The Guild has once again reached out to the Company with a new offer designed to settle our contract and give our members much-deserved raises.

It is the ninth time since 2010 that the Guild has made a new settlement offer.

The company, in return, hasn’t budged from its 2009 proposal that allows the company to lay off any employee and outsource any and all work in return for a one-time payment of $1,000. If accepted, the company proposal could result in some employees losing their jobs and having their pensions cut in as much as half.

The Guild proposal calls for 2 percent raises retroactive to August 1, 2011 and on August 1 in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

That means that by 2018, 11 years since our last raise, a person in Class C would be paid about $100 more per week or less than $10 per week per year. It is a perfectly reasonable proposal based on the number of years involved.

The cost to the Hearst Corp. would amount to $127,273 a year, a not unreasonable figure.

The union members would pay 24 percent of the cost of health care effective January 1, 2016, and 25 percent effective January 1, 2017.

On layoffs, the Company would first have to offer buyouts (the same as it has to do now). Once the buyouts were complete, the TU could then lay off employees out of seniority, with those let go given 3 weeks of pay for every year of service.

In our last proposal, the union had included an additional lump sum based on years of service. That proposal was dropped this time. We kept our language that if the company eliminates the added severance for out-of-seniority layoffs in a future negotiation, the layoff language would revert to being based on seniority.

The union added in language that the Company must accept a buyout offer from a person with less seniority in a job title rather than involuntary lay off a more senior employee. This way, the Company could not deny a buyout to an employee who wants one and then fire someone with more seniority.

The Guild proposal also calls for a reduction in the early retirement penalty from 5 percent a year to 2.5 percent. This way, an employee laid off out of seniority would take less of a hit to their retirement income should they need to begin collecting their pension before age 65.

The Guild proposal continues to say that the Company could outsource work but it would first have to negotiate with the union. This is no different from what the Company can do under posted conditions, and the law does not allow companies to impose an ability to outsource without negotiation.

“The Guild has been very consistent in being flexible and offering compromises over the years,” President Tim O’Brien said. “This is a fair and realistic offer, and it should be taken seriously. We will continue to mobilize more and more publicly if we must, but we would much rather reach a settlement.”

For nomination and possible election to the office of Third Vice President

time: 12:30 pm
date: Wednesday, March 4, 2015
location: Colonie Town Library

The Guild will hold a membership meeting to fill a vacant position on the Executive Board. Nominations will be made at the meeting or can be done via petition. We will also discuss our mobilizing efforts on the lack of raises and any other topic members wish to discuss.

Election Information:

The vacant position is Third Vice President. The term will continue through December 31, 2016.

Members must be in good standing to run for office and to attend the nomination meeting. If you want to check your standing, email the Guild office at office@albanyguild.org.

If there is only one nomination for any office, and the person accepts nomination, the person will be elected at the meeting. If there is more than one candidate for any office, a Local Elections Committee will be appointed and a mail-in ballot election will be held.

Nominations for any office may be from the floor, by petition. Petitions may be for an individual candidate in which the name of the candidate, his/her Local unit (if applicable), and department worked listed. Such petitions must also contain the names of at least 25 members. Individuals signing a petition must be members in good standing. These petitions must be filed with the local Secretary at the membership meeting. The secretary shall notify all candidates of their nomination and shall receive from them a written notice of their willingness to serve.

How it works:
By February 15, the Company must notify all employees of the amount of vacation they are entitled to. Ten days later, employees must tell the Company in writing of their preferred weeks off. If an employee fails to do so, the Company can assign the time. Selection is based on seniority. After everyone has selected their first two weeks, the schedule is open again on a seniority basis. By March 5, the Company must post what weeks you will get. Please let us know if a supervisor fails to do so. The Company and employee can mutually agree to change assigned vacation time. In an emergency, the Company can change an employee’s vacation on two weeks’ notice.

An important fact:
The Company must provide every employee who wants it at least two consecutive weeks of vacation between May 15 and September 30. We’ve had managers attempt to decree only one or two people can be on vacation at a time. The contract language outweighs any such edict.

When obtained:
The current vacation scheduling language by and large first appeared in the 1970-73 contract. In between the 2000 and 2004 contracts, the parties agreed to move the dates earlier after some members had trouble booking vacations.

Where to find:
Section 16.B, inside cover for dates. Pages 36-37 has incorrect dates but is otherwise accurate.

Want a benefit explained?
E-mail the Guild at: office@albanyguild.org

“Are you serious!?!” asked a visitor to the Times Union-sponsored Home Show Saturday after reading our latest bulletin on how we’ve gone seven years without a raise.

The bulletin focused on the “timesunionMINUS” program. It discussed how rising costs and stagnant wages are making employees lose money year over year.

A special thanks to Luke Carleo for braving the cold to join his dad as we handed out our bulletins.

A couple who own a business sent this heartfelt letter to Publisher George Hearst. We are sharing it with their permission.

Dear Mr. Hearst,

 

We lived and worked in Albany until buying land and starting a small vineyard/winery near Ithaca NY in 1982. Thus we have been following the Albany Newspaper Guild discussions about salary, seniority and outsourcing issues.

 

We hope you can resolve this satisfactorily for all because the TU is a respected newspaper and probably wants to continue to be so. But to respect an employer and thus do an exemplary job for that employer, employees need to be valued – paid well and be reasonably secure in their jobs – if they are doing the job they were hired to do. From articles we read in the TU we believe that your current staff reporters care about what they do and have insight that comes from experience.

 

The editor of a weekly group of papers here (Finger Lakes Community Newspapers) recently told me that she has more staff than the daily Ithaca Journal. That Gannett paper ‘let go’ local reporters who covered local news—to ‘save money’. Now the IJ draws its news from other sources (and we can get that anywhere these days) and is paying the price of lack of respect (thus readership) and fewer ads. So they’ve lost money!

 

The FLCN editor points out that the FL Community Newspapers is thriving because they have enough senior staff reporters who live in and love their community so consistently provide dependable coverage of local news – as well as selected news from beyond. People want to read ‘local news’ thus advertisers can target local customers. When outsourcing provides inconsistent, superficial and scant local reporting readership and ad revenue suffer.

 

You have a difficult ‘road to travel’ needing knowledgeable reporters to cover not only local tri-city news but also our amazing State Government. So we look to you to continue a high level of consistent reporting and hope you are seriously listening to the needs of your senior reporters. They have given the better part of their lives to make the Albany Times Union a leader.

 

People are our most valuable asset in our businesses.

 

Yours truly,
Jim and Carol Doolittle