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After the editorial staff at The New York Times-owned Athletic expressed their desire To join the newspaper's newsroom union, management told the Times Guild on Thursday that it would not honor their request.
“Management's decision is not surprising, given The New York Times' A long history of union-busting,” the Times Guild said in response to the news. “We petitioned for an election to the National Labor Relations Board. [NLRB] And that process is moving forward. Sports Job is a Times Guild job. It's that simple.”
“Instead of doing the right thing by its athletic staff, Times management continues to pretend to operate separate newsrooms in an attempt to maintain a two-tiered system that disenfranchises athletic staff,” the union said.
The New York Times acquired the online sports news outlet in 2022, and while management initially claimed The Athletic's operations would be separate, they merged into the newsroom, the union explained in a press release.
The New York Times building is seen in Manhattan, New York, US, August 3, 2020.
The Athletic was founded in 2016 as a subscription-based, ad-free sports site that would appeal to passionate fans of various teams, but it ultimately struggled to turn a profit without advertising and sought a buyer. The New York Times acquired it for $550 million.
Times Management is closed In September 2023, the New York Times sports desk and work were assigned to Times staff assigned to The Athletic. Now, about 200 editorial staff at The Athletic, which now serves as the New York Times' de facto sports department, have organized to become part of the Times Guild.
Stacey Cowley, a New York Times business reporter and elected Times Guild officer, told Fox News Digital that when a reader opens the sports section in print, they will see athletic stories.
“The way management approached them created support for unionizing and for them to come to the Times Guild,” he said. “We often have a joke that management is our best organizer and it proved true in this case.”
“I think the erosion of the athletic staff's independent identity and their growth as a unit of The New York Times has created a real momentum among their staff to say, “Okay, if we're a New York Times staff working for The New York Times. , then we should be part of the New York Times Union Guild and have the benefits and protections of that agreement,'' he added.
The New York Times' NewsGuild has three “bargaining units,” or unions, including The Times Guild, which includes about 1,500 newsroom, business and support workers, the Wirecutters Union, which consists of about 100 editorial workers, and the Tech Guild, which includes about 700 technology workers. has
The News Guild is confident it has a strong case to present to the NLRB, Cowley said. He also criticized members of management who told The Athletic they would be good partners in unionization efforts.
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The New York Times offices in midtown Manhattan (iStock/iStock)
“They were never good partners in it,” he said. “When they bought Athletic, the initial reaction was, 'They're going to be completely independent.' They waited until three weeks after, I think three or four weeks after we closed our 2023 contract, they turned around and closed the sports desk, and we were all very aware of that time.”
“It was a pretty directional move, they didn't bring it up in the contract negotiations, they waited until we closed the deal and then dropped that news on us a month later,” he added. 'When members of the newsroom confronted them about it in a pretty heated meeting, their response was, 'Oh, we had no plans to do that.'
Now, he said, members have the possibility that either they sincerely decided to close the news desk in a matter of weeks and had no prior plans to do so, “which is not a great sign of their power. Foresight” or “they lied to us and all along.” knew what they were going to do and waited until we closed the deal to do it.”
“They haven't built a lot of credibility with their workers in how they interact with the union,” he added.
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Now, they're waiting to see what the NLRB has to say, Cowley said. Athletics' hearing is scheduled for next week.
NYT union members on picket line. (Getty Images)
“The period where there is a big question mark is what comes after that, because the length of time the board takes to issue their ruling is very variable,” he said.
Cowley also hit out at the editorial board of The Times, which has consistently taken a very pro-union stance.
“The New York Times is a large, publicly traded company with many highly paid executives, and they recognize that union contracts hand over some power to workers, and few companies willingly go along with it,” he said.
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Athletic Publishers David Perpich told staff On Thursday he believed the best approach was for the site's journalists to have a separate bargaining unit within the Newsguild.
“The Athletics newsroom is completely independent from The Times, with separate leadership,” he wrote. “This distinction has allowed us to preserve policies and practices that are specific to the needs of sports nationally and locally, with a workforce across the country. This has enabled us to maintain a unique workplace culture and deliver our distinctive best-in-class journalism for fans.
“Additionally, The Athletic must be an economically viable business that can financially support becoming one of the largest newsrooms with more than 500 reporters. We have made progress toward that ambition, but we still have a long way to go. A separate contract and bargaining agreement will address the size of our newsroom and The best way to maintain strength and achieve further growth.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to The New York Times for comment.