The New York Times tech guild, the union of more than 600 software developers and staffers who run the paper’s digital operation systems, has gone on strike just one day before the presidential election.

Union members have been negotiating a contract since March 2022, when the guild was first certified by the National Labor Relations Board. Management has “failed to meaningfully address tech workers’ key concerns such as remote/hybrid work protections; ‘just cause’ job protections, which the newsroom has had for decades; limits on subcontracting; and pay equity/fair pay,” the union said in a statement.

“Our union members and bargaining committee have done everything possible to avoid this ULP strike,” the guild’s unit chair Kathy Zhang said. “But management is more willing to risk our election coverage than they are to agree to a fair deal with its workers. They have left us no choice but to demonstrate the power of our labor on the picket line. Nevertheless, we stand ready to bargain and get this contract across the finish line.”

Although union members have threatened Times management with a strike before, the Times has said that the tech guild members “are already among the highest paid individual contributors” at the paper.

“While we respect the union’s right to engage in protected actions, threatening a strike at this time, feels both unnecessary and at odds with our mission,” Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha said over the weekend. The newspaper has “robust plans in place to ensure that we are able to fulfill our mission and serve our readers,” and to keep its election-night coverage up and running.

“We look forward to continuing to work with the Tech Guild to reach a fair contract that takes into account that they are already among the highest paid individual contributors in the Company and journalism is our top priority,” Ha said.

Strikers will picket in front of the Times office in New York and have requested that readers “honor the digital picket line and not play popular NYT Games such as World and Connections as well as not use the NYT Cooking app.”