Journalists working for The Athletic demanded that The New York Instances acknowledge their efforts to affix the newsroom’s union — establishing one other labor battle with administration.
The Instances disbanded its long-heralded sports activities division in September 2023 and changed it with protection from The Athletic, a digital sports activities information web site it purchased for $550 million in money in January 2022.
On Monday, an organizing committee representing the 200 non-unionized staffers at The Athletic despatched an electronic mail to Instances writer AG Sulzberger and CEO Meredith Kopit Levien urging them to voluntarily acknowledge their bid to affix the Instances Guild, which is a part of the NewsGuild of New York.
“We are proud of all that The Athletic and The New York Times as a whole has accomplished since our 2022 acquisition, and we know that our inclusion in the Times Guild will only further strengthen our work,” the e-mail mentioned.
“We urge the company to recognize what has been true since the company began publishing The Athletic’s work under the banner of The New York Times: We are one newsroom, and our colleagues at The Athletic are Times Guild members.”
The NewsGuild warned the Grey Girl that failure to acknowledge The Athletic employees’ request to affix the Instances Guild will lead it to “pursue other legal pathways.”
Susan DeCarava, president of the NewsGuild of New York, mentioned that the union “will not support a two-tier system that disenfranchises workers and undermines our members, nor will we accept management’s charade that The Athletic is a separate entity.”
Jen Sheehan, a Instances Guild spokesperson, informed The Publish that Athletic staffers usually are not provided the identical advantages as their unionized colleagues.
“We know anecdotally that they earn far less than what Times Guild members do,” Sheehan informed The Publish.
She added that Athletic employees’ medical health insurance “is not as robust and as stable as it is under [the] contract” beneath which Instances Guild members function.
Sheehan additionally mentioned that Athletic staffers are topic to efficiency analysis primarily based on “web site metrics.”
“That’s not a thing for the rest of the newsroom,” she mentioned. “That’s a key difference.”
Jordan Cohen, a spokesperson for the Instances, confirmed to The Publish that the publication obtained the request and is within the technique of reviewing it.
The letter from Athletic staffers follows a one-week work stoppage simply earlier than Election Day by the union that represents greater than 600 tech staff on the paper after talks for a brand new collective bargaining settlement stalled.
Final month, the 2 sides reached a tentative settlement that requires wage will increase of as much as 8.25% over the size of the contract in addition to “just cause” protections in opposition to termination — amongst different advantages.
The strike, which was timed to coincide with the presidential election, didn’t trigger extreme disruptions to the newspaper’s protection of the Nov. 5 contest, in accordance with administration.
New York Instances Firm’s inventory was buying and selling at barely above 0.6% as of midday on Monday. Its share worth was round $53.20. Within the final 12 months, the inventory has elevated greater than 12%.
