Category Archives: Negotiations

DNG’s story an international inspiration

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You know, here in Dayton sometimes things can seem a little frustrating. After all, it’s been 21 years since our last contract and our latest bargaining effort, while making progress, has taken the better part of a year and we’ve still not completed the deal. And now the company’s stubbornness has forced us to step up mobilizing to a new level.

But if you’re tempted to feel a bit down about things, let us lift your spirits. The great news is we are not alone. Not only do we have friends across the continent who are ready to rally around us, they’ve actively begun to pledge their time, their own sweat and even their money toward our fight for fairness here in Dayton.

Why? Because to many of our brothers and sisters in the International Newspaper Guild and the Communication Workers of America, it’s OUR story that inspires THEM!

This past weekend, Dayton Newspaper Guild President Lou Grieco and Vice President Amelia Robinson spent three days in Chicago for the a joint meeting of regional councils of the International Guild. With five of the six regional councils in attendance, this meeting brought together Guild leaders ranging from Canada in the north to Puerto Rico in the south and from Denver in the west to Boston in the east.

Lou and Amelia’s report on Dayton was one of the big hits of the meeting, bringing loud cheers as they described how our local Guild weathered dark days and tough company tactics for two decades, only to rise to today’s striking show of strength — close to 85 percent active membership and about 90 percent of our next contract tentatively settled.

They loved ideas like “Guild Bingo” and scoffed at the company’s “Kangaroo Court” arbitration proposal. Other Guild leaders thanked Lou and Amelia for their inspiring presentation and asked for specific ideas and advice. In short, the Dayton Newspaper Guild is rapidly gaining an international reputation for innovation.

But the good feelings didn’t stop there.

When our regional council — made up of Guild locals in the Great Lakes states — met, they took an unexpected and deeply appreciated vote. Without Lou or Amelia even asking, the Great Lakes Council approved a $500 contribution toward our mobilizing efforts.

Our newspaper union network will be even more important as we move ahead with serious mobilizing. Besides money, we’ve got close friends nearby who have run very effective mobilizing campaigns of their own and who have already promised to aide our efforts. They’ve even offered to come to Dayton to help!

On an even bigger scale, we are fortunate to be connected to the CWA, which offers grants and significant financial assistance for mobilizing and legal aid. Already, we’ve begun the process of tapping those resources.

So remember, as we go forward and the work of mobilizing gets harder, that our friends are ready to help.

A glimmer of hope on part-time health care

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One of our greatest frustrations in bargaining so far has been part-time health care. This is one issue the Guild and the company have worked very hard on. We very much want our part-timers to have quality, affordable health care coverage so they can be worry-free at work, not fretting that a freak illness or accident could devastate them or their families. But both sides recognize the high cost of health care is a huge challenge.

Well, last weekend at the International Newspaper Guild’s multi-council meeting in Chicago we saw a glimmer of hope on part-time health care.

We got a lead on an IUE-administered insurance program that other CWA unions are using to provide options to their members. As you know, both IUE and the Newspaper Guild are part of CWA, so we could be eligible. Apparently, the program offers cheaper insurance, since, unlike most HMOs, it is not trying to make a large profit. Some locals are reporting that the savings are so great that during negotiations, companies are not only willing to move their employees to this program, they are asking to insure their managers as well.

We’re in the process of evaluating whether the IUE plan could be an option for our part-timers. This is the sort of creative new idea we’ve been hoping to find, since the company so far has been unwilling to either allow part-timers into its affordable Aetna plan or to make its expensive HMO affordable, effectively leaving nearly all our part-timers without health insurance. In fact, the HMO gets more expensive every year, moving out of reach for more and more part-timers.

Stay tuned while we evaluate the IUE plan to see if it is a viable option for our members.

Some other notes from Chicago:

–On a sad note, the leaders from the Cincinnati Guild gave their final report. The end of the Cincinnati Post also marks the end of the union, and many people teared up during an emotional presentation by its officers. We have offered to help those displaced workers any way we can.

–Aside from the local reports, much of the time was spent on politics.

