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The NewsGuild of New York has accused The New York Times of using artificial intelligence technology to monitor and surveil the performance of unionized tech workers in violation of their collective bargaining agreement.
The Guild filed two grievances and an unfair labor practice charge on behalf of the Tech Guild against The Times last Thursday. The unionized tech workers accused Times management of violating their contract with improper use of AI programs and failing to notify the union.
Benjamin Harnett, chair of the Tech Guild’s Generative AI committee and a Times staff software engineer, objects to the use of AI surveillance.
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“Using AI to surveil our work violates our contract and creates a skewed, inaccurate picture of our members’ work,” Harnett said. “Our work takes human judgment, problem-solving and skill that can’t be accurately assessed by AI analysis and proxy metrics. It’s the equivalent of setting an arbitrary story quota for journalists.”
A New York Times spokesperson objected to the union’s grievance.
“We disagree with the characterizations made in the grievance and will respond as part of our normal contractual process. Likewise, we will respond to this Request for Information (RFI) in due course as we’ve done with 80+ other RFIs from the Guild in recent years,” a Times spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The Tech Guild, which represents unionized tech workers, is one of three bargaining units at The New York Times represented by the NewsGuild of NY. The NewsGuild insists that Times management has “continually refused to provide information to the Tech Guild on the company’s use of AI, despite being required by federal law to provide information that relates to either bargaining or contract enforcement,” according to a press release on the grievance.
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“Workers everywhere are under attack from the unethical use of artificial programs by bosses,” NewsGuild of NY president Susan DeCarava said. “Sadly, New York Times management has proven themselves to be no different, rejecting both transparency and accountability for how artificial programs are being used against the very workers who help make the company successful.”
The latest labor issue at the Times comes one week after unionized staffers gathered outside the paper’s New York headquarters to rally against management, demanding a fair contract and insisting the company puts profits over people.
The event, dubbed “Rally for a Fair Contract,” featured the Times Guild pushing for protections against artificial intelligence, guaranteed hybrid work, affordable health care, pay increases that match the rising cost of living and keeping work within the union.
New York Times senior editor Jim Luttrell, also the unit chair of the Times Guild, believes rank-and-file employees are simply “not happy” with management.
“This company is often ‘do as I say, not as I do’ and they are very much a corporation when it comes to dealing with organized labor. They want to increase their profits even more, but they don’t want to share those profits with us,” Luttrell told Fox News Digital.
“We know we make this place what it is,” Luttrell added. “This was an escalation today… It’s to tell the company that, ‘You’ve been dismissive of our needs and our wants and desires, and we’re not going away.’”
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Luttrell, who has been at the Times for 31 years, said AI is seen as “a threat to our jobs,” and unionized employees want protections in writing. He said management is on the same page when it comes to what the protections should be, but the Gray Lady brass doesn’t want to “put it in a contract.”
“We know we want to prepare for the worst and make sure our people are protected,” Luttrell said.
A New York Times spokesperson told Fox News Digital that a “fair” offer has been sitting on the table.
“It’s been 225 days without a response from the Guild on our wage proposals. A deal will get done when the Guild is ready to engage in serious negotiations on the major issues,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital last week.
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