NEW YORK-New York Times tech worker strike reaches its peak second day Hundreds of workers struck and chanted for a fair contract on Tuesday, leaving questions about how the nation’s largest newspaper could digitally cover the biggest news day of the year.

“We want to get back to work, but the company is not offering a contract for us that fairly represents the work we do every election,” Times engineer and Tech Guild member Jeff Sisson told Fox News Digital outside the building’s headquarters. Tuesday.

The Tech Guild’s 600 members control the back-end systems that power the newspaper’s extensive digital operations. went on strike at midnight on Monday when they cannot reach a contract agreement.

Multiple union members told Fox News Digital they have been working on a deal with Times leadership for more than two years and that it is unclear what the newspaper’s website will look like on election night as Americans elect Donald Trump or Kamala Harris as president.

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in the middle of a strikeThe Times’ well-known election needle, which shows a candidate’s chances of winning based on current numbers and future projections, may not be published on the site because the technical team is responsible for the necessary infrastructure and data.

Members of the New York Times news division stood in solidarity with striking tech workers during Election Day 2024. (Fox News Digital)

Tuesday night NewsGuild union sent to x: “No contract, no sting.” Chief political analyst Nate Cohn also suggested that it was not possible for the shot to not happen earlier in the day.

Goran Svorcan-Merola, a senior software engineer at the Times and a member of the Tech Guild’s bargaining committee, said he and union members would love to reach an agreement before the election.

“We made an offer to management on Sunday and we haven’t heard from them and haven’t heard from them since,” he said. “We hope they come back to the table, but nothing yet. We have serious concerns about their latest moves against us.”

“I’m sure they’re talking to someone, but it’s not us,” he added.

Members also told Fox News Digital they will continue the strike until an agreement is reached after Election Day, but Svorcan-Merola reiterated that they are ready to negotiate at any time.

Although the election week is the deadline, Svorcan-Merola said that they gave the management enough time to reach an agreement before this week and that the strike decision was not a decision they took lightly.

“We wanted to give management more time to reach an agreement. However, elections are a time when our members are extremely stressed,” he said. “We want to show that this is a big night for our effort, it’s a big night for our work, and if you want us to be there you have to give us a fair deal.”

Sisson, the Times’ chief engineer for storytelling and publishing, said striking was “not optional” and added that he wasn’t sure what the website would look like on election night.

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A poster for the New York Times tech strike. (Fox News Digital)

“It’s a big mystery,” he said. “No one knows. I think this is a risk that I and my colleagues know very well. As I said, we did not want things to come to this point. I cannot predict exactly what will happen.”

But Sisson said it could be business as usual.

“I think the mystery is part of the risk here,” he said. “We’re not used to running elections that way. I’ve worked here and covered, I think, three presidential elections. Suffice it to say, this is not a typical election for us, and we’re very aware of that.”

Sisson said he and his colleagues want fair pay, flexibility in working remotely and protection against termination through a “just cause” clause in News Guild members’ agreements.

“Some of this suggests they think they can function without us, but we’re all about to find out exactly what that looks like on election night, one of the biggest nights of the year. The New York Times continues to report,” he said.

Times business reporter Stacy Cowley said the Tech Guild is fighting for many of the protections the News Guild has provided for generations.

“The Tech Guild has been fighting for this for two and a half years, and for two and a half years the company has refused to give them the same job protections that we always had in our contract.” in question. “This really doesn’t make sense.”

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A New York Times employee talks to employees about the ongoing strike. (Fox News Digital)

Cowley said their strike was not about smaller demands, which the Times suggested in its public comment.

“I also think it’s an incredibly cynical and mean-spirited approach from management that keeps talking about things like pet bereavement leave, unscented products in the restroom, etc.,” he said, citing some interesting requests reported by guild members that go beyond the typical questions. such as higher wages. “These were things that were put on the table very briefly, consumed about five minutes of bargaining time, and have been withdrawn and taken off the table for over a year. They continue to hit these points to distract from things they’re not doing.” I don’t want to talk about it.”

Cowley also noted what he called Times management’s “hypocritical” attitudes, given the pro-union stance the paper has historically taken in its reporting and editorials.

“I find it really sad that they let it get to this point, because our tech team, again, took the strike authorization vote on September 10th. They deliberately did this two months in advance with the idea that it would give them time to actually get a deal done,” he said.

“A lot of my colleagues here today are pretty heartbroken to see this happen,” he added. “I mean, a lot of our people have spent years building systems, building graphics, building today’s tools. They were really excited to be working in the newsroom on election day.”

A New York Times spokesperson gave Fox News Digital the same statement as a day earlier, expressing disappointment with the timing of the strike.

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“We look forward to continuing to work with Tech Guild to reach a fair contract, recognizing that they are already among the highest-paid individual contributors at the Company and that journalism is our top priority,” the spokesperson said. “We are in one of the most important news periods for our readers, and we have solid plans to ensure we can fulfill our mission and serve our readers.

“While we respect the union’s right to engage in protected actions, we are disappointed that our colleagues are currently striking; it is both unnecessary and contrary to our mission.”