NEW YORK-The New York Times tech workers’ strike has entered its phase second day Tuesday, with hundreds of employees demonstrating and chanting for a fair contract, raising questions about how the nation’s largest newspaper would be able to digitally cover the most important news day of the year.

“We’d like to get back to work, but the company isn’t really giving us a contract that fairly represents the work we do in every election,” Jeff Sisson, a Times engineer and Tech Guild member, told Fox News Digital in front of the building’s headquarters on April 17. Tuesday.

The Tech Guild’s 600 members, who control the back-end systems that power the newspaper’s vast digital operations, went on strike Monday at midnight when they failed to reach a contractual agreement.

Several union members told Fox News Digital that they have been working on a deal with Times management for more than two years, and it’s unclear what the newspaper’s website will look like on election night, as Americans will choose Donald Trump or Kamala Harris as president.

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In the middle of the strikeThe Times’ well-known election needle that indicates a candidate’s chances of winning based on current numbers and future projections may not be published on the site because the technical team is responsible for the infrastructure and necessary data.

Members of the New York Times news division showed solidarity with striking tech workers on Election Day 2024. (Fox News Digital)

Tuesday evening, the NewsGuild union posted on: “No contract, no needle.” Chief political analyst Nate Cohn suggested earlier in the day that no needle was a possibility either.

Goran Svorcan-Merola, a senior software engineer at The Times and a member of the Tech Guild negotiating committee, said he and his union colleagues are eager to reach an agreement before the election.

“We made an offer to management on Sunday, and we haven’t heard from her and haven’t heard since,” he said. “We hope they come back to the table, but nothing yet. We are seriously concerned about their latest counterattack.”

“I’m sure they’re talking to someone, but it’s not us,” he added.

Members also told Fox News Digital that they will continue to strike after Election Day until a deal is reached, but Svorcan-Merola reiterated that they are available to negotiate at any time.

Despite the election week deadline, Svorcan-Merola said she gave management enough time to reach an agreement before this week and that the decision to strike was not one she took lightly .

“We wanted to give the leadership more time to reach an agreement. But elections are a time when our members are extremely stressed,” he said. “We want to show that it’s a big night for our work, it’s a big night for our work and if you want us to be there you have to give us a fair deal.”

Sisson, senior narrative and editing engineer at The Times, said the strike was “not a choice,” adding that he wasn’t sure what the website would look like on election night .

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A poster for the New York Times tech strike. (Fox News Digital)

“It’s a big mystery,” he said. “Nobody knows. I think it’s a risk that my colleagues and I are very aware of. Like I said, we didn’t want things to get to this point. I can’t really predict what what’s going to happen.”

But it could continue as usual, Sisson said.

“I think the mystery is part of the risk here,” he said. “This is not how we are used to running an election. I have worked here and covered, I think, three presidential elections. Suffice to say, this is not a typical election for us, and we are very aware of that.

Sisson said he and his colleagues are asking for fair pay, flexibility around remote work and protection from termination with a “just cause” clause that News Guild members have in their agreement.

“Part of it says they think they can work without us, but we’re all about to find out exactly what it’s going to look like on election night, which is one of the biggest nights of the year until ‘Now the New York Times coverage continues,’ he said.

Stacy Cowley, a Times business reporter, said the Tech Guild is fighting for many of the protections the News Guild has enjoyed for generations.

“The Tech Guild has been fighting for this for two and a half years and the company has refused for two and a half years to give them the exact same job protections that we’ve always had in our contract,” she said. declared. said. “This is truly unacceptable.”

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A New York Times employee speaks to employees about the ongoing strike. (Fox News Digital)

Cowley said their strike was not about more modest demands, which the Times touted in its public commentary.

“I also find it incredibly cynical and disingenuous for management to continue to talk about things like pet death leave, unscented products in toilets,” she said. stated, referring to some bizarre requests reported by Guild members that went beyond the usual requests. like a higher salary. “These are things that were very briefly on the table, took about five minutes of negotiation, and they’ve been taken off the table for over a year. They continue to hammer these points to deflect attention things they don’t do. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Cowley also denounced what she called “hypocritical” positions on the part of Times management, given the pro-union stance the paper has historically taken in its coverage and editorials.

“I find it really sad that they let things get to this point, because once again, our technicians voted to authorize a strike on September 10. They did it deliberately two months in advance with the idea that it would give time to actually get a deal done,” she said.

“Many of my colleagues are heartbroken to be here doing this today,” she added. “I mean a lot of our people have spent years building systems, building charts, building the tools of today. They were really excited to be in the newsroom working on the day of the election.”

A New York Times spokesperson gave Fox News Digital the same statement as the day before, expressing disappointment with the timing of the strike.

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“We look forward to continuing to work with the Tech Guild to reach a fair contract that recognizes that they are already among the highest-paid individual contributors at the company and that journalism is our top priority,” he said. declared the spokesperson. “We are experiencing one of the most important periods of media coverage for our readers and have robust plans in place to ensure we are able to fulfill our mission and serve our readers.

“While we respect the union’s right to engage in protected action, we are disappointed that colleagues are striking at this time, which is both unnecessary and contrary to our mission.”