As some of you may know, the International’s Secretary-Treasurer Bernie Lunzer is challenging incumbent President Linda Foley. Both have two running mates: Lunzer is running with Secretary-Treasurer candidate Carol Rothman, who is from the Philadelphia local, and International Chair candidate Connie Knox, who is from Washington-Baltimore. Foley is running with Scott Stephens, from Cleveland, and Lois Kirkup, from Ottawa.

Dayton Newspaper Guild Vice President Amelia Robinson and President Lou Grieco spent time with all six candidates. Bernie and Linda are already familiar with our struggle. Both came to the GLDC meeting we hosted last year, and both said they are getting regular reports from International Rep Jay Schmitz, who is on our bargaining team.

Amelia and Lou also had dinner with some members of the Toledo Newspaper Guild, including President Lillian Covarrubias, who is a candidate for Region 3 Vice President.

This kind of face time is important. Guild officers learn from each other’s tactics and compare notes about companies’ proposals and policies. Plus, locals can start to work together. DNG is already planning events with officers from Toledo and Akron, who want to help us obtain a fair contract.

Keeping plugged in with the international is critical for our success. We have a mighty giant in our corner, offering us the chance to apply for more money for mobilization and legal services. You can see why the company prefers independent unions, and why company officials were so angry when we joined up with the Guild 21 years ago.

Mobilizing kicks into high gear

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Our patience has run thin.

While negotiations with the company continue and progress is being made on some fronts, the company’s consistent resistence to move off its unworkable positions on other issues has convinced the Guild’s leadership that holding back on mobilization is no longer a sensible position.

So we’re moving forward. Expect to be hearing much more from us in the coming days and weeks about our efforts to communicate through new avenues our concerns about the company’s positions.

Specifically, this is why its time to mobilize:

–Wage freezes: The company has continued to push for a wage plan that caps the pay for up to one in three editorial workers despite Cox’s strong profitability

–Kangaroo court: The company has insisted on a first-of-its-kind arbitration provision unlike anything the International Newspaper Guild has ever seen. It requres dispute resolution through a process that is rigged to favor the company and makes our contract unenforcable.

–Phantom health care: Our hardworking part-timers deserve affordable coverage so they can work and live without fear that a sudden illness or injury could devastate them or their families.

–Benefits raiding: The company, so far, expects us to accept dramatic reductions in personal and sick time without any consideration for our real concerns that their system creates bad incentives that harm editorial workers and inhibit newsroom efficiency.

–Protections stripped: If the company has its way, some of our most loyal, high achieving and longest tenured workers would be left without contract rights that should apply to all of us.

–”Green” and mean: The hypocrisy of the company’s “pro-environment” talk while forcing employees to bear the burden and expense of increased company travel under a plan that puts more cars on the road — and more pollutants in the air — is truly appalling.

We will need many people to pitch in and help with our mobilzing efforts. Expect to be hearing from our mobilizing captains about roles you can plan in this contract push.

Guild, company agree on vacation rules

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We’re happy to report that the Guild and the Company have reached a tentative agreement on vacations. In exchange for other concessions from the Company, including an added severance benefit, we will be moving to the Company’s system of accruing vacation during the same year it is used.

It’s an important step toward the next contract, but perhaps equally important, as part of the deal, we have resolved the confusion surrounding new hires from other Cox properties, including those people transferred to the universal desk from Springfield and the Southwest Group. This has been accomplished through a side agreement reached Thursday which reads:

“Effective Jan. 1, 2008, the Company and the Guild shall enter into a new system for accruing vacation. The parties acknowledge that until January 1, 2008, employees had earned and accrued vacation in one year for use the following year.

Beginning in 2008, employees will earn vacation to use that same year. In order to provide for the most reasonable transition of all bargaining unit employees into this new system, the parties have agreed that all employees, including those who entered the bargaining unit from other Cox newspapers in 2007, shall be treated for vacation purposes as if they had earned vacation time in 2006 for use in 2007 under the system the Dayton Daily News bargaining unit had in its contract. Said employees shall be immediately eligible for any such vacation in the remaining months of 2007 and, if they have already taken vacation in 2007, they shall not be regarded as having a negative vacation balance.

