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Years of contract battles at media companies have come to a head in 2024. Unions at the New York Times, NBC and Forbes have issued warnings to management of their intentions during critical events for the company in recent months.
Here’s a rundown of some of the biggest moments:
The New York Times Technical Guild
The New York Times‘ The ability to provide election day reporting and analysis was threatened during this year’s election week as hundreds of disgruntled technical staff at the newspaper giant went on strike to protest the ongoing conflict with management, citing “unfair labor practices”.
Beginning on November 4the day before the 2024 election, the New York Times Tech Guild announced it was going on strike, which lasted a week. The tech guild voted to unionize in March 2022 and has been in negotiations with management for more than two and a half years in an attempt to win a contract.
The New York Times’ tech guild went on strike this year over “unfair labor practices.” (Fox News Digital)
The Tech Guild’s 600 members are responsible for the back-end systems that power the newspaper’s extensive digital operations, working in engineering, product, design, data and the project management office.
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During election week, red-clad Times employees marched and chanted outside the newspaper’s midtown Manhattan office with “Scabby,” a giant inflatable rat symbolizing New York’s labor disputes, stationed outside 620 Eighth Avenue.
“We are not a joke, we are not playing,” the head of the Guild told the crowd on November 4.
A spokesperson for the company previously told the New York Times Fox News Digital that the newspaper was “disappointed” at the time of the strike.
New York Times technical workers strike (Fox News)
The game featured the Times’ famous “Election Pin,” which would show the probability of Trump or Harris winning. Although the pin did eventually make it to the NYT website, albeit a little later in the night than in previous years, there was not a single state-level or non-presidential pin on election night.
In addition, due to the strike, IOS News occasionally did not show ads, which marked a significant loss of revenue for the company, apps and the website were slow to load, publishing problems led to error messages for readers of articles and updates, and for subscribers to the Times received hundreds of thousands of emails with broken links, according to a post by the NYT Tech Guild.
However, a Times spokesperson described the paper’s election week coverage as “by far the site’s most successful election performance ever,” according to a statement to Fox News Digital.
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After a week of strike, the technical workers of the New York Times back to work without a contract. But, December 11The NewsGuild of New York, which represents the Times Tech Guild, reached an agreement on a three-year contract after a weeklong union strike in November.
Members of The New York Times newsroom stood in solidarity with tech workers striking on Election Day 2024. (Fox News Digital)
NBC Digital Union
NBC’s digital staff also took action this year in an effort to win a contract for their newly formed media union. On the evening of November 21, the group projected harsh messages on 30 Rock, condemning the company’s management for delaying the contract.
The NBC Digital NewsGuild, the collective bargaining unit of the NewsGuild of New York, called NBC news executives for alleged “illegal conduct” by flashing “breaking news” messages on the company’s main building in midtown Manhattan.
The NBC Digital NewsGuild, which represents NBC News Digital’s reporters, editors, designers, video journalists, animators, social media strategists and editorial staff, is negotiating its first contract since the group unionized in 2019.
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The screenings specifically targeted NBCUniversal News Group President Cesar Conde, as well as NBC News Editor-in-Chief Rebecca Blumenstein, Executive Vice President Programming Janelle Rodriguez, Executive Vice President News Catherine Kim and Executive Vice President TODAY and Lifestyle Libby Leist for engaging in tactics they say violated laws. on labor, including the firing of more than 20 union journalists without bargaining and retaliation against union members for participating in protected activity.
“Cesar Conde and his leadership team have a bad habit of breaking the law,” Tate James, a video editor and union leader, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “But now he’s dealing with a newsroom full of reporters who are tired of working without contracts and trying to take their bosses to court. NBC News executives are obsessed with shareholder value, but they don’t respect the workers who create that value in the first place. We deserve a fair contract and we won’t give up this fight until we get him.”
In addition, in 2021 National Labor Relations Board found that NBC illegally withheld more than $350,000 in raises from union reporters, according to a press release shared with Fox News Digital. The union did not reach an agreement with the union management.
Forbes Union
The Forbes Union, which also emerged in recent years, left his job December 3, 2024, a key day for the company.
The union, which represents the magazine’s editorial staff, issued a warning to management, timing its walkout on the same day as Forbes’ famous “30 under 30” list, which includes 20 lists of 30 influential people under the age of 30, was released. seniors who are recognized for their achievements in various industries.
Union members, who said they are fighting for fair wages and reductions in forced and severance pay, said yes Fox News Digital that the management was procrastinating at the negotiating table for almost three years.
Forbes’ union demanded that the company stop “illegally and unilaterally” pulling people from the bargaining unit.
A Forbes Union spokesperson told Fox News Digital that management incorrectly claimed that some Forbes Union members were “management” and, as a result, should not be part of the union. The union said the tactic was common anti-union practice, which it is fighting through unfair labor practice charges over management’s misclassification of members in an attempt to undercut the Forbes union.
Forbes Union 3-day outing in January 2024 (Forbes Union)
Union members spoke to Fox News Digital about the timing of the walkout, which coincided with the launch of the company’s “30 under 30” list to highlight the work required to publish the list.
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“The 30 Under 30 list is a really high-profile list for Forbes. It gets us a lot of attention,” said Andrea Murphy, unit president and statistics editor for Forbes. “But it takes the work of almost every single team in the newsroom, months and months of work, to compile a list like this.”
“The scope is intense,” she added. “There’s really not one part of the newsroom that’s not involved in this, so we felt like we’re leaving this day, which kind of highlights how much work it takes to do this level of journalism on a day-to-day basis. We want to basically use some of the spotlight and light spotlight that this list gets every year and shine a little light on our contract battle.”
Forbes Union 3-day outing in January 2024 (Forbes Union)
Murphy said management has been stalling and suspects it’s a tactic used by companies to dampen enthusiasm for the union by “slow-walking” the contract battle.
“Of course, they don’t tell us that while we’re sitting at the negotiating table,” she added. “They claim they did it in good faith all along.”
The union did not reach an agreement with Forbes management.
Fox News Digital’s David Rutz, Brian Flood and Nik Lanum contributed to this report.
