CONTRACT EXPIRED JULY 25!

THE COMPANY ISN'T PLEADING POVERTY, BUT WANT YOU TO
Oct. 20, 2009

Your Guild bargaining team met with the company Monday, where after 16 months the company revealed its economic proposal. The 19 issues in the proposal opened with the company reneging on a previous tentative agreement over severance pay and closed with a 17% pay cut. If you could think of a benefit you have now, it probably was included in the other 17 cuts.

A quick estimate by the Guild, according to figures supplied by the company, the cuts to wages and benefits combined would fall between 25 - 36 percent depending on your seniority and health care coverage.

When asked if the company was willing to open the books company negotiator Karen Lefton stated that owner David Black was a very private individual and would keep his business matters private as well. When pushed on the issue by Guild staff representative Bruce Nelson, Lefton stated, "we are not saying we are not making a profit, we aren't pleading poverty." She went on to say that the company is not unable to pay at current levels, it just doesn't want to.

The Guild bargaining committee was told that newsroom managers would not be included in the cost-cutting proposals being asked of Guild members. The cuts, all coming from Guild members, would total $1,250,000 per year. The majority of that coming in salary ($667,323) and freezing of the pension plan ($350,000).

The company's proposal in its entirety is below along with notes on what is currently in place. It is not readily apparent by reading the proposal, but Item 17 eliminates life insurance benefits for all current employees, even before you retire.

While we're sure you will share you feelings on the proposal with your bargaining committee, it is just as important that you make your feelings known to the company.

The two sides resume bargaining next Thursday.

If you have questions see any member of the bargaining committee who were at Monday's meeting which included, Bob DeMay, John Higgins, Yvonne Bruce and Jim Mackinnon.