The parties agree that time that would have been accrued by employees in 2007 under the old vacation system shall not apply toward vacation in 2008. A list of employees eligible for the severance shall be created by the Company and agreed to by the Guild by the end of 2007.”

The Guild appreciates the company’s willingness to settle this matter in a manner favorable to employees. This also frees up Guild and Company negotiators to focus on the other remaining issues.

If you have any questions about these vacation agreements, please see Guild President Lou Grieco, First Vice President Amelia Robinson or Treasurer Scott Elliott.

Company cars go up for sale

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In a message to the editorial staff today, Managing Editor Jana Collier announced the company would sell the remaining five fleet cars in its possession during a 15-day period from Aug. 31 to Sept. 14.

The message included this statement:

“The Guild has asked that we make the cars available first to photographers and sports reporters. So, the priority will be:

—Photographers and sports reporters

—Dayton editorial employees

—Cox Ohio employees”

This is false. The Guild was not involved in the company’s decision to sell its vehicles. We knew managers were considering that option, but in our last negotiating session, we stressed the need for at least some company-owned vehicles and proposed keeping at least a few cars.

The Guild gave no guidance to the company as to what the procedure for selling cars should be. The Guild’s negotiating team has repeatedly stressed that photographers and sports reporters are among the employees most impacted by the company’s unilateral decision to eliminate cars, that’s all. We still have several proposals on the table related to work transportation.

Guild: Company must bargain over cars

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The Dayton Newspaper Guild has demanded that the Company bargain over the decision to eliminate the fleet of company cars. This was done in a letter sent to the Company on Aug. 3. We have also notified the Company that we are willing to file an Unfair Labor Practice with the National Labor Relations Board if the Company refuses to bargain over this decision.

We believe that this decision is an attempt to significantly alter working conditions and is therefore subject to bargaining. The Guild views an automobile as a necessary tool to bring stories and content to our readers, in line with other tools the company provides such as desks, chairs, phones, computers and cameras.

July 22 marked the last day any employees had use of company cars for normal work assignments. It should be noted that, as of last week, there were 13 company vehicles, all either part of the fleet or assigned to photographers, sitting in the Ludlow parking lot. Company representatives told us last week that the leases are up on all but five of them.

By requiring newsroom employees to use their own vehicles for work-related duties, the Company has significantly added to the cost of working for those employees (at a time when the Company is trying to take away longstanding benefits). This shifts onto employees all risks associated with operating a motor vehicle and the costs, defrayed only by a low 29-cent per mile reimbursement. The official 2007 IRS standard mileage rate is 48.5 cents. In March, the American Automobile Association (better known as AAA or “Triple A”) calculated the cost of owning and driving a car at 52.2 cents per mile.

By next year, it could be higher. The AAA rate was based in part on gas prices that averaged about $2.26 per gallon at the end of last year. This, of course, is an overall average. The rate will fluctuate depending on what type of vehicle you drive, and maintenance costs are affected by WHERE you drive – particularly if you drive on bad roads, or even off road, as many of our assignments can take us.

The Company has not offered to step up and help employees with this increase in the cost of working. In fact, even before the Company took back the cars, the Company tried to pass insurance costs back to employees on at least two occasions. In both cases, an employee was involved in an accident while driving a company car for company business. In both cases, the Company tried to tell the employees that their personal insurance company should be held responsible for the accident. Of course, in both cases, those insurance companies rejected that ridiculous notion, and the employees went on with their lives. But as you can see, the Company didn’t want to protect employees when it already had primary insurance on company cars, and the company surely hasn’t offered to step up to protect employees now.

It’s also interesting that the company just rolled out a Web site called “Living Green,” dedicated to environmental news and issues like carpooling and mass transit. By doing away with the pool of small, economical cars for employee use, the company also does away with the opportunity for a larger group of employees to help the environment by riding a bicycle to work, getting to the Media Center by public transportation, or carpooling with fellow employees. Actions speak louder than public relations exercises.

