When it comes to unions, the New York Times is conflicted to say the least. In the political arena, the paper is vociferously pro-union. Thus, its editorial board has denounced Scott Walker and Wisconsin’s Republicans on a number of occasions, such as this August 10, 2011 editorial titled “Wisconsin’s Warning to Union-Busters:”
Five months after Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin pushed through a law stripping public unions of their bargaining rights, the Republican Party has paid a price. …
Mr. Walker and his colleagues tried to paint the unions as unwilling to sacrifice a bit of their pensions and health benefits in rough fiscal times. It was heartening to see more than 160,000 Wisconsin voters reject that false notion.
But the Times, just like the people of Wisconsin, employs union labor. When it comes to its own employees, the New York Times Company sings an entirely different tune. Today’s New York Post reports on the bitter hostility between CEO Pinch Sulzburger and the paper’s labor force:
“The Times is in labor turmoil,” wrote health and science reporter Donald McNeil. “Journalists are openly angry. Even the sacred Page One meeting has had a protest”
Negotiations with the Newspaper Guild, in which the company is proposing to gut the company's once lucrative retirement and pension programs, remain acrimonious.
The Guild, with over 1,000 members, has been without a contract since March 31, 2011.
John H. Hinderaker is a lawyer with a nationwide litigation practice. For twenty years Hinderaker has written with his former law partner Scott Johnson on public policy issues including income inequality, income taxes, campaign finance reform, affirmative action, welfare reform, and race in the criminal justice system. Their articles have appeared in National Review, The Weekly Standard, The American Enterprise, American Experiment Quarterly, and newspapers from Florida to California. The Claremont Institute has archived many of their articles here.
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