NYT unions try to block management over monitoring return-to-office mandate: report

Published

2 years ago

September 7, 2023

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The New York Times’ unions are trying to stop the Gray Lady from imposing a policy that will track whether workers are complying with its return-to-office mandate, according to a new report.

The New York Times Guild, which represents the majority of the newsroom workers, and the Times Tech Guild, which includes over 600 Times tech staffers, sent cease-and-desist letters to management last week, Axios reported Tuesday.

The publication had informed staff that it would raise its three-days-per-week requirement to an additional fourth day beginning Sept. 3, 2024, Axios said.

As part of the new policy, newsroom leaders may periodically monitor badge swipe data to review attendance trends and it “may flag individuals with particularly low attendance,” Semafor had reported.

The Times denied it has plans to ask employees to return four days a week in 2024.

We believe that allowing people the flexibility to work together in the office at times and remotely at other times benefits everyone by ensuring that we maintain the strong, collaborative environment that has come to define our culture and drive our success,” the rep told The Post on Tuesday.

The spokesperson did not elaborate on badge monitoring but noted that The Times’ policy states that hybrid employees should be in the office two to three days a week with each department head determining the exact number of days.

The Times’ unions did not immediately return requests for comment.

The New York Times Guild told Axios that monitoring badge swipes to surveil office attendance violates its new contract, which it inked in May after more than two years of acrimonious negotiations.

A Times rep shot back that the contract does, however, acknowledge that the company has a right to enforce its return-to-office policies.

The rep added the changes that were spurred by the pandemic and were always meant to be temporary.

A deal has not yet been reached with the tech workers’ union, which was ratified in 2022.

The Times Tech Guild argued that monitoring the swipes “violates their status quo, or the terms and conditions set at the time that were union ratified in 2022.”

The status quo remains in place until the Tech Guild negotiates a contract with management, but a Times rep told Axios that the publication’s return-to-office policies were introduced before the Tech Guild was recognized.

“We think it’s a violation of status quo to suddenly change this without bargaining with us,” Goran Svorcan-Merola, an iOS developer for the Times’ games department, who serves as vice chair of the Tech Guild, told Axios.

He added: “What we want is a RTO (return to office) plan, or lack thereof, that is bargained as part of a complete agreement with our contract.”

UK

Woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann found guilty of harassing missing toddler’s parents

Published

3 hours ago

November 7, 2025

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Woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann found guilty of harassing missing toddler's parents

A young woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann has been convicted of harassing the missing toddler’s family.

However, Julia Wandelt, 24, was cleared of stalking the couple.

A Polish national born three years after Madeleine, Wandelt said she suspected she had been abducted and brought up by a couple who were not her real parents.

She was having mental health issues at the time and had been abused by an elderly relative.

The relative looked like an artist’s drawing of a man who was once a suspect in the Madeleine case, which she stumbled across during internet research on missing children.

She went to Los Angeles and told a US TV chat show audience: “I believe I am Madeleine McCann.”

Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from the family’s rented holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.

She had been left sleeping with her younger twin siblings, Sean and Amelia, while her parents dined nearby with friends, making intermittent checks on the children.

Madeleine is the world’s most famous missing child, the subject of three international police investigations that have failed to find any trace of her.

Wandelt claimed to have a blemish in the iris of her right eye, like Madeleine’s, and to resemble aged-progressed images of her.

Over three years, she attracted half a million followers on her Instagram account, iammadeleinemccan, and posted her claims on TikTok.

Police told her she was not Madeleine and ordered her not to approach her family, but she ignored the warning.

The McCanns and their children gave evidence in the trial at Leicester Crown Court, describing the upset Wandelt had caused them.

Her co-defendant, Karen Spragg, 61, from Cardiff, was found not guilty of stalking and harassment.

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Politics

Japan’s FSA backs joint stablecoin initiative by nation’s top banks

Published

4 hours ago

November 7, 2025

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Japan’s FSA backs joint stablecoin initiative by nation’s top banks

Japan’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), endorsed a project by the country’s largest financial institutions to jointly issue yen-backed stablecoins.

In a Friday statement, the FSA announced the launch of its “Payment Innovation Project” as a response to progress in “the use of blockchain technology to enhance payments.” The initiative involves Mizuho Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation and its financial arm and Progmat, MUFG’s stablecoin issuance platform.

The announcement follows recent reports that those companies plan to modernize corporate settlements and reduce transaction costs through a yen-based stablecoin project built on MUFG’s stablecoin issuance platform Progmat. The institutions in question serve over 300,000 corporate clients.

The regulator noted that, starting this month, the companies will begin issuing payment stablecoins. The initiative aims to improve user convenience, enhance Japanese corporate productivity and innovate the local financial landscape.

The participating companies are expected to ensure that users are protected and informed about the systems they use. “After the completion of the pilot project, the FSA plans to publish the results and conclusions,” the announcement reads.

The announcement follows the Monday launch of Tokyo-based fintech firm JPYC’s Japan-first yen-backed stablecoin, along with a dedicated platform. The company’s president, Noriyoshi Okabe, said at the time that seven companies are already planning to incorporate the new stablecoin.

Japanese regulators focus on crypto

Recently, Japanese regulators have been hard at work setting new rules for the cryptocurrency industry. So much so that Bybit, the world’s second-largest crypto exchange by trading volume, announced it will pause new user registrations in the country as it adapts to the new conditions.

Local regulators seem to be opening up to the industry. Earlier this month, the FSA was reported to be preparing to review regulations that could allow banks to acquire and hold cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) for investment purposes.

At the same time, Japan’s securities regulator was also reported to be working on regulations to ban and punish crypto insider trading. Following the change, Japan’s Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission would be authorized to investigate suspicious trading activity and impose fines on violators.