The loss of company cars doesn’t affect all bargaining-unit employees equally, but for our high-mileage drivers this is tantamount to a pay cut. These drivers are now subsidizing company profits using their personal vehicles, their gas, and their insurance. It’s unfair that those who take on more assignments—who literally go the farthest for the company—wind up losing the most. That’s some incentive the company is offering.

Already, the Guild is getting questions from concerned employees: What if I hit a nail and blow out a tire? What if my car breaks down and I require roadside assistance? One Company official told a group of photographers that any road emergency or property loss associated with use of a personal vehicle on the job “will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

The Guild doesn’t want wishy-washy language like that to determine whether the “case” you might find yourself in will be “determined” fairly by management. We want sound language that will clearly outline how our members will be compensated for the costs of operating a personal vehicle for work and protect them from monetary loss and personal time loss resulting from breakdown, accident, theft, damage or vandalism while on the job for Cox Ohio Publishing.

In just the short time since the company unilaterally took away cars, we’ve seen one managing editor give a less-than-definitive answer about transportation on out of town assignments, while another managing editor handed an employee the keys of an “emergency” car to cover an out of town story. It hasn’t taken long for editors to treat different employees arbitrarily regarding the use of company vehicles.

Company officials repeatedly have tried to tell us that this cost shift to the employees is negligible, because the average payout for mileage will be about $100 to $200 per employee annually. We’re guessing that “average” includes everyone in the bargaining unit, including page designers, copy editors and graphic artists who rarely travel for assignments. But for reporters, particularly but not limited to those in sports, and photographers, that cost is going to be much higher. You know how many miles it takes for you to get to $200 at the company’s rate? About 700. That’s one trip to Cleveland. Most photographers and many reporters can rack up 700 miles in two weeks.

To showcase the company’s fuzzy math, we’ve made a bumper sticker for employees. Until we have a new contract we are asking members to place the sticker on their personal vehicles driven for work and to sign the pledge posted on the Guild bulletin board. These steps are being taken to inform the company and to protect our members and their personal property where the company is unwilling.

PLEDGE:

Because I must now use my personal vehicle for Cox Ohio Publishing work I am taking these necessary steps to protect myself from any personal or monetary loss due to risk the company is transferring onto me as an employee:

• As owner of a personal vehicle, it is my sole decision who, if anyone, occupies my vehicle. That being the case, during work hours I will decide whether to transport others in my vehicle, including but not limited to, co-workers, interns, job shadows, sources, and story or photo subjects.

• If my personal auto insurance carrier increases the amount of my premiums because of my use of my personal vehicle for work purposes, I intend to seek reimbursement from the Company for the amount of the increase.

• While on assignment for Cox Ohio Publishing, I will obey all traffic rules, including those that prohibit non-emergency parking on interstate and state highways. I will park only in designated, legal parking areas.

• I will use best judgment to determine if it is reasonably safe to drive during inclement weather. I will also use my best judgment in the course of my work as to whether I am endangering myself or my personal property by traveling to and parking at a location where I or my personal vehicle may be a target for violence or vandalism.

The painful lessons of James Preyor’s death

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Two months have passed since the death of our friend and brother, James Preyor. We have grieved the loss of a good man who was kind to everyone in the newsroom. We have celebrated his life.

Now it’s time to soberly assess his death, and the circumstances that led to it, because there are lessons there for all of us about how company policies that sometimes seem abstract can have real consequences. They can even cost us a dear friend.

Here are the basic facts of James’ death:

–In the last days of his life, James Preyor complained of severe headaches.

–On Memorial Day, James called a co-worker with good news: he had won some money playing the Ohio Lottery. He said his plan was to buy the medication he needed but could not afford.

–Two days later, James died at home. He was far too young. He was 46.

As most of you probably remember, James suffered a stroke in 2004. At that time he was paying for health insurance through the company. But as a part-timer, he was only offered the HMO option, the most expensive of Cox Ohio’s two health plans. The HMO plan is so expensive, in fact, that the vast majority of Dayton Daily News full-time employees chose the other, cheaper option.

Under the company’s policy, James paid for half of the cost of the weekly premiums and the company paid the rest. But when he needed that coverage most, he was penalized for using it.

