involvement in the tactic. They allege violations of labor law, including firing more than 20 union journalists without negotiating or retaliating against union members who participated in protected activities.
“Cesar Conde and his leadership team have a bad habit of breaking the law,” video editor and union leader Tate James said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “But now he's dealing with a newsroom full of journalists who are tired of working without contracts and trying to hound their bosses in court. NBC News executives are obsessed with shareholder value. “We have a right to a fair contract, and we won't back down from this fight until we get it.” ”
Additionally, in 2021, National Labor Relations Board NBC was found to have illegally withheld more than $350,000 in raises from unionized journalists, according to a press release shared with FOX News Digital. The union has not reached an agreement with the union executive.
forbes union
The Forbes union, which was also formed in recent years, resigned on December 3, 2024, a significant date for the company.
The union representing the magazine's editorial staff has issued a warning to management and is planning a strike on the same day as Forbes' famous “30 Under 30'' list. This list includes 20 lists of 30 influential people under the age of 30. Seniors are recognized for their accomplishments in various industries.
Union members say they are fighting for fair wages, layoffs and guaranteed retirement benefits. fox news digital The management team has been stuck in negotiations for nearly three years.
The Forbes union called on the company to stop “illegal and unilateral” poaching of people from bargaining units.
A spokesperson for the Forbes Union told FOX News Digital that management falsely claimed that some Forbes Union members were “management” and should not join the union as a result. The union said the tactic is a common anti-union practice and that it is fighting unfair labor practice charges for management's misclassification of members in an effort to downsize the Forbes union.
Forbes Union 3-day strike in January 2024 (Forbes Union)
Union members spoke to FOX News Digital about the timing of the strike. The timing coincided with the company's release of its “30 Under 30'' list to highlight the effort required to create the list.
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“The 30 Under 30 list is a very high-profile list for Forbes. It gets us a lot of attention,” said Andrea Murphy, unit chair and statistics editor at Forbes. “But compiling a list like this requires essentially every team in a newsroom working together over many months.”
“The range is intense,” she added. “There's not a single department in the newsroom that isn't involved in this, so we want to go out on this day and highlight just how much work it takes to do this level of journalism every day. Basically, this list gets more attention and spotlight every year and sheds a little bit of light on our contract battles.”
Forbes Union 3-day strike in January 2024 (Forbes Union)
Murphy said management is dragging its feet and suspects this is a tactic used by companies to reduce enthusiasm for unions by “delaying” contract fights.
“Of course they don't tell us that when we're sitting at the negotiating table,” she added. “They claim they have always done this in good faith.”
The union has not reached a contract with Forbes management.
Fox News Digital's David Rutz, Brian Flood and Nik Lanum contributed to this report.
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