The Akron unit of the Newspaper Guild overwhelmingly approved a strike authorization vote Wednesday evening. There was just one dissenting vote cast.
The vote gives the Guild’s bargaining committee the authority to strike if and when the committee thinks it’s necessary. The Guild recognizes the challenges facing the newspaper industry and has been open to discussing possible solutions.
`The last thing we want is a strike but we are willing to do whatever is necessary to secure a fair contract that reflects the valuable contributions of our members,’’ said Bob DeMay, the Guild’s president and an assistant photo editor at the Akron Beacon Journal.
The Guild and company have been negotiating for more than a year, with the union’s members operating under the terms of a contract that expired in July 2008.
The Beacon Journal is asking the Guild to accept concessions that would equate to a 25 to 30 percent decrease in wages and benefits, including a 16.75 percent pay cut, a pension freeze, a larger share of health care costs and a change to sick pay that would be worse than what WalMart offers.
The company’s lead negotiator told the Guild negotiating team that the newspaper isn’t pleading poverty but simply doesn’t want to continue paying at the current levels. Newsroom managers - among the highest paid employees in the newsroom -- and non-union employees elsewhere in the building, are not being asked to accept similar cuts. The newspaper also is hiring for positions outside the newsroom. The company has refused the Guild’s repeated requests to open its books.
The Guild represents about 85 reporters, copy editors, photographers, assistant editors, page designers, artists, sports statisticians, librarians and secretaries - a number slashed more than 50 percent over the past 10 years through layoffs, buyouts and attrition.
Guild members annually win state and national awards, earning the newspaper respect and recognition.
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6 comments:
Fire them all. Who left there is worth a darn anyway? Hit the reset button and hire a new batch of youngsters at a fraction of the price.
--SL
Let's try this again:
To "Anonymous" -- spoken like a cowardly has-been.
Who are you?
Sincerely,
Jim Mackinnon
Once again, I'd like to note that anonymous weasels (a redundant description) should have no place here. This is a JOURNALISTS' blog, and anonymous sniping is against everything our profession stands for. Today's weasel would soil his/her drawers if a light were shone on that person. Instead, he/she soils this blog. And, by the way, I'd wager that the vast majority of former BJ employees is solidly behind the guild. You are true pros and have been doing a damn good job under almost impossible circumstances. Cut in pay? Hell, you should all be given substantial raises.
Bill O'Connor
Thanks, Bill
Phil Trexler
Bill O'Connor, thanks for speaking up. We miss you in the newsroom and in the pages of the ABJ. Paula reminded us at the meeting that everything we have today we have because generations before us stood where we stand now and not only defended themselves and their families, but defended future generations as well. So I want to personally thank the many readers of this blog who stood their ground in their time so that I could have the job I have today. We owe all of you a debt of gratitude and before this is all over, we may have to ask you once again to stand with us in solidarity.
John Higgins
Anonymous: you have no clue.
I am behind all you reporters 100%. Keep up the good work, and hope for the best!
-- Eric Poston
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