The website of the Knight Ridder Council (www.knightridderwatch.org) has been revived with new postings and a new look. If you have any suggestions for material to post, contact Paula Schleis.
BUYOUT INFORMATION!!!!
Buyout Update, August 28, 2008
Just a quick note to fill you in on matters relating to the buyouts and possible layoffs.
Many of you have been asking for a seniority list. Please be aware that this is being compiled and there is no devious action by the employer in not having posted one to date. First and foremost we want to make sure that whatever is posted is correct. Several things go in to the equation. First - while your time spent at former KR properties is accounted for in computing severance pay, it plays no part in your seniority when it comes to a staff reduction.
The time consuming part of completing this list deals with part time employees. Part time employees accrue one year of seniority for each 1,664 hours worked so you can't simply look at their hire date to determine their true seniority. In 2001 this issue came into play in the photo department. Gary Green was hired before me as a part time employee but when applying the 1664 hour formula to Gary's history I actually had more seniority so yes it can alter things. It looks as though it could come into play this time around depending on the number of people let go in certain job titles. This only applies to people who began their career as a part-time and then became full-time. If you are hired as full-time your seniority date never changes. This may all be moot if the company gets it 20 volunteers.
One other question or concern that has popped up on the Q&A and in several conversations around the newsroom concerns pensions. It was a referenced in the early retirement/buyout offers to those in the 55 plus group.
Q -- The company's information says we are ‘‘guaranteed’’ a pension for 10 years. Does this mean that we are not guaranteed a pension in the 11th, 12th, 13th years, etc., if we do not take the retirement package and stay on the job?
A -- the language in the company's offer describes a 10 year certain annuity. This is boiler plate language used in most pension plans. What it means is that the retiree gets a pension for as long as her or she lives, but the beneficiary is guaranteed benefits for the first ten years of the retirees retirement. So if you retire and die in five years your beneficiary receives pension benefits for the remaining five years. If the retiree lives longer than 10 years after retirement, the retiree gets the pension for as long as the retiree lives and the beneficiary or beneficiaries get nothing upon the death of the retiree. The pension simply ceases. This is all moot if the retiree is married - In that case, the retiree does not get the 10-year certain annunity unless the spouse signs in writing that the spouse agrees to it instead of what is called the spouse option. That method of paying the pension gives the retiree less per month than the 10-year certain, but also provides that if the retiree dies before the spouse, the spouse will get half of what the retiree got for a long as the spouse lives. There is no limit on this payment to a beneficiary, as in the 10 years.
stay tuned
Bob DeMay
Unit Chair
Buyout Q&A, August 25, 2008
For those without limited access to Coyote below is an up to date take from the Q&A in Stephanie Warsmith's basket
BUYOUT QUESTIONS: Please put your buyout questions in this take and the Guild will get the answers and provide them here IN ALL CAPS. We also will periodically send out emails with the answers. Thanks.
Is the company going to provide us with regular updates on the nos. of folks that have opted for buyouts or early retirements? Bruce indicated in the meeting that the company would consider doing this. Can we press the company on this. I realize that legalities prevent the company from naming names, but the company could certainly provide numbers, albeit with the caveat that folks can change their minds?
REQUESTING AN ANSWER FROM THE COMPANY.
Are the buyouts intended to carry the paper through what historically have been the lean advertising months of Jan, Feb and March?
BRUCE WINGES SAID THE PAPER'S LEANEST MONTHS ARE USUALLY JANUARY AND JULY. HE SAID IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO TELL HOW FAR THESE CUTS WILL TAKE THE PAPER. THIS WILL DEPEND ON WHAT HAPPENS IN THE FUTURE WITH THE PAPER'S REVENUES AND EXPENSES.
Will we still be eligible for unemployment if we choose the buyout? And have you ever heard of a University student being denied unemployment?
ACCORDING TO THE OHIO DEPARTMENT OF JOB AND FAMILY SERVICES, ANY DECISION TO LEAVE THE COMPANY WHEN YOU OTHERWISE WOULD BE EMPLOYED WOULD BE CONSIDERED A VOLUNTARY SEPARATION AND YOU WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE TO COLLECT UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS. OUR UNDERSTANDING IS THAT THIS ALSO APPLIES TO VOLUNTEERS WHO TAKE THE PLACE OF PEOPLE IDENTIFIED FOR LAYOFF. THERE MAY BE AN EXCEPTION IF THE VOLUNTARY SEPARATION ISN'T REALLY VOLUNTARY BECAUSE A LAYOFF WAS IMMINENT, BUT ODJFS DOESNT ADDRESS THAT AND WE'LL NEED TO DO SOME FURTHER RESEARCH INTO OHIO LAW
THE HANDBOOK FOR EMPLOYEES IS AVAILABLE ONLINE AT: http://www.odjfs.state.oh.us/forms/file.asp?id=49983
RE: STUDENT ELIGIBILITY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT: THE HANDBOOK SAYS THAT GENERALLY, FULL-TIME STUDENTS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT. HOWEVER, IF YOU WERE A STUDENT WHILE YOU WERE WORKING AND CONTINUE TO BE A STUDENT AFTER YOU ARE LAID OFF, THEN YOU WILL BE CONSIDERED ABLE TO WORK WHILE YOU ARE A STUDENT AND THEREFORE ELIGIBLE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS (REMEMBER, TO COLLECT BENEFITS, YOU MUST BE ACTIVELY SEEKING WORK AND DOCUMENTING YOUR ATTEMPTS). YOU MAY ALSO BE ELIGIBLE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT IF YOU ENROLL IN AN ODJFS-APPROVED TRAINING COURSE AND MAKE SATISFACTORY PROGRESS IN THAT COURSE.
If you say you want the buyout, what is your deadline for changing your mind? Is the company legally required to give us the option of changing our mind? Please explain those terms.
