The NewsGuild of New York has asked Wordle fans not to play New York Times-owned phone games, including Wordle and Connections, in order to support a workers’ strike.
Members of the team that keep Wordle updated, as well as powering the behind-the-scenes of the New York Times’s election coverage, have gone on strike over working conditions and pay.
“While @NYTGuildTech is out on this ULP strike, we want @NYTimes subscribers to not play any of the Times games like Wordle or Connections or use the Cooking App because doing so would cross the digital picket line,” the NewsGuild of New York account wrote on X.
ULP stands for Unfair Labor Practice, and means a violation of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.
The New York Time acquired Wordle in 2022, after the game became a viral success, from original developer Josh Wardle.
The Times Tech Guild walked out of work on Monday, November 4, in a strike where “key concerns” include “remote/hybrid work protections”, “limits on subcontracting”, and “pay equality/fair pay”, according to a statement released by The NewsGuild of New York.
The timing of this strike has little to do with Wordle players, of course, and everything to do with the timing of the US elections.
Workers who are part of The Times Tech Guild are responsible for the back-end of the New York Times website, which powers the publication’s famous election needle. This is a dial that shows how much the election’s results are pointing towards a Republican or Democrat overall victory.
It’s not clear at this point whether the strike will mean the New York Times election needle will have to sit this year out.
“Management is more willing to risk our election coverage than they are to agree to a fair deal with its workers,” Kathy Zhang, a senior analytics manager at The New York Times and a chair of the Tech Guild. “They have left us no choice but to demonstrate the power of our labour on the picket line.”
If you’d like to support the workers during the strike, there is no shortage of Wordle alternatives to try out while the talks are ongoing. They include Octurdle, Absurdle, Nerdle, Typeshift, Spelltower, and Crosswordle.
Some of these are direct Wordle clones and take-offs. Others are word games the average Wordle acolyte is likely to appreciate.
