Members of the Albany Newspaper Guild rallied Saturday outside the Times Union’s car show to say 8 years is too long to go without a raise.

The employees held signs saying “I can’t afford a new car. I work here” and “NO MONEY gets TU workers DOWN.”

Leading up to the event, the Guild filmed a hilarious but powerful “car commercial” about the lack of raises that racked up thousands of views. You can find it here on our web page or on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Feel free not only to like it but share it!

The employees were not objecting to the car show. In fact, people who stopped to talk to the workers were given a flyer that said: “Welcome to the Car Show! It’s for a good cause, the Hope Fund, but we’re here for a good cause too and we hope you can help.”

What are the key issues? The Times Union wants the ability to outsource work without negotiation and it wants to be able to lay off the most long-serving employees without lessening an early retirement penalty or guaranteeing enhanced severance will last. In exchange, the TU proposes to give employees no raise, just a one-time $1,000 bonus. The Guild has made 10 separate offers to settle the contract since 2009 while the Company is still pushing the same proposal overwhelmingly rejected by workers.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jhfiODdMlU]
As the Times Union prepares for a classic car show this weekend, this new ad shows that NO MONEY is getting TU workers DOWN. After 8 long years, Guild members auto have a raise by now.

Please share this on Facebook, Twitter and other social media and call 454-5555 to tell the Hearst Corp. it’s time for a fair deal for #tufamilies.

An anniversary not worthy of celebration just passed for workers at the Times Union. On Aug. 1, a company-imposed wage freeze hit its eighth year.

During this time, the Guild has made ten different offers to settle the contract. All have been rejected by the company, which in the last two rejections declined to even come to the negotiating table.

But despite this, the Guild remains committed to continue trying. We will make an eleventh offer, and if that is rejected, then a twelfth offer, a thirteenth offer, and so on… We will not stop until we have reached a fair deal for the hard-working TU employees and their families.

If you support the Guild’s efforts, please share this message on social media (on Twitter use the hashtag #tufamilies) and call 454.5555 to urge Publisher George Heart to come back to the negotiating table and reach a fair settlement with his employees.

Once again, the Guild has offered to settle our long-standing contract dispute to give our members the raises they have long deserved.

It is the 10th time since 2010 that the Guild has made a settlement offer. The Company meanwhile is still insisting on the same offer overwhelmingly rejected by members in 2009, the one that would provide no raises, a one-time $1,000 bonus and gut layoff and outsourcing language.

The Guild’s newest proposal calls  for 2 percent raises retroactive to August 1, 2014 and on August 1 in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Previously, the union had proposed retro pay going back to 2011.

With just under 180 members now, the pay raise would be equal to about $185,000 for the first year, hardly a challenge for the Hearst Corp.

The Guild would also agree that members would pay 24 percent of the cost of health insurance premiums effective January 1, 2016 and 25 percent a year later. Under the imposed conditions, that percentage is frozen at 23 percent.

The Guild would allow the Company to make out-of-seniority layoffs, but it would have to guarantee the added severance for those let go could not be taken away in the next round of bargaining. And we also proposed reducing the early retirement penalty so anyone laid off between ages 55 and 65 would take less of a hit on their pensions.

We dropped a proposal to increase the pension multiplier to improve everyone’s retirement pay.

With outsourcing, what the Guild proposes is what the Company can do now under imposed conditions: It must bargain with the union. The law does not allow the Company to impose what it wants — a blank check to outsource — and for good reason.

“We continue to work for a complete settlement,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “Unfortunately, our efforts continue to be a one-way street with Company officials disinterested in rewarding employees for their many years of hard work. The good news is the imposed conditions mean everything stays in place: The Company cannot reduce pay, eliminate the pension, or change the differentials or vacation time accruals. All those benefits remain intact, but our members deserve more than the status quo. Raises are about more than money. They are about respect.”

The Newspaper Guild/CWA of Albany is deeply saddened to learn of the death of our former Times Union colleague Tom La Point.

Read the story on Tom’s career here.

Tom worked for several decades as a photographer for the Times Union. Upon his retirement, he moved to North Carolina where he died

He was active in the Guild and served as its president.

“Tom was a character and if he didn’t like an editor, he could give the person a really hard time,” said current President Tim O’Brien. “But if you were on his good side, he’d do anything for you. How you treated Tom was exactly how you got treated back. Once you figured that out, you’d get along great.”

O’Brien recalled one of his earliest photo requests in the late 1980s, when he asked for a photographer to take a photo of a couple standing outside their home in Troy. The photo was never taken.

When Tom was asked why, he told the editor — who had done something to tick him off — that he went to the house and the couple wasn’t standing outside at the appointed hour so he left.

“At the time, I was flabbergasted. Later, I realized the key to Tom was you had to treat him right or he’d find a way to give it right back to you,” O’Brien said. “When Tom realized I was a proud Guild supporter, he’d have done anything for me. He loved the Guild, believed it to be vitally necessary, and considered you a comrade in arms once he knew you agreed. He had a wicked sense of humor, a gravelly voice and he delighted in tormenting those he considered unfair to employees, but in the end he was extremely loyal.”