NEW YORK, Dec 8: Hundreds of journalists and other staff began a 24-hour strike at the New York Times at 12:01 am on Thursday demanding better working conditions and terms of contract. This is a first of its kind in the establishment in recent memory.

The union of 1,100 employees had earlier given notice of strike staring at 12:01 am. The NewsGuild of New York said in a tweet, "Workers are now officially on work stoppage, the first of this scale at the company in 4 decades. It's never an easy decision to refuse to do work you love, but our members are willing to do what it takes to win a better newsroom for all."

The NewsGuild of New York claims to be the union for news professionals in America’s media capital. It has 3,000 members. It seeks to improve the working conditions of the members as well as raise the bar of journalistic standards. Its weapon is collective bargaining.

Negotiations in the past few days made no progress towards an agreement. New York Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha said in a statement, "It is disappointing that they are taking such an extreme action when we are not at an impasse."

According to the spokeswoman, the management was making alternative arrangements. She said the staff will not be paid for the strike period. The company had offered a raise of by 5.5%, she said. The union is demanding a 10% hike as also an option to work remotely some of the time.

In August last, there was a short duration tool-down by the technical staff over unfair labour practices.