New York Occasions tech employees, who create and keep the know-how that powers the New York Occasions web sites, video games, and apps, have been on strike since Nov. 5. Because the New York Occasions Tech Guild, which incorporates greater than 600 folks, bargains with the Occasions administration for honest pay and protections, the union has requested supporters to cease taking part in Wordle, Connections, and different Occasions video games.
“We all know how laborious it’s to interrupt your Wordle streak, so we now have been laborious at work making extra video games for our supporters,” the Occasions Tech Guild posted to X. Up to now, it’s printed seven brief, easy video games to maintain the Occasions gaming neighborhood busy.
There’s, in fact, Strikle, the picket line-safe model of Wordle; Phrase Search, the place you seek for phrases like “honest,” “contract,” and “now;” Connections: Strike Version, a labor-themed model of Connections; Match Strike, a match-two card sport; Scabby’s Truthful Contract Builder, the place you catch union proposals; Frogger eighth Ave, a model of Frogger the place you keep away from automobiles and union-busting administration to hop towards the picket line in entrance of the New York Occasions workplace; and a web page filled with trivia and jokes. All the video games are fairly easy, however a enjoyable method to have interaction supporters. A NewsGuild of New York spokesperson advised The Verge that every one video games have been made by guild members, count on Strikle, “which was made by an exterior supporter.”
Alongside the video games boycott, the union can be asking supporters to cease utilizing the NYT Cooking app; the linked web site has a number of strike-themed recipes to check out within the meantime.
Union members are on strike as they give the impression of being to barter a contract that addresses issues like “distant/hybrid work,” “simply trigger” protections (one thing the newsroom union has), and “pay fairness/honest pay.” The Occasions Tech Guild has additionally filed an unfair labor follow cost in opposition to the Occasions. The union expects to strike till they’re in a position to attain an settlement; the strike was the “first to coincide with a presidential election within the NewsGuild because the 1964 Detroit Newspaper Strike,” the Occasions Tech Union mentioned in a information launch. Regardless of the strike, the Occasions notorious election needle ran on Tuesday.