That’s because the company only pays for its share of the premiums when a part-time employee works a minimum number of hours a week. Part-timers get no sick leave, so when they get sick they’re on their own. They don’t earn any money when they’re too sick to work. And if they don’t work enough hours, they get stuck for the full bill for their health insurance.

Yes, you read that correctly. When James got sick enough to need his insurance the most – he was critically ill and off work several weeks – he not only did not collect a pay check, but the company also stuck him with the full bill for his weekly premium.

There are no words to describe the unfairness of this policy. Most of us entered journalism to fight this type of extreme injustice.

The Guild raised money to help James after the 2004 stroke. So did some company managers – though they were acting on their own. The company itself did nothing. But the crisis passed, James came back to work and life continued for three more years.

Here’s what we now know of James’ death, based on reports filed by the Dayton Police Department and the Montgomery County coroner’s office and from conversations with his family and close friends:

–Despite his stroke and his uncontrolled hypertension, James had no prescription medications at his home and had not seen a physician in years.

–He had been taking over-the-counter medications because he could not afford prescriptions.

–At the time of his death, he could not afford medical insurance.

This is disgraceful.

We are clearly in a time of benefits raiding, during which the Company justifies swiping paid vacation and PA days from employees who don’t have union protection. Of course, no one can show us that the company is hurting. In fact, all available evidence shows that the company is still highly profitable.

When justifying policy, company officials will try to point to the big picture – citing how much it does for so many employees — to avoid the fine details one sees when one isolates a single tragedy. We have an obligation to James Preyor, one of those tragedies, to not only honor his life but to remember his death, and to rectify the dreadful policy decisions that helped cause it.

More benefits raiding by Cox

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By the time you see this blog entry, you may already have gotten the letter from Human Resources Vice President Emily E. Chambers, announcing the changes to paid time off policies that have been rumored for weeks. (If you haven’t seen the letter, click the “continued” link at the bottom to read it.)

So yes, it’s true. A little more than a year after the company snatched four weeks of paid vacation from its employees without offering any compensation, the company is once again taking away from the employees.

But not you. You’re in a bargaining unit. Like the vacation policy, these new policies cannot be implemented without bargaining with the union. This was acknowledged last week by company negotiators, and in a letter to bargaining unit employees from Editor Kevin Riley. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that benefits raiding is addictive. Rather than trying to increase profits by investing in the online division or adding universal desk staff to produce better products, the company finds it easier to simply steal employee benefits. Maybe that 35 percent profit margin could again be in reach. Just shift costs to your employees, take their benefits, and away they go!

So yes, look for more of this in the future. This is precisely why the Guild is here: to protect your interests. And it’s precisely why every newsroom employee should join with us. Your time, energy and financial support will strengthen our ability to keep this from ever happening to us. The letter speaks for itself. The company wants to make Martin Luther King Day a paid holiday (something that should have been done two decades ago), but only if they can, at the same time, snatch away four personal absence days and limit sick leave to 10 days annually.

Of course, the company will try to get us to agree to these changes at the bargaining table. We’ll look at whatever they offer and will compromise when necessary to get a good deal for our members. Still, we’re just dying to see what they’ll offer up to make the loss of four paid days off seem palatable.

The letter makes the point that this is being done for standardization across the newspaper division. Obviously, not every paper has what we have, but the company has decided to reduce our benefits, as opposed to raising those at some smaller paper in Texas or North Carolina. It’s also interesting that takeaways from employees are so often done in the name of “standarization,” but at the same time, Cox Ohio is glad to make exceptions to the larger company processes when it suits its purposes.

“The benefits package offered by Cox Ohio is one of the factors that make us an employer of choice in the communities we serve,” the letter states. It does not explain how lowering benefits based on what is done in other states will help us stay an “employer of choice” here. The reason for that omission is obvious: the company’s rationale is nonsense.

And there should be no surprise that the letter includes the notion that standardization will “allow us to be cost effective.” While company officials shift major costs to us – say, the elimination of company cars — they take away benefits, all in the name of being cost effective.