YOU HAVE SEVEN DAYS AFTER YOU TURN IN YOUR PAPERS TO REVOKE THEM.
Want to better understand the legalities of the pension option for those 55 and over. Bruce said it was a one-time offer... sounds like reverse age discrimination here...what about folks not 55 yet... why can't we get our money as well and roll it into another retirement account if we choose - does the law say something about 55?
ACCORDING TO KAREN LEFTON, THE LAW ONLY ALLOWS PEOPLE AGE 55 AND OLDER TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR A LUMP SUMP PENSION PAYMENT. SHE TOLD THE GUILD THE PENSION PLAN WAS BEING AMENDED TO ALLOW THIS, HENCE THE 45-DAY NOTICE, WHICH THE LAW REQUIRES FOR ANY PENSION PLAN AMENDMENTS. THE GUILD IS RESEARCHING THE LEGALITIES INVOLVED WITH THIS.
If I get laid off, how much severance pay am I entitled to? Can I collect unemployment compensation as well?
THE SEVERANCE PAY FOR SOMEONE BEING LAID OFF IS THE SAME UNDER THE BUYOUT PACKAGE BEING OFFERED, EXCEPT THE COMPANY IS OFFERING TWO EXTRA WEEKS OF PAY UNDER THE BUYOUT PACKAGE. A PERSON BEING LAID OFF GETS ONE WEEK OF PAY FOR EVERY SIX MONTHS SERVICE, UP TO 52 WEEKS. THE COMPANY IS REQUIRED TO GIVE THE GUILD A 60-DAY NOTICE OF LAYOFFS. A PERSON WHO IS LAID OFF DOES RECEIVE UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION, WHILE SOMONE WHO TAKES A BUYOUT OR VOLUNTARY RESIGNATION DOES NOT.
The company's information says we are ‘‘guaranteed’’ a pension for 10 years. Does this mean that we are not guaranteed a pension in the 11th, 12th, 13th years, etc., if we do not take the retirement package and stay on the job?
ROLLIE SAID HE ISN'T CLEAR WHAT DOCUMENT THIS QUESTION IS REFERRING TO. HE SAID IF IT'S REFERRING TO ‘‘MONTHLY BENEFIT:
LIFE ANNUITY WITH 10 YEARS PAYMENTS GUARANTEED,’’ HE BELIEVES THAT MEANS YOU ARE GUARANTEED AT LEAST 10 YEARS OF PENSION
BENEFIT PAYMENTS AT THE AMOUNT LISTED.
IF THIS DOESN'T ANSWER YOUR ABOVE QUESTION, PLEASE ELABORATE.
What about unused vacation time if you take a buyout or are laid off? Would we be paid for unused vacation time this year? and what about vacation time that we're accruing this year that is to be used next year?
FROM THE GUILD CONTRACT: ‘‘IN THE EVENT OF TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT, THE EMPLOYEE SHALL RECEIVE VACATION PAY EARNED IN THE PREVIOUS YEAR BUT NOT TAKEN, PLUS ANY VACATION PAY EARNED IN THE YEAR OF TERMINATION.’’
Is it legal to lay off a large number of people during contract negotiations? And if we do not get a new contract soon, how long will the company continue to honor the current contract?
THE COMPANY HAS THE AUTHORITY TO DO LAYOFFS, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER NEGOTIATIONS ARE GOING ON OR NOT. WE WILL CONTINUE WORKING UNDER THE TERMS OF THE CURRENT CONTRACT.
If you take the buyout or are laid off, how much time do you have to elect COBRA coverage and make the first payment?
YOU HAVE A 60-DAY PERIOD TO MAKE A DECISION.
Update, August 20, 2008
Wanted everyone to know that Stephanie Warsmith has created a take in her Coyote basket called buyouyquest. Feel free to add your questions concerning any phase of the staff reductions to the list of questions which we will answer for all. For those who do not have access to Coyote simply e-mail your questions to Stephanie at her work email address -- swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com. She will then add your question to the list. Every day or so we will e-mail the questions and answers to everyone.
Paula Schleis has also stepped forward and will compile a list of job tips and openings. These don't necessarily need to be journalism jobs. Anything you got send her way. There are probably a few people ready to wave the white flag.
One point I will make now concerning layoffs is that it would not be in the interest of most Guild members, low in seniority, to accept the buyout on the table right now. Doing so will give you an additional two weeks of severance, but accepting the buyout means you are giving up any unemployment benefits. If you are eventually forced out that is not the case. Accepting the buyout also means you are out the door in early October. You could work 60 additional days once the company triggers any layoff announcement if you hold out, which would more than make up the two weeks of extra severance the company is offering in the buyout package.
At some point next week we will have a unit meeting at the Printer's Club to give people a chance to get updates on both the buyouts and negotiations.
Bob DeMay
Fighting the dragon: A final thought
"If a dragon thinks it is grand enough, it will try to convince you that there is no escape, no release, no salvation from its wicked domination. There are some of us who don't accept the dreams of dragons as their own, no matter how grand those dragons might say they are. Out there somewhere are the kind of people who do not accept the premature autopsy of a noble art form. These are the ones who follow in the footsteps of the gifted and the disciplined who have been deeply hurt but not discouraged, who have been frightened but have not forgotten how to be brave. You have to beware of premature autopsies. A noble sound might not lie still in the dark cave where the dragons have taken it. A noble sound might just rise up and push away the stones that were placed in its path. A noble sound is a mighty thing (that) might swoop up over the limitations imposed by the dreams of dragons." -- By essayist Stanley Crouch (heavily condensed.)
The website of the Knight Ridder Council (www.knightridderwatch.org) has been revived with new postings and a new look. If you have any suggestions for material to post, contact Paula Schleis.