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 entire worker benefit of the union is collective bargaining and NYT has rejected working with the unions.