The New York Times Is Bracing For A Walkout & Readers Are Asked To 'Break Their Wordle Streak'
The New York Times is preparing for a 24-hour walkout by its staff on Thursday and readers are being asked to show their support by breaking their Wordle streak.
Last week the union announced hundreds of employees would stop working as of 12:01 a.m. on Thursday unless a contract deal could be reached.
The Associated Press reports the walkout would include more than 1,100 employees and would be the "first strike of its kind at the newspaper in more than 40 years."
The outlet says employees in the NYT newsroom and members of the NewsGuild of New York are frustrated with bargaining that has gone on since their last contract expired in March 2021.
Negotiations continued on Wednesday, but issues surrounding wage increases and remote-work policies were still not agreed upon, according to the AP.
A sports reporter with the New York Times, Kevin Draper, told the BBC that he's fortunate to work for "one of the few places in media, or print media, that is profitable."
"Yet the proposals that management have made are barely better than what we got last time," Draper added.
NYT staff took to Twitter on Wednesday to ask readers for their support.
A critic-at-large with the NYT, Amanda Hess, asked readers to not engage in any New York Times platforms on Thursday and that includes giving up Wordle.
\u201cWe\u2019re asking readers to not engage in any @nytimes platforms tomorrow and stand with us on the digital picket line! Read local news. Listen to public radio. Make something from a cookbook. Break your Wordle streak.\u201d— Amanda Hess (@Amanda Hess) 1670435239
One person asked if that also includes the crossword, to which Hess replied yes.
Clearly, the topic picked up a lot of traction quickly, with Wordle trending on Twitter by Wednesday evening.
It looks like many people are willing to show their support by doing what's being asked of them.
One woman tweeted that she would give up the crossword puzzle for the "first time in two years."
\u201c@amandahess @nytimes I will give up the crossword puzzle just for one day! Good luck! It will be the first time in two years I won't do it.\u201d— Amanda Hess (@Amanda Hess) 1670435239
Another person seemingly showed their support and said they would be breaking a 99-day Wordle streak.
\u201c@amandahess @nytimes I was so looking forward to clocking over 100 \ud83d\udc94\u201d— Amanda Hess (@Amanda Hess) 1670435239
Another Twitter user was OK with the other suggestions Hess made in her tweet, but expressed shock about being asked to give up Wordle.
\u201c@amandahess @nytimes Check check check \u2026 Wordle? \ud83d\ude31\u201d— Amanda Hess (@Amanda Hess) 1670435239
It's unclear how the walkout will affect the newspaper's daily coverage.
However, the BBC reports that international staff are not part of the union so World Cup coverage will not be affected.
Wordle really took off in 2022, which was made even more evident when Google released its most searched terms of the year.
The web-based game was the most searched term in the U.S. and around the world in 2022, as reported by The Washington Times.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
