Striking NYT engineers urge people not to play Wordle

Will you break yours? Wordle Streak? Striking New York Times tech workers urge gamers to adhere to their digital picket line not play Wordle, Connectionsor his other games.

New York Times tech employees who develop and maintain the technology for the New York Times website and games are on strike, the New York Times Tech Guild announced Monday. The strike comes one day before Election Day in the United States; The Times is famous for its live election night needle, which is, of course, run by the publication's technicians. The Times Tech Guild includes 600 employees across the publication. Workers are calling on management to address concerns about “remote/hybrid work,” “just cause” protections (something the newsroom union has), and “equity/fair pay.” The Times Tech Guild has filed an unfair labor practices lawsuit against the Times for alleged labor violations.

“Our union members and bargaining committee did everything possible to prevent this ULP strike,” senior analytics manager and chairman of the Times Tech Guild said in a statement. “But management is more willing to risk our election coverage than agree to a fair deal with its workers. They left us no choice but to demonstrate the power of our work on the picket lines. Nevertheless, we are ready to negotiate and get this contract over the finish line.”

It may come as a surprise to some to learn how important the Times games department is to the company and its players. bought the company Wordle for “low 7 numbers” in 2022 to bolster its already successful games. And it seems to have worked: In January, Axios reported that the New York Times Games app had been downloaded 10 million times. Next to Wordlethe Times publishes daily crossword puzzles, Spelling bee, connections, strands, TilesAnd Sudoku. For the player base, “streaks” are a badge of honor for those who play – and win – every day. If you miss a day, you will lose your streak. That's why requiring players to end their streaks is a big deal – but one that the Times Tech Guild says is worth doing in solidarity with the guild.

The Guild also asks people not to use the NYT Cooking app.

Times Tech Guild employees resigned from their jobs on Monday and plan to demonstrate at the Times office every day from 9 a.m. EST to 6 p.m. EST. The guild said that if “no progress is made on Monday” and the strike continues, the strike will be the “first to coincide with a presidential election in the NewsGuild since the 1964 Detroit newspaper strike.”

A Times spokeswoman, Danielle Rhoades Ha, issued the following statement to Polygon:

“We look forward to continuing to work with Tech Guild to reach a fair contract that recognizes that they are already among the highest paid individual employees in the company and that journalism is our top priority.”

We are in one of the most significant reporting periods for our readers and have solid plans in place to ensure we can 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 inconsistent with our mission.”

Update: This story has been updated to include a statement from The New York Times.