Company's Economic Proposal to the Guild
Oct. 19, 2009

  1. Severance: [Article IX, Section 1] Reduce to one week of pay for every year of service, up to maximum of 26 weeks.
    (Current contract has a maximum of 52 weeks)
  2. Night differential: [Article XI, Section 3] Eliminate.
    (Current contract $7 per shift worked)
  3. Double time: [Article XI, Sections 7 and 9] Change all references from "double time" to "time-and-a-half." (i.e. for shifts where schedule has been changed, holiday eves.)
    (Current contract pays double time for hours worked after 6 pm on Christmas and New Years Eve as well as overtime hours worked on a day your schedule has been changed)
  4. Sunday work: [Article XI, Section 8] Eliminate.
    (Current contract state you can only work a maximum of 36 Sundays per year)
  5. Call-back pay: [Article XI, Section 11] Eliminate guarantee of three hours' pay if an Employee is called back. Employee would get paid for whatever time he/she works.
    (Current contract calls for a minimum of three hours pay)
  6. Vacation: [Article XIII, Section 1] New vacation schedule. All employees currently not at 5 weeks will max out at 4 weeks, based on this schedule:
    • (a) Two weeks of vacation after one year of employment, to be taken in second calendar year.
    • (b) Three weeks of vacation after nine years of employment, to be taken in the tenth calendar year.
    • (c) Four weeks of vacation after 15 years of employment, to be taken in the 16th calendar year.
    • (d) Employees who currently have five weeks will be grandfathered.
    (Current contract language:
    • (a) In the first calendar year of employment, one day of vacation earned for each twenty-six (26) days worked, but in no event less than five (5) paid vacation days, to be taken in the second (2nd) calendar year.
    • (b) In the second calendar year of continuous service, two (2) weeks earned (one [1] day for every twenty-six [26] days worked), to be taken in the third (3rd) calendar year.
    • (c) In the third (3rd) calendar year of continuous service, three (3) weeks of vacation earned (one [1] day for every seventeen [17] days worked), to be taken in the fourth (4th) calendar year.
    • (d) In the seventh (7th) calendar year of continuous service, four (4) weeks of vacation earned (one [1] day for every thirteen [13] days worked), to be taken in the eighth (8th) calendar year.
    • (e) In the fifteenth (15th) calendar year of continuous service, five (5) weeks of vacation earned (one [1] day for every ten [10] days worked), to be taken in the sixteenth (16th) calendar year.)
  7. Service bonus: [Article XIII, Section 4] Eliminate.
    (Current contract language: an employee in the editorial department with five (5) or more continuous years of employment shall be paid on the first payday after March 1, a bonus of Seven Dollars ($7.00) for each year the employee has worked for the EMPLOYER as of December 31 of that calendar year. If the employee has not completed five (5) years of employment at the time he or she takes the first week of such vacation, this bonus shall be postponed until the employee has completed five (5) years of employment.)
  8. Sick leave: [Article XIV]
    • A. No sick pay shall be paid until the third consecutive day of absence due to illness or injury.
    • B. Sick pay shall be paid at 70 percent of full pay.
    • C. Maximum of 13 weeks of sick leave for all non-probationary employees. (No sick leave for those still on their probationary period.)
    (Current contract language: Sick leave with full pay shall be granted to all employees as per the following schedule:
    • (a) Probationary Period: No sick leave.
    • (b) After Probationary Period: Employees hired after October 25, 1989, thirteen (13) weeks of sick leave for ninety (90) days to two (2) years' service; twenty six (26) weeks of sick leave after two (2) years of service. In no event shall an employee receive more than 200 percent of his/her sick leave entitlement in a rolling 24 months, the first day of which cannot precede the date of signing of this Agreement.
    • (c) Employees hired before October 25, 1989: Twenty-six (26) weeks of sick leave to five (5) years' service. After five (5) years' service fifty-two (52) weeks of sick leave. In no event shall an employee receive more than 150 percent of his/her sick leave entitlement in a rolling 24 months, the first day of which cannot precede the date of signing of this Agreement.>
  9. Leaves of Absence: [Article XV, Section 7] During an authorized leave of absence, coverage for all insurance shall be continued only if the Employee, at his/her discretion, agrees to pay the full amount of such coverage for the duration of his/her absence.
    (Currently employees only pay their share of medical premiums)
  10. Mileage: [Article XXI, Section l(b)] Cap at the rate set by the IRS.
    (Current contract language has no cap, but is also below the current IRS rate)
  11. Parking: [Article XXI, Section 1 (d)]: Eliminate.
    (Current language: The EMPLOYER shall provide free parking to all employees required to have a motor vehicle available for the service of the EMPLOYER.)
  12. 401(k): [Article XXIV, Section 5] Delete last sentence, eliminating the match.
    (Current contract: The EMPLOYER agrees to merge the Union 401(k) plan into the plan provided for non-bargaining unit employees, thereby providing the bargaining unit employees the same investment options and the same opportunity to make pre-tax contributions as it provides to non-bargaining unit employees. In addition, the EMPLOYER agrees to contribute twenty-five (25) cents for each dollar contributed by an employee up to a maximum of six (6) percent of the employee’s salary to the 401(k) plan.)
  13. Health insurance: [Article XXV, Section 1] Bargaining unit employees shall pay the same percentage as that paid by non-union employees of the Employer.
    (Current contract: single employees pay 19.7% of health care premiums, all other employees pay 26.9% of premiums.)
  14. Health insurance: [Article XXV] Medical benefits for current retirees who are not yet Medicare eligible shall be available to them at the same cost as to active employees until they become Medicare eligible, at which time all Company benefits shall cease.
  15. Health insurance: [Article XXV] Current retirees who are Medicare eligible shall not be entitled to any further health care benefit from the Company.
    (Current language: Employees who retired from the Beacon Journal prior to December 31, 1997, shall receive health and life insurance benefits as provided for in Article XXV of the August 25, 2000, collective bargaining agreement.)
  16. Disability insurance: [Article XXV, Section 1] Disability insurance shall be offered at the same cost as offered to independent employees.
    (Current contract: benefit is available at no cost to Guild employees)
  17. Life insurance: [Article XXV, Section 3] Employees retiring after January 1, 2010, shall not be entitled to life insurance.
    (Current contract: employee premium for 1 and one half times annual salary paid in full)
  18. Pension: [A_rtic1e XXV, Section 5] Pension plan shall be frozen, effective January 1,2010.
    (Current language provides defined benefit upon retirement)
  19. Wages: Reduce by 17 percent across the board.
    (Current contract scale: Top minimum for reporters, copy editors, artist and photographers of $1112.00 per week would be reduced to $922.96)

