NYT Guild Says Staffers Were Warned They Could Be Arrested at 175th Anniversary Gala Protest | Exclusive

The New York Times Guild accused Times management of trying to “silence” employees protesting outside its 175th anniversary gala, saying an NYPD officer warned workers they could be arrested if they entered a restricted area. The allegations were detailed in an internal Guild email obtained exclusively by TheWrap. The union also sent a letter Tuesday to top Times executives protesting the incident. Guild members gathered outside the Times’ anniversary gala last Thursday at Spring Studios in Manhattan, where they distributed fliers and used a digital billboard truck to draw attention to their contract fight. The Guild represents more than 1,500 Times journalists, business employees and other workers. As protesters waited on the sidewalk for guests to arrive, an NYPD officer told them that the Times had secured a permit restricting access to the sidewalk, according to the Guild. The union said the officer described the permit as effectively making the public sidewalk “private property” for the evening and told members they would have to distribute leaflets from a significant distance. The officer also warned that protesters who entered the restricted zone could be considered trespassers and arrested, according to the Guild. “It was clear that this officer was acting at the direction of Times management,” the Guild alleged in Tuesday’s email. The internal email does not provide evidence establishing that Times management directed the officer’s actions. The Guild said its letter was addressed to Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger, executive editor Joe Kahn, CEO Meredith Kopit Levien and Dave Nicholas, the company’s senior vice president of global security. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch was copied on the letter. “It is shameful that The Times’s leadership would instruct anyone to threaten to arrest Times journalists for exercising their First Amendment rights,” the Guild wrote in the letter, according to the internal email. Representatives for the New York Times and NYPD did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s requests for comment on the Guild’s allegations. A Times spokesperson told TheWrap last week, before the Guild raised the allegations about its interaction with police, that the company had “been committed from the beginning to try and get to a fair contract quickly.” “We remain committed to that, but negotiations happen at the negotiating table,” the spokesperson said at the time. “Tonight is a moment to publicly stand up for quality, independent journalism and recognize the value our mission brings to society.” The dispute unfolded against the backdrop of the Times’ 175th anniversary celebration, which the Guild said cost seven figures and drew celebrities including Robert De Niro, Diane von Furstenberg and Kevin Bacon. The Guild contrasted that spending with the company’s position at the bargaining table, including what the union described as a 2% wage increase offer and proposed changes that would require employees to shoulder more of the cost of their health care. “Why exactly should we be asked to ‘dig deeper’ into our own pockets to stave off health care cuts?” the Guild wrote Tuesday. “Why is management offering us – the workers who make The New York Times – a 2% wage increase while lavishing cash on shareholders and glitzy parties in New York and Cannes?” Health care has been among the major sticking points in negotiations. As TheWrap previously reported, employees and the company both contribute to a self-funded health benefit fund, and the Guild says management wants workers to shoulder more of the fund’s rising costs. The Guild said members protested outside the gala for hours and distributed fliers challenging the Times’ contention that the current structure of its health care fund is “unsustainable.” “Management’s actions demonstrate that they know we are right – that none of the profits and success that they celebrated last week would be possible without us,” the Guild bargaining committee wrote. “It’s why they tried (and failed) to silence us outside the gala on Thursday.” The Times and the Guild are scheduled to return to the bargaining table Sept. 30.