Approximately 200 staffers at The New York Times’ sports site The Athletic have announced their intent to unionize with the NY Times Guild and are asking newspaper leadership to voluntarily recognize them as part of the newsroom union.
“We are proud of all that The Athletic and The New York Times as a whole has accomplished since our 2022 acquisition, and we know that our inclusion in the Times Guild will only further strengthen our work,” a letter from organizers at The Athletic to Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger and CEO Meredith Kopit Levien read.
A spokesperson from the Times confirmed to TheWrap that they have “received and are reviewing” the Athletic staffers’ written intent to unionize.
In a Monday statement from NewsGuild of New York, the union that represents the NY Times Guild, organizers noted that The Times had promised when it acquired The Athletic in 2022 that it would remain as a separate entity. But in September 2023, The Times closed its sports desk and shifted all of the newspaper’s sports coverage to staff members on The Athletic.
“The Times must recognize these workers as part of the Times Guild,” said Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York. “We will not support a two-tier system that disenfranchises workers and undermines our members, nor will we accept management’s charade that The Athletic is a separate entity.”
“Over the past several months, we have organized around the principle of preserving what makes The Athletic great — our staff, our work and our loyal readership,” added Katie Strang, senior investigative reporter for The Athletic. “The work we do is union work and we believe we should be afforded the same benefits and protections as the Times Guild members under their current contract.”