NOTE: The Company reserves the right to amend, eliminate, or add to the foregoing proposals or to add additional proposals through the negotiation process.

Bob DeMay
Akron Unit Chair Local 1 TNG
(330) 996-3887 (work)
(330) 329-6503 (cell)
bjguild@earthlink.net

Update, August 19, 2008

With today's bombshell at 3:30 p.m. I'll start by saying you probably have more questions than we have answers for at this minute. Rest assured that we would get answers as quickly as possible. We've been down this road before so I'm well aware of the anxiety for all.

After the announcement this afternoon the bargaining team met the company. The first item on our agenda was to ask for seniority list including calculations for part time employees that the company has said they will furnish as soon as possible.

Comments by Bruce Winges in the staff meeting today were along the lines that the company would pick and choose if they had too many volunteers from one particular job classification. It was pointed out by the Guild after that meeting that individuals taking the early retirement incentive could not be denied the package offered due to federal law regulating employee benefit plans. The company agreed with our opinion on this. That being said, the Guild asked that seniority be used as the deciding factor for those opting for the buyout option on the table. The company said they would get back to us on this.When pressed by the Guild for where the company would hope the volunteers would step forward from they stated it was their hope that it would be proportional to the classification census and that we could do the math. When pressed further they went on record to state that would mean the elimination of 8 reporters, 8 page designers / copy editors, 2 photographer s and 2 artists. Managers of those employees will be counted against the department they supervise. They also acknowledged that it might not be possible for that to happen as there was no way of knowing who would step forward.

One of the issues arising at the staff meeting was the of the cost of continuing health care benefits under COBRA for those taking either of the two packages on the table. Those benefits are available for 18 months after leaving the company. The monthly cost to you would be as follows: $1,096.62 plus 2% administrative fee for family coverage, $682.02 plus 2% administrative fee for employee plus child or children, $725.75 plus 2% administrative fee for employee plus spouse and $361.16 plus 2% administrative fee for employee only.

This cost for this coverage is the same whether you are a full or part time employee. You will have coverage under the plan the Guild Plan and Trust offers, which currently is through Summa. Note that the cost for this coverage will most likely increase after Jan 1, 2009 and that at that time the carrier for that plan could change.

These COBRA rates do not apply to those between the ages of 62 and 65 who retire. Your cost for health care is defined in the contract using a formula based on seniority. The COBRA rates above also do not apply to those under the company's Blue Green Plan offered by United Health Care. Contact HR for those figures.

On top of all this there was bargaining today. In their proposal to eliminate job titles for reporters, photographers, copy editors and artists the company included a provision to eliminate increased responsibility pay. This would in affect be a pay cut of $4,600 per year for those employees.

The company also wants to place employees dismissed due to a reduction in force on a rehiring list for a period of 6 months. Current language has no time limit. Company also proposed to honor seniority for employee's first three years of service in case of a reduction in force. After three years of service the company could then pick and choose.

The Guild has requested that the company submit their economic proposal so that the entire package could be considered since the current proposals are so concessionary in nature.

The next bargaining session is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept 9. Obviously the Guild will be meeting with the company to resolve any issues with the buyout and retirement packages now on the table.

