Feds: New York Times Illegally Sought to Stop Employees from Unionizing

John BinderJanuary 7, 2022

The New York Times Company illegally deployed union-busting practices against employees to prevent support for the corporation’s tech union, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) alleges this week.

The media corporation, worth more than $1 billion, was hit with union-busting accusations this week in regards to the New York Times Tech Guild — a group of about 650 Times tech employees who unionized in April 2021 but whom the Times has refused to recognize.

According to Reuters, the NLRB accuses the Times of violating federal labor law when executives told employees in May 2021 that they were not allowed to show support for the Times Tech Guild during a virtual meeting.

🚨 Union busting update 🚨 We’ve learned that @nytimes mgmt is kicking off 2022 by continuing its anti-union campaign, refusing to admit wrongdoing in our Unfair Labor Practice charge. The @NLRB will hold a trial to prosecute NYT for violating labor law.

— New York Times Tech Guild (@NYTGuildTech) January 5, 2022

An initial complaint from the Communications Workers of America’s NewsGuild was made with the NLRB in June 2021.

In a statement, Times Vice President of Communications Danielle Rhoades Ha said the media corporation “strongly disagree with the union’s allegations about the supervisory status of certain technology employees and welcome the opportunity to explain our position to the board.”

The latest complaint against the Times will be used at a March trial.

Despite the union-busting accusations, the New York Times has proclaimed for decades to back efforts by union workers. In September 2021, for instance, the Times ran a piece that chronicled the struggle that a number of working and middle class Americans face when trying to organize a union at their workplaces.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter here.