It means that even though there are members in the guild/union, the company NYT negotiates individually with every member of the guild/union instead of going through the guild/union.
The entire worker benefit of the union is collective bargaining and NYT has rejected working with the unions.
No, once you have union representation here, the company can not legally negotiate individually with members. That's an unfair labor practice!
What actually happens is prevailing trends basically continue. Management can still hire people, etc. but must continue more or less as before unless they are willing to negotiate those specific changes.
The point of organizing a union is to negotiate a contract. One that includes terms that individual workers wouldn't have been able to secure on their own.
A union that's recognized but doesn't have a contract may as well not be a union at all. Basically the only power they can exercise is to strike.
Didn't you get an offer letter? I assume it stated the terms of your employment like the work expected, the consideration (compensation) to be provided, and, most likely, the at-will nature of the agreement.
In this case "secure a contract" means terms that are somehow perceived as more favorable than employment-at-will.