Benefits raiding is now a way of life at Cox Ohio Publishing. Not long ago, you could still find employees stating with sincerity that “this is a good company” that takes care of its workers. No one is saying that now. If employees seem more cynical about the company’s motives, perhaps that’s because the company has become more cynical about everything else.

Dear (employee name here),

On January 1, 2008, Cox Ohio Publishing will implement policy changes that impact paid time of. These revised policies are being implemented throughout the Cox Newspapers Division in an effort to standardize our business practices across all Cox newspapers. The new policies will become effective for other papers in the Cox Newspaper division as those papers implement SAP in their organizations.

The intent of this communication is to let you know about the changes and how the changes affect you. We have summarized the significant changes below.

As we look at paid time off or leave policies, the following changes will be effective 1-1-08:

–Holidays: We will now have seven (7) holidays with the addition of Martin Luther King Day.

–Personal Day Off: A “Floater” day off can be scheduled with your manager’s approval.

–Bereavement Leave: Up to three days with pay will be given to attend services of an immediate family member.

–Sick Days: If an employee needs to be away from work due to their own illness or the illness of an immediate family member, Sick Days can be used. Employees will have ten (10) Paid Sick Days to use in a calendar year after the first year of service. In the first year of hire, employees will have a prorated number of days available, up to five (5) Sick Days. These days cannott be arried over into the next year nor will unused sick days be paid out. The company may request a doctor’s note to verify eligibility for sick pay.

–Extended Sick Leave (Short Term Disability):

+There will be a ten (10) working day waiting period prior to the start of paid time off for an extended sick leave.

+There will be a maximum of 26 weeks allowed for the extended leave, including the waiting period.

+Extended sick leave will be paid at 100%, 70% or will be unpaid based on the employee’s years of service. Each employee will receive personalized information about how extended sick leave applies to them in the coming weeks.

–Personal Absence days (PA Days): No employee (Exempt or Non Exempt) will have PA Days.

–Overtime Policy:

+Overtime will be based solely on time actually worked vs. time paid.

+Overtime for eligible employees (part-time and full-time) begins for time worked after 40 hours in one work week.

The benefits package offered by Cox Ohio is one of the factors that makes us an employer of choice in the communities we serve. Standardization acrooss the division will allow us to be cost effective yet still continue to support the needs of our employees. During the coming months, Human Resource representatives will hold several informational meeting times for employees at all locations designed to address questions employees may have pertaining to these policies. Please feel free to contact your manager, your HR representative, or the HR information line 937-225-9777 if you have questions.

Sincerely,

Emily E. Chambers,
Vice President, Human Resources
Cox Ohio Publishing

Fast track dead but talks make progress

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The Guild’s bargaining committee and the company, in a series of meetings in July, continued to make progress toward completing a new contract.

The try for a “fast track” contract failed in June when the company rejected our final fast track offer. So this month we returned to traditional bargaining and both sides have worked earnestly toward completing a deal.

In all, agreement was reached on 33 contract provisions this month. This builds on 22 provisions that were agreed to earlier this year. This means more than two-thirds of the contract is now tentatively settled.

The remaining issues, mostly, are the big ones — arbitration rules, pay, vacation, holidays, personal days, sick time, mileage, layoff procedure, transfers, use of personal vehicles for work, transfer rules and a couple others items. We have two more sessions scheduled for August.

Here are the new tentative agreements reached this month (note: these are summaries of the provisions in layman’s terms, not actual contract language):

–The agreement is between the Dayton Newspaper Guild and Dayton Newspapers Inc. (doing business as Cox Ohio Publishing).

–The agreement will be in force for three years and will automatically be renewed for another year unless either party requests revisions within 60 days of expiration.

–Within 60 days of expiration, either the company or the Guild can initiate negotiations for a new contract. The terms of the old deal remain in effect until the end of the next negotiations.

