Negotiations resume as company hands out merit raises, members to meet

As you are aware, the company has handed out its uneven merit salary increases. While the Guild does not stand in the way of the company offering these increases, the Guild has written a letter to Publisher George Hearst telling him that the Guild’s position will always be that all employees in the bargaining unit have the right to negotiated contractual wage increases across the board.

Raises will surely be a topic of discussion during our contract negotiations that restart on June 10 and will continue on June 17. We would like members to wear their T-shirts and buttons (which are being distributed by Guild Secretary Kathleen Moore in the newsroom and Chief Steward Justin Wisner in advertising) to the Zoom negotiations. The company will not pay you while you show up on the Zoom so you must sign in during your lunch hour or your 15-minute morning or afternoon break. Protocol requires that visitors do not speak during negotiations. However, your presence on screen will be powerful, I assure you.

We are having our quarterly members meeting at 6:30 p.m. June 12 on Zoom. At that time we can discuss how the June 10 negotiations went, the Guild’s filing of the unfair labor practice and future actions we can unite behind. I will send you a link to the Zoom soon. I do hope you can attend.

In solidarity,
Wendy Liberatore
President