Bob DeMay
Unit Chair (for now)

Update, August 5, 2008

GUILD BARGAINING BULLETIN

ABJ not a family friendly place to be

Company wants employees to pay full cost of health care while on all leaves of absence, including family leaves

Company says if you’re not here working you shouldn’t expect the company to pay its share of your health care, even though the company saves money by not paying your salary in your absence.

Other highlights:

  • Company wants to cut maximum severance in half to 26 weeks. They claim paying up to 52 week severance has resulted in an increase in the number of layoffs. Because of layoffs the staff has become too senior in the company’s mind.
  • Company wants to observe holidays on the legal holiday observed by the federal government. Case in point: July Fourth falling on a Sunday - government recognizes Monday as the legal holiday.
  • Guild offered oral response to company proposal to place part-time employees working more than 32 hours per week in an 80% classification. Guild proposed a new classification of 90% for workers falling into this category.
  • Company proposed further restrictions in the area of employee integrity removing language that refers to direct competition and replacing that with language that would restrict any work that conflicts with interests of the company.
  • The Guild gave the company a counter proposal on the issue of online flexibility using the company’s proposal as a framework. This proposal would give the company flexibility in pursing news for online operations and still preserve job titles and duties as we now know them to be. This issue was packaged with a proposal to maintain current language as it relates to seniority.

Head scratcher of the day: company claimed when they had a shortage on the copy desk (while three employees were on family leave) they didn't temporarily transfer a reporter to help out because no one was qualified. I guess that's why they want to able to use photographers as copy editors.

Next bargaining session is Aug. 19.
Bob DeMay
Unit Chair

Update, July 29, 2008

Guild bargaining team members met with the company Tuesday with the conversation once again dominated by the company's proposal to eliminate seniority for layoff purposes. Today's attempt to eliminate the most sacred of contract language by the company borrowed language from the current Plain Dealer contract, where employees do not share the same security we have been living with for many years.

The Guild reminded the company that the PD language was put in that contract many years ago for a company which had never had a layoff and had a written pledge to non-bargaining unit people that there will be no job losses. As we know the practice here is much different. The Newhouse doctrine and generous raises put that language in the Cleveland contract. We strongly objected to this proposal and will continue to do so.

The company also introduced their proposal to make the positions of chief secretary and deputy copy desk chief exempt positions and went so far as to attach the names of Sue Reynolds and Darrin Werbeck to those positions. Werbeck is slated to begin working a 7am shift soon to copy edit breaking web copy. Karen Lefton said he would be assigned other duties that the company believed to be managerial in nature. We pointed out to them that assigning work to the copy desk staff in the absence of the copy desk chief has always been performed by bargaining unit members and there was no reason he could not continue to do so.

The two parties exchanged proposals on changes in the grievance procedure and spent time discussing the company's proposal to eliminate job titles as we now know them.

The parties will meet Wednesday in a grievance hearing to take on the ongoing dispute involving correspondents in an attempt to resolve the issue.

Please excuse any errors in style or punctuation with these updates until such time as the company trains photographers to be copy editors.
Bob DeMay
Unit Chair

Update, July 25, 2008

Guild members - An administrative law judge with the NLRB has ruled in favor of The Guild in matters related to the pending arbitration involving all matters concerning the use of regular and student correspondents. For two years the company has refused to release information requested by The Guild in this matter. The ruling states that the company has been engaging in certain unfair labor practices and is ordered to cease and desist and to take certain affirmative action designed to effectuate the policies of the Act.

The details are spelled out in an 18 page document that is hanging to the left of the Guild bulletin board in the newsroom.

This issue of correspondents is also on the agenda during bargaining next week.

stay tuned,
Bob DeMay
Unit Chair

Update, July 16, 2008

One of the issues the company has on the table is a change of the workweek from Monday through Sunday to a proposed Sunday through Saturday workweek. While this doesn't seem to be a major issue, it came out of left field.

