BJ contract provisions

Just one day ahead of a scheduled meeting of the strike paper sub-committee, the Guild and management at the Akron Beacon Journal reached tentative agreement on a four-year contract covering approximately 130 employees at the Knight Ridder-owned daily. The settlement followed nine hours of bargaining July 8 and a loud, spirited rally the evening of July 7, as more than 100 people gathered on High Street to support unit members.
Unit chair Stephanie Warsmith led the sign-carrying group in some high-decibel chanting. "This is our bottom line," Warsmith said at one point, lifting a large board filled with family photographs. Guild members wearing blue shirts that read "People Before Profits" also held up individual family photos to emphasize what they are fighting for .
"What you're fighting for is not just for a fair contract, but ... to keep the tradition of good journalism here in Akron," TNG-CWA President Linda Foley told the
receptive crowd. "Other people in this company, that's not their agenda. But I know that's your agenda."
And indeed, the Guild unit succeeded in defending its contract against demands that would have eroded job security, weakened jurisdiction, imposed a discretionary pay system and eliminated premium pay for some bargaining unit positions.
The agreement followed an intensive campaign by Guild-represented workers that included, among other things, a week-long byline strike, informational picketing, community outreach, a strike vote, membership authorization to conduct advertising and circulation boycotts, creation of a popular web site and an array of creative in-plant tactics.
Key terms of the agreement include the following:
● Wage increases of 2.5% in the first year and 2% each year thereafter, with larger percentage increases in the first year for lower paid employees. Management
withdrew a proposal for a discretionary pay system.
● Managemenr withdrew a proposal to permit independent contractors to perform
bargaining unit work without limitation; current contract language, with minor changes, will continue to govern the use of freelance correspondents. Negotiators reached agreement on a provision to permit expanded use of up to 10 student correspondents, who are members of the bargaining unit.
● Effective Oct. 1, management will be able to offer its BlueGreen health insurance program, a self-insured health plan that already covers most non-union Knight Ridder employees. The employee percentage of premium cost-sharing cannot be increased for the life of the contract.
In addition, agreement also was reached on the establishment of a Taft-Hartley trust into which insurance premiums will be paid. The trust will have the ability to contract with another health insurance provider that will offer an additional plan to Guild-represented employees. The Beacon Journal must pay into the trust whatever it would otherwise contribute to the Blue-Green plan for any employee who elects to take insurance made available through the trust.
● Management secured the right to transfer new employees to other job titles, with the limitation that such transfers have to be for valid journalistic reasons and can't be unreasonable or punitive. Language was added to clarify that current employees can be transferred to a job they haven't done before for only three months out of a one- year rolling period. New employees can still be transfered at will.
● A compromise was reached on defining positions of "increased responsibility" that warrant an $89 weekly pay premium. At least nine positions will continue to qualify for the premium, as well as anyone who fills in for an excluded manager, but several other positions will no longer be eligible.
[From the Guild Reporter, July 16, 2004, page 3]