Don’t click on any Wirecutter links this weekend. If the strikers’ non-unionized colleagues aren’t going to make sure that happens, then the responsibility falls onto you, the consumer. A strike only works if it hurts management nearly as much as it does the striking workforce.
The worst thing that could happen for the members of the Wirecutter union, who are making relatively mild demands of management, would be for the site to hum along and earn as much money as it normally does over the next four days. He did not answer several requests for comment. I also asked him if he personally would be working through the strike, and if he cared to explain why or why not. Earlier this week, I reached out to Wirecutter Editor-in-Chief Ben Frumin and asked if he could confirm that the site would be using middle managers and freelancers in order to go on publishing as normal through Cyber Monday. I was told that much of the work that would normally be done by members of the union would be taken up by management-level editorial employees and freelancers, who are not in the union. ? Here's the one tab you’ll want to constantly refresh today: /XYSRAw0sU6- Wirecutter November 26, 2021 ? Black Friday is officially here! ? We’ll be updating our deals page throughout the day with only the very best deals on Wirecutter-approved gear. I spoke to a member of the Wirecutter bargaining unit last week, who told me that the unit expected Wirecutter to go on publishing throughout the strike. You can imagine that the Black Friday through Cyber Monday stretch is a particularly lucrative time for a site with this sort of business model, and one in which having 65 people not working could cause some real harm to the bottom line.Įxactly how much harm can be caused, and thus how much leverage can be gained, by the striking workers remains to be seen. 7 and purchase it from Amazon, Wirecutter gets a cut of that sale. What this means is that if you read an article on Wirecutter listing the 21 Best Toasters For Divorced Dads, and then click the link on Toaster No. Wirecutter, like many sites that have an e-commerce business, earns revenue through affiliate links. The timing of the strike was well-considered. The Times responded by refusing to even sit down for a negotiation before Black Friday, and so now all members of the Wirecutter union are on strike through Monday. Fed up with how the Times has continued to slow-play the already glacial negotiations, the Wirecutter bargaining unit recently delivered an ultimatum to management: Either get a deal done with us by Black Friday, or we will walk out. This is because the site’s bargaining unit, about 65 editorial employees, have been trying and failing to negotiate their first collective bargaining agreement with Times management for nearly two years. In case you haven’t heard, a large chunk of Wirecutter staffers are currently on strike.
The New York Times did not immediately respond to request for comment.Today is Black Friday, which means that you may very well be sitting in your home thinking, “Oh, crud, I need to buy some Christmas gifts!” Perhaps you have previously gone about solving this problem by going to Wirecutter, a section of The New York Times that provides readers with product reviews and recommendations, and purchased a bunch of items that the site gathered into various lists of Black Friday deals. Their labor is the heart of the company and their fight for respect, for a fair contract, guarantees them a voice in their own workplace.” Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York, said: “Workers are the reason Wirecutter is a much-relied upon publication. This comes at the same time, members of the three unions at the New York Times - The Times Guild, Times Tech Guild and Wirecutter Union - will be protesting Times management’s anti-union tactics at an in-person rally outside the Times building in Manhattan on Nov. The Times announced in its latest quarterly earnings report that Wirecutter has added 10,000 paid subscribers, but if a deal isn’t reached, the Wirecutter Union will call on readers and subscribers not to shop through the site on Black Friday through Cyber Monday. “A contract would ensure that we have a real say in our compensation and in our future at the Times.” “In the two years we’ve been in bargaining, Wirecutter’s revenue and readership has grown enormously, and still the Times is nickel-and-diming its editorial staff - we have many union members who do more and earn less than I did in my first big media job 15 years ago,” said Tim Heffernan, senior staff writer at the site.