–The company recognizes the Guild as the exclusive bargaining representative for all full- and part-time editorial employees and anyone who works in the department for at least 15 days in any calendar quarter, including the universal copy desk and anyone primarily providing content, editing or page design for the Dayton Daily News and its websites. These positions are excluded from the bargaining unit: editor in chief, managing editors, assistant managing editors, metro editor, assistant metro editors, regional editors, online editorial director, online editorial managers, nation/world editor, lifestyles editors, art editor, sports editor, business editor, editorial page editor, news desk editors, events editor and chief of photography.

–The company will deduct union contributions from the weekly earnings of employees who agree in writing.

–Temporary employees are defined as those who work less than four months. Temporary employees will not be used to eliminate full or part time employee’s hours or to replace them.

–The pay rates in the contract are minimum only. Employees can be paid increases based on merit. The publisher has the right to grant individual merit increases.

–Employees who move from classification B to classification A can count length of service from the first classification to determine salary in the new one.

–Employees who work as an editor receive $10 per shift. Employees can earn $50 per week for temporarily holding the following positions: assistant chief photographer, assistant news editor, assistant copy desk chief, Sunday news editor, assistant Neighbors editor for news or assistant Neighbors editor for sports.

–The company will pay expenses incurred by employees in accord with company policy in effect if expenses are approved in advance. The company will consider paying expenses that were necessary in cases where it is impossible to get prior approval.

–The work day will be eight hours, not counting lunch, and 40 hours a week. By mutual agreement, the work day can be 10 hours a day and 40 hours a week. The company must inform the union in advance when employees begin four-day work weeks and those employees have the option to return to five-day weeks every six months by mutual agreement. The company can cancel the four-day work week with a month’s notice to the employee.

–Full-time employees called back to work after the regular work day will be paid a minimum of four hours overtime at the rate of time and a half. Employees called in to work on a scheduled day off will be paid at the rate of time and a half for a minimum of eight hours. Part-time employees called in for unscheduled work will be paid a minimum of three hours straight time.

–Time spent traveling to and from an assignment will be considered working time for the employee.

–Employees will be scheduled with at least 10 hours between shifts except where mutually agreed by the employee and the company. In exceptional cases, employees can be required to work within the 10 hour period at the rate of time and a half.

–Work schedules will be posted without exceptions at least two weeks in advance. When changes are necessary, affected employees should be notified as soon as possible.

–An unpaid lunch period of one hour will be provided on each shift. Part time employees who work shifts more than five hours long will have the opportunity for a lunch hour.

–A shift cutting across two calendar days will be treated as worked on the day the shift began.

–An employee seeking to engage in any activity for pay that presents a potential conflict of interest (real or reasonably perceived by others), shall first obtain the approval of the appropriate Managing Editor and such approval shall be granted unless such work or activity constitutes a conflict of interest. The Managing Editor has the sole discretion to determine what constitutes conflict of interest, provided such determination is not arbitrary. No employee shall engage in any activity which constitutes a conflict of interest.

–The Guild and the Company recognize the importance of assuring impartial news reporting and protecting the credibility of the newspaper and its news staff. Newsroom employees may engage in volunteer activities outside working hours, provided they are not a conflict of interest.

–The company will not give employees assignments over their objection when there is a possible risk of physical injury. The employee has the right to: (a) refuse to accept an assignment or a job which the employee has reason to believe is hazardous or is performed under hazardous conditions; and (b) refuse to report for work because the employee has reasonable basis to believe that travel to or from work, or work at the employee’s place of work is hazardous, is hereby confirmed.
No employee shall be docked for work-time lost for: (a) exercising the aforesaid right to refuse an assignment, or job, or to report for work; or (b) inability to report for work because normal travel facilities are unavailable or inoperative and no practicable alternative is available or operative, due to natural phenomena or hazardous conditions created by human acts, including by way of example but not limited to, storm, flood, fire, explosion, riot or other civil disturbance or military or police operation.

–Employees will get a copy of any performance related materials placed in their personnel files and any response in writing will be included in the file. Employees can review their personnel files any time. Derogatory personnel records cannot be used for progressive discipline after three years if the employee has not been disciplined for the same offense in that time.

–At the Guild’s request, the company will provide the name, classification, salary, department, sex, race, date of birth and date of hire for all bargaining unit members.

