By Cathy Blankenship, Editor-in-Chief
For the first time in forty years, over a thousand New York Times employees are on a 24 hour walkout today after management's failure to reach an agreement on their new contract.
NewGuild and newsroom employees came to the conclusion that after over a year of bargaining with management over their newest contract, enough was enough. The union announced that over 1100 employees would be participating in the walkout starting at 12:01am today.
After seemingly pointless negotiations on this past Tuesday and Wednesday, the union said “We were ready to work for as long as it took to reach a fair deal, but management walked away from the table with five hours to go.”
Times Spokesperson, Danielle Rhoades Ha, is questioning the employee's decisions. “It is disappointing that they are taking such an extreme action when we are not at an impasse,” she said.
Although not a lot of progress has been made, decided not to follow through with the plan to replace the existing adjustable pension plan with an enhanced 401k retirement plan. The union is expecting a 10% raise, not the 5.5% offered from the company. They also want the opportunity to work remotely.
If NewGuild does not comply with these demands or reach a compromise, who knows the outcome. The New York Times provides such an important service nationwide that they cannot afford to lose a majority of their staff.
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