(Bloomberg Law) — Technology workers at the New York Times have voted to unionize, securing a major win for the Communications Workers of America as it seeks to dominate digital workplaces.
The union won 404 of 508 ballots, roughly 80% of those cast, according to a preliminary tally.
The group declared victory in an online vote tracker that loosely imitated the Times’ renowned election needle.
The bargaining unit—believed to be the largest union of tech workers in the U.S.—includes about 600 full-time and part-time engineers, analysts, designers, project and product managers who build and maintain the publication’s website and online applications.
Management had denied the union’s request for voluntary recognition and unsuccessfully asked the labor board for a much smaller election, saying the workers’ jobs were too disparate to all be included in the same bargaining unit.
The organizing effort at the Times was part of a broader campaign by the communications workers, a larger federation that includes the NewsGuild, to organize digital workplaces.
News organizations have been organizing at a rapid clip even as the number of private-sector union workers has dwindled nationally, but until now the effort has mostly been limited to editorial employees.
The Washington-Baltimore NewsGuild, also affiliated with CWA, represents employees at Bloomberg Law.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ian Kullgren in Washington at ikullgren@bloombergindustry.com
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Martha Mueller Neff at mmuellerneff@bloomberglaw.com; Andrew Harris at aharris@bloomberglaw.com
(Updated with vote tally in second paragraph.)
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