Staff at the New York Times' product-recommendation site went on strike ahead of some of the busiest shopping days of the year.
The Wirecutter employees plan to go on strike from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, a time when millions of Americans shop for holiday gifts. The most profitable time of the year for the site is during this time of year.
The union said that Wirecutter's staff walked off the job because of a dispute with management. The NewsGuild of New York's Wirecutter Union is seeking a $300,000 increase to minimum salaries for its 65-person unit, all of whom are participating in the strike. It wants a raise for guaranteed annual raises.
Workers at more than two dozen companies are demanding everything from higher wages to safer working conditions, and Wirecutter's strike is the latest in a string of walkouts and protests.
The Wirecutter Union is on November 23, 2021.
The union says that The Times has dragged on negotiations for two years.
The Times is sitting on over $1 billion in cash, and Wirecutter continues to bring in record revenue. Our members have not seen a financial benefit from their contributions. The union said that the management of the Times had offered meager wage increases.
Danielle Rhoades Ha, the paper's vice president of communications, told Insider that The Times is working with the union to reach a deal.
The New York Times has a long history of productive relationships with unions. She said that they were working with the Wirecutter Union to reach a collective bargaining agreement that would reward their work and contributions to The Times.
The Wirecutter Union is asking the public to support the strike by not shopping at the site. Wirecutter makes money by taking a cut of each sale generated through links on its pages. The paywall was recently introduced.
The Times is facing labor disputes with some of its reporters and tech workers.
