Bargaining Bulletin #12:

Tentative Agreement Reached on Most of Contract

The Albany Newspaper Guild and the Times Union have reached tentative agreements on nearly all of our contract sections.

The Wednesday bargaining session saw both sides conduct a section by section review of the proposed contract. We will be moving into negotiating the economics — wages and benefits — and deal with the outstanding contract sections including outsourcing.

We will not be back to bargaining until the week of Jan. 9, 2022 due to vacations, the holidays and the Times Union wanting to work on its economic proposal.

“We’ve been negotiating since June. It’s a long process after not conducting any contract talks since mid-2009,” said Guild President Ken Crowe.

The Company and the Guild have been able to have frank conversations during the talks.

The Guild negotiating team of Crowe, Vice President Ty Stewart and Secretary Wendy Liberatore will meet next week for a comprehensive review of our proposed economic package.

Membership Approves Outsourcing Severance

The membership during a special meeting approved a severance for three print desk members whose jobs are being outsourced to Hearst operations in Connecticut and Houston.

We had anticipated losing as many as 15 positions, but due to previously negotiated buyouts, transfers within the Times Union and vacancies, we avoided the wholesale cuts.

Membership vote set on outsourcing agreement

The Albany Newspaper Guild and the Times Union have reached agreement on a severance package for the three unit members whose print desk jobs are being outsourced as of April 15, 2023.

The agreement includes severance, health insurance, a retention bonus if work continues beyond April 15, 2023 and pension improvements. Details will be discussed at the Dec. 8, 2022 membership meeting at 6 p.m. on Zoom to consider approval.

Contract negotiations moving ahead

The Guild and the Times Union have reached a tentative agreement on a remote work policy. Both sides have worked for over a year on this policy. It benefits our members and management.

The Guild and the Times Union also agreed on a management rights clause. These clauses are nearly universal in Guild contracts. We are only one of two locals without one. We were able to reach agreement on a slimmed down clause compared to what the company wanted.

We continued discussions of the company’s desire for outsourcing language. The company doesn’t want to back off its imposed conditions. Before the 2008 contract negotiations, our local apparently had the only Guild contract that did not permit outsourcing.

The company made its wages proposal. No surprise here. It calls for no raises. It says there would be merit raises after a unit member reaches top scale. They can give merit raises now. The membership is in saying raises are a top priority.

Bargaining continues this week.