First item of note comes from the bargaining table of the pressmen. The employees now have two pensions plans, one under the ABJ and a second administered by the international. They have been told by company negotiators that both will be frozen and employees rolled into the 401k plan with the same match the rest of the building has, including the Guild. Company negotiators are adamant that this happen. It sure to face us down the road in 2008. Most company's who do this increase the match for the 401k; this is not the case in our building.
FYI: The new employee manual that you may have read about in the morning e-mail announcements does not apply to Guild employees.
The Newspaper Guild and University of Maryland will be conducting a random online survey of members this spring about the state of the industry. Just wanted to tip you off if something shows up in your in box.
Guild negotiators will meet with the company this Friday over the proposed ethics policy. The latest proposal from the company was a copy of the policy in place at the Rocky Mountain News. It contains the same provisions as their own policy, just worded differently. We are very concerned about is broad and restrictive language in the area of outside activities which is covered by our current contract.
We are trying to resolve an issue of employees not being given full credit for their hours work. Employees working more than 32 hours a week are to be considered full time. Letters distributed to employees affected are only being credited as 80% which has a direct bearing on certain benefits.
Two issues headed for arbitration are the use of regular and student correspondents after a reduction in force and also the issue of artists being force to do page layout. No dates have been set for these hearings.
Company issued cell phones will soon be no more. They want out of the cell phone business and dealing with the bills and headaches that go along with them. Employees will be paid a monthly stipend for the use of their personal phones for work use. The amount of the stipend is still being worked out. I'll keep you posted. The odd part about this is this is what the Guild proposed in the last round of bargaining. The photo dept will continue to use company issued equipment due to transmitting needs. There would also be two pool phones for reporters covering breaking news.
Representatives from The Repository in Canton have said that bids for the Copley Ohio papers are due March 10. They expect to hear within two weeks of that date who the new owners will be. David Black, Lee Enterprises, and a local attorney are the leading candidates. Employees have started a Web site, http://savetherep.org/ looking for community support and provide information to the public about the pending sale. They have obvious concerns about Black purchasing them with the very real possibility of consolidation or centralizing certain departments. The Guild represents much of the building in Canton.
A heavy loss of Guild jobs in Canton and Massillon through centralization or a stock sale of the papers would have major implications for Local One, which is already on shaky financial ground. The layoffs here and buyouts in Cleveland have taken a heavy toll on our budget. Major spending cuts have already taken place still leaving us with a sizable shortfall. Unit chairs from the local met recently to look at possible options. Organizing, merger and staff cuts have all been discussed. We will have to wait and see how the situation with Copley is going to play before we take further action.
Stay tuned
Bob DeMay
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