Frustrated by the lack of progress in contract negotiations, the union at Wirecutter, the product review site owned by The New York Times, announced Monday it will launch a strike starting Black Friday.
The planned strike, which has received support from over 90% of union members, comes after nearly two years of bargaining for a first contract. If a deal cannot be reached before Black Friday on Nov. 26, workers will walk out and ask readers not to shop through Wirecutter that weekend, the busiest time of the year for the site.
The Wirecutter Union, which represents roughly 70 employees, is calling for higher salary floors and annual guaranteed raises. They argue that Wirecutter brings in “record revenue” for the cash-flush New York Times, yet the company refuses to adequately compensate its employees.
The strike announcement comes shortly after The New York Times released its third-quarter earnings report, which showed that Wirecutter had earned 10,000 net subscriptions in the first month after it launched paid subscriptions in September.
"We look forward to continuing to work towards an agreement with the Wirecutter Union in our standard process at the negotiating table,” New York Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha wrote in an emailed statement. “Our compensation proposal is more generous than what they’ve described and seeks to maintain a similar compensation structure for Wirecutter employees with programs in place for others at The Times Company."
The union also filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday, alleging that the company has failed to provide information needed for wage negotiations. Rhoades Ha said The New York Times has not yet seen the charge and could not comment on it.
Meanwhile, the two other unions at the company — The Times Guild and the Times Tech Guild — are locked in their own labor disputes. The Times Guild, which represents roughly 1,300 editorial staff, is negotiating a new contract, and the 600-member Times Tech Guild is waiting for its NLRB election to determine whether New York Times tech workers will have union representation. The Times Tech Guild held its own half-day walkout in August after filing three unfair labor practice charges.
Members of all three unions are planning a rally outside The New York Times building next Tuesday to protest what they say are “anti-union tactics” by company management.
Thanks, Angela, and now on to the rest of today’s newsletter …
Higher learning
You remember Bari Weiss. She was The New York Times opinion columnist who famously quit the paper in a rather lengthy resignation letter in July 2020. She complained of a hostile work environment created by bullying colleagues and an “illiberal environment.”
She has since gone on to write on Substack and host a podcast. Now Weiss and some of her pals are claiming America’s university system is broken and they are tired of waiting for it to get fixed. So they are starting their own university. In a tweet, Weiss said the university is “dedicated to the fearless pursuit of truth.”
In a Substack posting, former St. John’s College president Pano Kanelos, who will be the university’s president, wrote more about their plans and the dozens of folks involved, including Weiss and founding faculty members such as Andrew Sullivan and Caitlin Flanagan.
The Wrap’s Lindsey Ellefson wrote, “It will be called the University of Austin, but it is already garnering comparisons to Trump University.”
Twitter, naturally, took shots at the idea because the school, as of now, is not accredited and will not offer actual degrees. The university will “offer a summer program for college students called ‘Forbidden Courses’ that invites top students from other universities to join (them) for a spirited discussion about the most provocative questions that often lead to censorship or self-censorship in many universities.” Master’s programs will begin a year from now.
The Daily Beast’s Noah Kirsch wrote, “The tumult follows other high-profile education scandals, most notably the now-defunct Trump University, which paid a $25 million settlement to former students in 2018 over fraud allegations. UATX, which will operate as a nonprofit, is positioning itself as very real. The school says it has already received seed money and is attempting to land $250 million in additional capital.”
As I mentioned, plenty took their shots at the so-called university on Twitter, including ESPN’s Bomani Jones. Although he never mentioned it by name, you knew who he was talking about when he tweeted, “don't let em trick you into fueling the p.r. campaign for that school.”
Let me check my phone
