FREE to all Guild-covered employees.
Members can bring their immediate families; singles can bring a guest.

Burgers (both beef and veggie), dogs, chicken, ziti, salads, chips and fixings. Beer, wine, soft drinks, coffee, watermelon and desserts. Fun and games for all!

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At a membership meeting at lunch time Thursday, 25 members attended. They learned that discussions to reach the final settlement in the NLRB case are nearing completion as the numbers owed to the 11 workers are being finalized. Health care and pension information has been shared as the parties work to finalize the settlement based on the agreement in principle that has been reached.

Members discussed how to convince the company that employees deserve raises after 5 years without salary hikes, and to show management that giving away our bargaining rights is not an acceptable path. Members shared ideas on mobilizing, both internally and externally. We’ll share those ideas as we’re ready to implement them.

“We tried to use the NLRB case as leverage to get a contract, but the company wasn’t interested in compromising,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “Now the members will once again have to actively mobilize to show they are hungry for a raise, and people are committed to doing so. Five years is too long especially with all the added work people are asked to do as more and more staff has been cut.”

The union also discussed the fact that a U.S. Labor Department auditor will be reviewing the Guild’s record-keeping in early June. This is a common occurrence, as many Guild locals have been through the process. Our local last underwent such a review in 2003.
The Guild has an outside firm examine our books every year, and that information is still in boxes that will be made available to the federal auditor. The union will let members know the results of the review.

In a way, the review is well-timed. The Guild’s office manager, John Piekarski, is leaving to take a full-time job, and the Executive Board voted Thursday to hire our former treasurer, Dan Roesser, to replace him.

“We will miss John greatly both personally and professionally. He is a very creative person, and his new employer is very lucky to have him,” O’Brien said. “We’re lucky too, in that Dan was available and is well acquainted with the union and how it functions. Since he was treasurer during the year the auditor will review, he will be able to be in the office with her and answer any questions she has.”

Members ended the meeting with a moment of silence in memory of Teamsters Local President Michael Cipollo, who led his union at the newspaper for 40 years.

”Mikey was a tough negotiator who really looked out for his members,” said Guild President Tim O’Brien. ”Every year we would sit down together to talk to the company about health care costs. Despite his gruff, working class exterior, Mike was an incredibly smart guy who would sit there doing all the math in his head. He was amazingly sharp. Nothing got by him.”

The Guild sends its condolences to Mike’s family, friends and members.

1. Approval of minutes
2. Treasurer’s report
• Monthly update
3. Committee reports
4. Commission committee
5. Communications committee
• Newsletter
• Website
6. Grievances and arbitrations
7. Contract negotiations
• NLRB case
• Mobilizing in 2012
8. Solidarity/support for other unions
9. Organizing
10. Retiree advisory committee
11. Pension
12. Old business
13. New business
• Appoint office manager
14. Adjourn

The next scheduled meeting will be 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 14.

We believe we are within our legal rights to disclose Friday’s news. As we said, some final details on the payout to the affected employees must still be settled.

Late Friday, an agreement was reached in principle between the Times Union, the Newspaper Guild of Albany and the National Labor Relations Board, which litigated the case.

Under the agreement, three employees will reclaim their jobs at the newspaper and will receive 85 percent of the back pay they are owed since their 2009 layoffs. The other eight workers chose not to return and will receive 115 percent of their back pay.

Final details are still being worked out, such as coverage for any medical expenses the employees had to pay in the interim and the pension credit these workers are due. In one case, an employee had not yet been vested in the pension fund (which takes five years) but would have been had he not been illegally let go. He will become vested. Another employee began to collect his pension, but that amount might have been higher had he stayed longer and could be adjusted.

Of the three workers who are returning, two are from editorial and one is from advertising art. They are reporter Brian Ettkin, content editor Alan Abair and advertising artist Bill Blais. They are expected to return to their duties in May.

“This is a victory not only for these workers but for all our members,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “This means the company must respect our right to negotiate over the criteria for layoffs and not simply walk out whomever management pleases.”

The return of the three workers should not cause anyone else to be laid off, O’Brien said. There is a reporter opening now that resulted from the promotion of a former reporter to a features editor position, and there is a second reporter who is retiring in May.

“We believe there are sufficient vacant positions in editorial and elsewhere that layoffs should be unnecessary,” the Guild president said. “We are happy to welcome back these workers and glad to see this long ordeal end for all 11.”

The Guild had offered to settle the case earlier and at less cost in return for a contract that included concessions on both layoffs and outsourcing. But the company refused any settlement that did not effectively strip workers of bargaining rights in both areas. Our fight for a fair contract and our first raises in five years continues.

The Guild is planning a meeting to enable members to ask any questions they might have about the settlement and the path forward.

To read about the members who were honored in 2012, check out the Newspaper Guild’s website.

“I find unions protect the weak, and don’t produce viable results. People don’t DESERVE raises, they earn them,” Kristi wrote in response to a reader. She went on to add: “If you believe you should earn more, and your company doesn’t give it to you, then leave — find another job.”

Kristi’s comments were viewed by many of her colleagues in the newsroom as a slap in the face. It has been five years since employees at the Times Union have had a raise, and it is not because employees don’t “deserve” one. And they should not have to leave to get one.

But let me back up a minute: I have to say any interaction I’ve ever had with Kristi has been pleasant. We have a good professional relationship. Recently we’ve worked well together to boost traffic to the Getting There blog, and her advice has proven successful. I expect to continue to work well with her.

But I agree with the many employees who contacted me after seeing her remarks. They are offensive. I think Kristi owes her colleagues an apology. It is distasteful and unprofessional for a member of management, which Kristi now is, to suggest her fellow employees who have not received raises don’t deserve them and that they should quit if they don’t like it.

And she is dead wrong about unions, in general and the Guild specifically. Ironically, I remember when Kristi was an editorial assistant and came to me, upset because a member of management had said if she wanted to be a reporter, she should leave, get experience elsewhere and then apply to come back. I told her that two of her colleagues, Bob Gardinier and Dennis Yusko, had been told the same thing. They persevered and became reporters. I advised her to do the same. She did and succeeded.

To say the Guild exists to protect the weak is nonsense. I could go on at length but let me give just a couple of real-life examples of what the union actually stands for.

When the Times Union wanted to outsource our print shop coordinator’s job to Connecticut, the Guild worked with him, proved he did more than the company gave him credit for and saved his job. When a colleague named Terri Currie was dying of cancer, her co-workers wanted to donate some of their sick time to her. The company would not allow it. I fought for years to obtain that benefit and finally did during our last round of negotiations (even though that did not lead to a contract). Two employees since have been able to be out on extended sick leave without losing pay, thanks to the Guild.

We’ve bargained a paid week off for new parents, a benefit for those who adopt and space for nursing mothers to pump breast milk.

That’s not “protecting the weak.” And those are the “viable results” good unions produce.

After the NLRB ruled the layoffs were illegal, the company appealed the decision to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. As a matter of routine, the court orders the parties to first see if they can find a settlement.

This differs from the negotiations that occurred between the union and company. In this case, the NLRB is directly involved in the talks, the Guild gives input, the 11 affected employees are consulted directly, and the contract is not part of the discussion.

Details of the discussions are off the record and cannot be made public until and unless an agreement is reached. If an agreement is not reached, the case goes to court. Given the Guild’s track record in this case, we are very confident of the strength of our case.