Every year, Betsy Feldstein has to use her two personal days to celebrate her faith’s major holidays.

Azra Haqqie does too.

On Tuesday, both Betsy, who is Jewish, and Azra, who is Muslim, came to the bargaining table to discuss the Guild’s proposal to allow non-Christians to get the major religious holidays off without having to use personal or vacation time. Both work in the newsroom as editorial assistants.

All employees receive Christmas as a holiday. Most Christian employees are off on Easter Sunday, and the Guild has never had a complaint from anyone unable to get that day off to celebrate. The major Jewish and Muslim holidays, however, often fall on weekdays when staff would normally be working.

“It’s a matter of fairness and inclusion,” Betsy told bargainers from both sides. “We should aim to be tolerant of diversity. If you want to attract a diverse workforce, you have to be sensitive to their needs.”

Azra said the newsroom has been understanding of her faith and enables her to attend Sabbath services on Friday afternoons. “There are two major Muslim holidays, and I have taken them as personal days or vacation days,” she said.

General Manager George Hearst told both members they were well spoken. Afterward, he asked the union bargainiers if they could provide more specific language on the holidays involved, rather than the more general language the union proposed. The Guild said it would do so.

If any employee is of a faith not mentioned, please communicate with the Guild about what holidays are important to you. And thanks to Betsy and Azra for taking the time to come to the table today.

At a breakfast meeting today, Capital Region labor leaders pledged their support for our union in its contract negotiations with the Times Union.

The local leaders were incensed by many of the proposals the Company has made including:

* from “We’re Your Source” to “We’re Outsourced”: The contract wants the right to outsource our jobs to independent contractors and nonunion part-timers. In 1995, an exception was made to this language for drivers. At the time, there were 49. Now there are only five. This proposal could decimate the workforce.

* Elimination of the “No Pay Cuts” clause, rendering contractual minimums meaningless.

* Elimination of the requirement that layoffs occur in reverse order of seniority, enabling managers to pick and choose who they let go regardless of how long and loyal the employee’s service.

*Elimination of severance if a person is laid off “for cause” with management being the sole decider of what constitutes “cause”

*From “Labor Unions: The Folks Who Brought You the Weekend” to “The Times Union: The Folks Who Eliminated the Weekend.” They want to give supervisors the right to change employees’ days off without their consent — and even split them so they don’t get two days off in a row.

Bargaining resumes at 10 a.m. Tuesday, July 15.

For the second time, the Company violated the law in announcing its proposed newsroom changes Tuesday.

Guild bargainers were shocked to get the memo sent to the staff, announcing promotions to titles that don’t exist and that long-standing Guild positions were suddenly exempt. The upshot of the Company’s proposal to “streamline” the newsroom was to add 4 more managers to supervise 9 fewer Guild people.

The Guild immediately informed the Company that the union had no choice but  to file an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. “These matters are a topic of ongoing negotiations that have not led to an agreement,” Guild bargainers Tim O’Brien and Mary Fultz wrote.

In fact, the parties had met on Thursday. At the time, O’Brien informed Company negotiators that the Guild was almost done preparing its proposal. Questions were asked specifically about the proposed Team Leader position, and the company leaders said they could not say how many of those exempt titles they were proposing until the results of the buyout were known. Three business days later, the memo was sent to staff with no further discussion.

The Company proposal would eliminate every single occupied Class A position except the editorial cartoonist. It then attempts to convert some of those positions (the so-called “deputy directors” and the assistant city editors) into management jobs. It seeks to downgrade other Guild jobs from Class A to Class B.

After the Guild sent its e-mail, Editor Rex Smith called O’Brien to say he had been misled to believe an agreement had been reached, and he said the Company might have to rescind part of its announcement. The parties are to meet later today.

The Company and the Guild reached tentative agreement Friday on a few minor items.

The Company agreed to provide the Guild with a statement of cause when employees are discharged, and they supported striking language that refers to the past practice of allowing 1 out of 10 hires not to pay dues while receiving full benefits. (That practice was ended last time, but some language remained.)

The parties also agreed to update language on the Section 125 plan that enables employees to set aside money pre-tax for health expenses. The language said the Company would establish such a plan, and we’ve now updated the contract to say the Company will continue to offer the plan. The Company’s attorney said Hearst is testing giving people debit-like cards to pay out of their accounts. Currently, employees must save their receipts and submit them, but they get a tax savings for doing so. The debit-card idea would be a great way to increase involvement in the plans, which is a tax savings to employee and Company alike.

In return, the Guild agreed to a Company proposal that will have a minor impact every few years. The Company now deducts money from paychecks 52 weeks a year to pay for the employees’ share of the health-insurance premium. In years with 53 Fridays, the Company has to re-program its system to not make a deduction that extra week. The parties agreed that in years when there are 53 Fridays, the Company can divide what employees owe by 53. Guild members won’t pay any more. It is not a change we expect anyone to notice.

The parties also spent some  time talking about how to monitor employee performance during probation. The union noted the Company has asked to extend some workers’ probation, and the Guild then finds  supervisors have not been discussing performance with the employees every 30 days as the contract requires. The union’s proposal would require sharing that information with the union so it would not first learn of issues right before an extension request is made. The Guild also proposed that a union steward be able to attend the sessions, not to argue but to hear what concerns may arise.

The parties set four other bargaining dates: July 15, July 24, July 29 and July 31.

Many Guild members have asked what they can do to let the Company know how strongly they feel about some of its proposals. Be assured: Plans to mobilize are well underway. Stay tuned. And if you have an ideas, feel free to send us an e-mail at office@albanyguild.org. 

Fourteen people covered by the Guild will receive buyouts, and three people who applied were denied. The Company said it received sufficient numbers to avoid layoffs at this time, though of course managers reserved their right to lay off staff if financial conditions worsen.

The numbers include six people in advertising, four people in editorial, three people in circulation and one person in IS&S. (We were told 12 exempt employees also got the buyout. Five workers in the press room were laid off when no one there accepted the buyout offer.)

The three Guild members who were denied the buyout all work in advertising.

Company officials said they do not intend to replace the 14 who leave. The three people were denied because the Company felt it would have to replace those people, managers said.

“We’re glad no one faces a possible layoff at this time,” said Guild President Tim O’Brien. “We’re sorry to see so many of our colleagues go, but glad they could do so with extra money and extended health insurance. We have always opposed layoffs, and we’re glad we have strong layoff language that encourages the Company to offer buyouts instead. The current proposal by Times Union management to weaken that language would hurt employees if future layoffs are ever considered.”

The  employees take with them a wealth of knowledge and expertise. All together, the Company is losing 394.3 years of experience — or an average of more than 28 years per person.