Journalists at The Athletic Move to Join New York Times Union

Journalists at The Athletic, a sports news website owned by The New York Times, intend to unionize, they said on Monday.

A group of about 200 editorial workers in the United States have asked The Times to recognize them as part of the Times Guild, which represents nearly 1,500 members including reporters, editors and other editorial workers at the newspaper.

The Times bought The Athletic in early 2022 for $550 million. In July 2023, the newspaper said it would disband its sports section and rely on coverage from The Athletic.

“The work we do is union work, and we believe we should be afforded the same benefits and protections as the Times Guild members under their current contract,” Katie Strang, a senior investigative writer for The Athletic, said in a statement.

The Times Guild, which is affiliated with the NewsGuild of New York, represents reporters and some editors at The New York Times. Tech workers at The Times and workers at Wirecutter, a product recommendation website owned by the newspaper, are represented by separate bargaining units.

Leaders of the Times Guild on Monday urged The New York Times to recognize that “our colleagues at The Athletic are Times Guild members.”

If The Times does not voluntarily recognize the Athletic workers as part of the union, the NewsGuild of New York said it would take up the matter with the National Labor Relations Board.

A Times spokesman, Jordan Cohen, said in an email that the company was reviewing the request from The Athletic’s newsroom.