In early November, on election week, New York Times Tech Guild (NYTTG) members called the largest tech worker strike in US history. Nearly 700-unit members — about half of whom are remote workers located across the country — logged out of their work laptops and walked out to the 8th Avenue and virtual picket lines. Eight days later, the strike ended abruptly with no additional bargaining time with management, no contract agreement, and — to put it politely — a strongly re-engaged and opinionated membership. 

This project will have two main aspects. Firstly, it will serve to chronicle the NYTTG strike — featuring a timeline, interviews, and details of both the in-person and remote strikes. Because the unit’s contract negotiation is still underway, this part of the project is the most sensitive to updates in the ongoing negotiations. Since I am also a member of the NYTTG unit, I’m uniquely positioned to both adapt to changes in the state of the contract fight and to access members of the unit for interviews and internal documents to help illustrate more of the internal mechanics of the strike for those outside of the unit. Consulting with the CUNY Human Research Protection Program has been helpful in determining the structures and supports (like interviewee consent forms) that will help me to distinguish between my roles as unit member and researcher.

Additionally, the project will involve the development of at least one reusable open-source organizing tool to help aid future remote strikers. During the first few days of the work stoppage, unit members made apps that made some of the logistics of the strike easier — a chant sharing application to sync up leaders on the picket line, and a text messaging application to quickly message contacts reminders of upcoming actions. That innovation happened in the midst of a lot of chaos and moving parts of the strike; much more could have been streamlined by tech worker intervention with a little bit of organization and focus. The semester-long timeline of this project will provide a time-bound incubator to talk to other union shops about innovation that would benefit them and to develop an MVP version of a tool that could be used by future workers.

In thinking about organizing the work plan, I envision four key deliverables that will come together into the final project: background research about the current state of remote and tech unions in the US and a survey of a diverse set of units’ needs; interviews with members of the NYTTG; development of an MVP organizing tool that responds to identified need; and development of a website that brings it all together. I’ve tried to organize the scopes of work so that there are consistent and diverse learning opportunities for each member of the team, and no single “crunch” point or bottleneck for the work to come together. I’m optimistic that the project could provide opportunities for all participating colleagues to practice their archival, research, interview, and web development skills, and am excited about the possibilities it holds for future organizing.