The Times Union proposed a dramatic increase in health-care costs late Thursday afternoon that was rejected by both the Guild and the Teamsters.

Publisher George Hearst and the company’s insurance brokers provided three different costly options.

The first would allow members to stay with MVP but the cost would rise from $33.80 a week to $51.38 and the deductible would rise from $750 to $1,000.

The second option, which the company was promoting, was to switch to a Blue Cross plan that would cost $46.28 a week but would require both a $1,000 deductible and employees would have to pay 10 percent of any nonpreventive care. That means if you had cancer, got into a car accident or otherwise needed medical care, you’d have to pay up to an additional $2,000 for an individual or a whopping $4,000 for a family.

The third option was a Blue Cross plan with no percentage payment but a huge $2,000 deductible. Under that plan, members would pay $45.82 a week.

As part of its proposal, the company also tried to shift some additional costs to the unions, prompting Teamsters’ President Mike Cipollo to understandably walk out.

Tim O’Brien and Lindsay LaFountain represented the Guild. Both O’Brien and Cipollo told Hearst the proposed insurance was not comparable.

Under the conditions imposed by the Company, the Times Union must provide either existing insurance or a comparable plan.

“This is not comparable,” O’Brien told Hearst. “My members have not had a raise in three years. They cannot afford this hit. We will not agree to change to a plan that is not comparable without a full contract settlement.”

The union’s Executive Board is meeting at 6 p.m. Monday to hear Guild International Barbara Camens review the legal cases the union has been winning. The board will add the health care issue and putting together a contract proposal to its agenda. The meeting is open to all members and will be held at the Guild’s office at 890 Third St., Albany.

“Once a company imposes conditions, it cannot make any further changes to the contract without agreement,” O’Brien said. “Given that our members are seeing their wages frozen, people in advertising are getting their commissions cut, members have to worry if they are being targeted for layoff, and everyone is struggling to make ends meet, we would only agree to changes as part of a total settlement. And that still doesn’t mean any of the options presented are acceptable. We will put together a reasonable package proposal that should be acceptable to both our members and the Times Union. We hope the newspaper’s leaders will be as flexible as we are.”

The Guild will meet Thursday with the company to learn about the proposed health insurance costs for 2011.

The parties are scheduled to meet in the afternoon. The union will be represented by President Tim O’Brien and First Vice President Lindsay LaFountain. The union plans to distribute information on the 2011 rates to members on Friday.

Under the conditions imposed by the company last year, the percentage of health care costs employees pay will rise again from 21 to 23 percent of the total cost of health and dental care. January is the last time the company can raise the percentage absent negotiations for a new contract. Once conditions are posted,they cannot be changed without returning to contract talks.

The posted conditions also require the health-care plan be comparable to the one we have now.

The Newspaper Guild told the company Monday it needed more clarity to determine the pay classification for the new title of “digital advertising outside salesperson.”

The company had proposed putting the job in pay classification D, the same one as outside salespersons, but it wanted to cap the pay at the third-year rate.

“The position as you propose it would allow the person to sell anything the other people in Class D sell. Therefore, we would not approve capping the base pay at a lower level,” Guild President Tim O’Brien wrote to Publisher George Hearst. “We’re open to discussing this further if the company is willing to be more specific that these positions are for selling search engine optimization. We understand that could lead to selling other ads, but we would need to discuss making the position more distinctive if we were to agree to capping the base pay. As it is, ad sales staff are being asked to sell SEO already. It’s unclear how this position would be distinct.”

O’Brien and Hearst talked later Monday, and the publisher said he would ask Kathy Hallion (who the Guild was glad to see back) and Tom Eason to provide more clarity on how the roles would be different. The parties are both open to further discussion, and input from advertising staff would continue to be sought.

If you have any questions or concerns, call the Guild office at 482-9218, e-mail the union at office@albanyguild.org or call Tim’s cell phone at 466-8700.

The Guild and the Times Union reached agreement Tuesday on a buyout offer.

While all employees can apply, it is specifically target to reduce jobs in advertising art/marketing, online editorial and among district managers.

The company also said it would accept buyouts if a person in one of the targeted positions could move into the vacancy. For example, if a page designer took the buyout, a member of the Web team might be able to move into that job.

All employees can apply, but people should be aware the intent this time is different than an across-the-board buyout offer.

The agreement reached would provide three weeks’ pay for every year of service and health care for the same time period. The company would not challenge unemployment claims, workers would receive all accrued benefits and pension credit, and they would be given access to clips or outplacement assistance if requested.

You can see the buyout agreement for yourself here.

The Guild was represented by President Tim O’Brien, Marianne Mahr of advertising art/marketing and Tim Neff of online editorial. John Michaels had participated but was unable to attend Tuesday due to the birth of his first child. (Congrats, John.)

The committee negotiated several improvements over the company’s original offer: The TU had first proposed two weeks per year of service. The newspaper also had proposed a 12-week minimum, and the union committee was able to raise that to 15. The buyout will be capped at 52 weeks.

The union also got the company to agree to pay severance for fractions of a year. In other words, an employee who worked 12.2 years would get 36.6 weeks of pay.

Buyout offers must be approved by the membership.

The Executive Board will vote to send the proposal to the membership at its meeting at 5:30 p.m. this Thursday at the Albany Labor Temple, 890 Third St., Albany. Those meetings are open, as always, to the membership.

Members must be given 15 days’ notice of any vote, so the board expects to set the meeting for 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 2, at the Colonie Public Library. There is already a membership meeting that day on extending the deadline for dues payment until October 30 for employees to vote in the union election.

Employees would have a week to apply for the buyout offer once it is approved.

The Times Union proposed the creation of a new position in retail advertising that would sell search engine optimization to clients. The company intends to hire at least 10 people to start and hopes to add other positions.

The company proposed the title of “Digital Outside Salesperson October 2010.”

The job duties were described as “sell the Times Union Media Services portfolio of digital products and services to businesses in our region. Prospect for new clients, develop proposals and make presentations, and close sales on a consistent basis to maximize advertising revenue.”

The pay scale proposed would be similar to what outside salespeople are paid in Class D, except the company proposes to stop the scale at what is year 3 for the new positions.

In other words, the weekly pay would be: $623.76 weekly during year 1, $698.37 weekly during year 2, and $783.19 weekly during year 3 and thereafter. (Class D goes on to pay $867.99 in year 4 and $960.53 thereafter.)

The position would come with 12 percent commission on new sales and 8 percent on renewal sales.

Publisher George Hearst said he proposes stopping the pay scale earlier than for outside salespersons because the search engine sales would not require as much time spent with each client (such as shuttling ad proofs to the client and then seeking the changes they want).

“We’re certainly glad to see the Times Union wanting to add jobs, and we’d be delighted if the company found a steady new source of revenue for the newspaper,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “Before we agree to anything, of course, we need to get input from the existing retail staff in case they have any suggestions or questions.”

O’Brien reached out Tuesday to some of the advertising sales staff. The company is willing to meet and discuss the issue further. Anyone who is interested in sitting down with company leaders and discussing the proposal, or who has questions, can contact Tim at the Guild office by e-mail at office@albanyguild.org or by cell phone at 466-8700