–The company will provide information about training received by bargaining unit members.

–Employees can only be discharged without a written written warning and a chance to improve for these reasons — criminal acts while performing company business, behavior that creates a clear and present danger to employees or work operations, gross insubordination or proven dishonesty.

–In the even of a reduction in force, part-time employees will be dismissed in numbers equal or greater than one-half of the number of full-timers dismissed. After an employee has been laid off for one week, he or she may elect to treat the layoff as a dismissal and would be entitled to severance pay.

–Seniority is defined as an employee’s full-time total length of continuous employment with the Company, beginning with the date and hour on which the employee began work for the Company after last being hired. Part-time seniority is defined as a part-time employee’s total length of continuous employment with the Company as a part-timer.

–Seniority rights will be lost if (a) an employee quits of his/her own accord, or (b) an employee is dismissed for just and sufficient cause, or (c) an employee does not return to work when recalled into his/her classification, or (d) an employee is absent from the payroll continuously for more than 24 months due to dismissal resulting from a reduction in work force.

–Full-time employees who have completed probation and are dismissed for reasons other than committing criminal acts, creating a clear and present danger at work, proven dishonest or neglect of duty after a warning will receive a lump sum severance pay of one week’s pay for each six months of continuous service up to 24 years at the highest rate of weekly pay received in the prior 12 months.

–Up to five guild members may participate in bargaining during work hours without loss of pay.

–Employees who are elected to positions with the national union may take unpaid leave for up to three consecutive years.

–The company agrees to provide a flexible benefit program and 401K to editorial employees in accordance with the terms of the plan offered companywide unless both side agreed to a change.

–The company will provide pension benefits in accordance with the terms of the plan offered on a companywide basis.

–Any employee discounts or other fringe benefits made available to other company employees will also be made available to editorial employees on the same terms.

Members meeting: Looking ahead

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Over the last week, the Guild held its quarterly members meeting and two “update” meetings for those on later schedules.

Most of the discussion in those meetings surrounded the state of negotiations with the company and concerns about copy desk work rules.

Here is summary of what came out of those meetings:

Guild leaders reported that negotiations had gone well through the end of May, but that the company’s posture appeared to change at our session on June 12.

At our May 31 meeting, the company’s negotiators began presenting its estimates of the costs of some of our proposals. They also sought to clarify some issues and they asked for multiple meetings in June. Discussion continued to move toward a middle ground between our “fast track” proposals — an effort suggested by the company to try to come to quick resolution by focusing on big picture issues.

But on June 12, things seemed to take a step backward. The company handed us what it said was its “final” fast track proposal, under which the company’s position seemed to step backward on some issues and which failed to even address some of our key issues.

But instead of rejecting this offer outright, we made one more attempt to make it work. We crafted a final fast track counter proposal and delivered it to the company’s negotiations. We hope the company will really consider our last position. Our negotiators have repeated pushed hard to try to craft an offer that addresses the company’s key concerns while maintaining workable positions on the issues that are of highest importance to our members.

If the company rejects our counter offer, we will then return to traditional bargaining. All of our fast track proposals will be off the table and we will take the issues one at a time for new talks.

The possibility of this step backward raises the need for Guild members to ratchet up our unity and our mobilization efforts. We may be nearing the point at which together we will have to take our message outside of these walls and let the community know what we are asking so we can seek their support.

Internally, we need your participation in every possible way. We may need your volunteer efforts for organizing. We certainly will need you collective actions, such as wearing red and participating in the Guild as an active member.

On the copy desk front, our concern is high. We are hearing increasing reports that copy editors are stretched thin by inefficient universal desk processes and a shortfall in manpower for the workload.

Our members on the copy desk are working extremely hard to make the universal desk a success. They have gone above and beyond repeatedly to make things work. Managers ought to be hailing their professionalism.

But this situation cannot last forever. Processes must be smoothed out. Pressure must be reduced. Quality must be ensured.

The Guild is collecting a list of concerns and ideas for how to improve copy desk operations that we will present to senior managers. If you have ideas or comments, please contact any Guild officer.