New York Times Union Holds One-Day Strike

After the union released that report, a team of senior managers at The Times studied ways to improve the rating process. In October, Marc Lacey, a managing editor, announced plans to update it.

“Our ultimate aim is to have a simpler system that everyone applies fairly and consistently, and to focus more on thoughtful feedback than ratings,” Mr. Lacey wrote.

During the walkout, nonunion newsroom employees will largely be responsible for producing the news report.

“We will produce a robust report on Thursday,” Mr. Kahn wrote in his email to the newsroom. “But it will be harder than usual.”

Facing a slowdown in advertising and an uncertain economic outlook, some media organizations have cut staff in recent weeks, including CNN, BuzzFeed and the Gannett newspaper chain. During its negotiations with The Times, union negotiators have argued that reporters and editors are struggling with inflation as the company produces healthy operating profits.

Meredith Kopit Levien, chief executive of The Times, wrote in a companywide email that investments in the news report had resulted in high-paying, secure jobs for many journalists. She said that profits had not caught up to where they were decades ago.

“Those investments are possible because of the great care we’ve taken as a company over the last decade to work our way back to economic growth in a radically transforming industry,” Ms. Levien said. “We’ve done so by making financial decisions that are sustainable not just in the moment, but for years to come.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/business/media/new-york-times-union-walkout.html