New York Times Writer Nikole Hannah-Jones Speaks at Union Walkout
Nikole Hannah-Jones, editor of the New York Times’ 1619 Project, spoke at a union protest outside of the Times building in Midtown Thursday, cheering on fellow employees who walked out after contract negotiations with management broke down.
At least a hundred employees representing the New York Times Guild and other newspaper unions attended the demonstration to demand higher wages, company investment in health-insurance plans, the preservation of pension plans, flexible work location arrangements, and more.
— Caroline Downey (@carolinedowney_) December 8, 2022
Hannah-Jones is the domestic correspondent for the New York Times Magazine specializing in racial injustice, but she hasn’t published an article in over two years, according to an online archive of her work. Yet she took the podium Thursday to urge the Times to offer workers more generous benefits.
Conceding that she doesn’t regularly work from the office — most staffers are required to work in the office at least three days a week — and isn’t a member of the bargaining committee, Hannah-Jones said she was there to support the collective action anyway, pointing out that she hails “from a long line of union members and activists.”
“I just show up and make a nice speech,” she said, “because we love the New York Times, and workers are the heart of the New York Times.”
The union has been lobbying for 20 months, according to multiple speakers at the event, to get a renewed contract including a number of monetary benefits to ensure employee compensation keeps pace with inflation. To help its members afford New York City rent and the general cost of living, the guild is seeking a $65,000 salary floor.
Some vocal staff members have accused the Times of sharing its profits with shareholders instead of staff in the form of massive dividends and pledges to make tens of millions of dollars in stock buybacks this year.
“When this paper struggled all of us had to share in its austerity . . . all of us deserve to share in its success,” Hannah-Jones said.
Protesters chanted their discontent. “We make the paper we make the profits” and “we got the power,” they declared.
Scabby, the blowup rat used as a symbol of labor protest in New York City, towered over the crowd.
In 2021, Hannah-Jones complained publicly when she realized the five-year professorship contract she accepted at the University of North Carolina did not come with tenure. Despite lacking the academic record typically required to secure tenure at a major university, Hannah-Jones attributed the lack of tenure to racist discrimination and claimed she was being mistreated. The school eventually caved, but Hannah-Jones rejected the offer and went to Howard University to teach instead.
Earlier Thursday, Hannah-Jones tweeted in solidarity with her striking colleagues.
“Without a contract, today I join 1,100 of my colleagues in walking out. We’re asking readers to not engage in any @nytimes platforms today and stand with us on the digital picket line. Read local news. Listen to public radio. Break your Wordle streak,” she said.
One Times staff member told National Review that pay raises are especially needed because of the three-days-a-week requirement to work at the headquarters in Manhattan, where the cost of living is skyrocketing. While some journalists can technically do their jobs remotely, that’s not the case for essential workers like the office janitors and security guards. Last month, someone entered the office with an axe, and security guards thankfully were there to intervene, he claimed.
A video journalist for the Times said parental leave was also on the table. Some employees haven’t received raises since 2020, she claimed.
Stacy Cowley, the Guild’s chief bargainer and a finance reporter at the Times, said further action should be expected if talks with management stall again. “We may be forced to call a strike authorization vote,” she said.