After talking over the issue during a caucus we came to the conclusion that input from the membership might be wise. So we are asking each of you to reply with any concerns you might have over the issue as it relates to you and others in your department. Not all classifications are represented on the bargaining committee and we didn't want to overlook something that might adversely affect someone's work schedule.

thanks,
Bob DeMay
Unit Chairman

NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE FROM YOUR GUILD REPRESENTATIVES

June 19, 2008

Today, June 19, was our first meeting with the company.

Both Sides exchanged proposals on non-economic issues.

The Guild and the company will exchange proposals on economic issues - wages and related benefits - at a later date.

Here are some of the company's proposals:

  • Eliminate all job titles (reporter, photographer, copy editor, artists, page designers, etc.) We would all be called "Journalists" and be expected to perform any and all newsroom jobs.
  • Eliminate seniority for layoff purposes. The company would pick and choose who loses his or her job.
  • Eliminate the night-time differential.
  • Eliminate increased responsibility pay.
  • Cut total possible severance pay from 52 weeks maximum to no more than 26 weeks.
  • Require employees on leave to pay their entire cost of health care.
  • Transfer two jobs, chief secretary and deputy copy desk chief, out of the Guild and into management.
  • Eliminate free parking.

Here are some of the Guild's Proposals"

  • Form a joint Guild-management `new media"" committee to discuss changes facing the newspaper and industry and offer training to employees.
  • Improve vacation benefits by making fifth week of vacation in 10th year of employment and adding a sixth week in 15th year of employment.
  • Improve sick leave language to allow employees to take time off fot eh illness of a Add Martin Luther King Jr.s birthday as a paid holiday.
  • Hold the line on our stong, existing jurisdiction and layoff language.

Guild negotiating team members are: Bruce Nelson from the Internationa; Rollie Drussi, Local One executive secretary; Bob DeMay, unit president; Yuvonne Bruce; John Higgins; Jim Mackinnion; and Phil Trexler.

Company negotiators: Karen Lefton, Doug Oplinger, Alton Brown, and Rich Desrosiers.

The nest meetings are scheduled for July 15, 16 and 29,30.

NEW INFO

June 5, 2008

Just a note to brief Guild members on some recent and future events.

Contract negotiations open on Thursday, June 19 with bargaining on the following day as well. Most of the time spent in the first two sessions are spent by both sides explaining the nuances of their proposals. I can assure you the proposal handed to us will require a lot splainin as Ricky would say to Lucy.

Serving on the bargaining team for the Guild are Phil Trexler, John Higgins, Yvonne Bruce, Jim Mackinnon along with myself, executive secretary Rollie Dreussi and TNG staff representative Bruce Nelson.

This nugget from Chuck Montague - I urge all to read the very well-written tribute in the Guild reporter to the late head of the Twin Cities Guild. The salute to the man who got him into Guild work and was his mentor was written by Bruce Nelson. Bruce himself later spotted, brought into Guild work and, I suspect, mentored Darren Carroll, who helped us during those wonderful KR-McClatchy-Black sales and purchase times. I've known Bruce for more than three decades; I was also on eight negotiating committees, leading one. The article is the finest I've read about when push comes to shove in negotiations. A link to read the story online: The Newspaper Guild

Needless to say we will keep you posted on activities at the bargaining table in the days, weeks and months ahead. Mobilizing chairs Stephanie Warsmith and Mary Beth Breckenridge will be busy keeping everyone engaged.

The Guild milage rate increased to 54 cents per mile effective June 2. The former rate was 45 cents. This rate is updated quarterly. The next survey to affect this rate is scheduled for September 2008.

The biggest headline from last weeks Local 1 executive board meeting was the formal approval to take the case of Bob Springer's discharge to arbitration. There are quite a few HIPPA issues involved here so I can't go into a lot of details at this point. The Guild is arguing that Springer's dismissal was a constructive discharge.

Bob DeMay
Unit Chairman