Remember when the Company used to talk about treating employees with fairness, kindness, dignity and respect?

It sure has been a long time.

Now comes word that Hearst in San Francisco is giving the Guild this choice: Accept our demands (which look familiar) and we’ll lay off 150. Resist and we’ll lay off 225.

Nice, huh?

And in Seattle, the Post-Intelligencer may become a Web-only operation with lots of blogs and links and little news.

We know times are tough, but we’re supposed to attract readers, not repel them.

In light of the questions raised at Thursday’s membership meeting, Guild President Tim O’Brien sent a letter to George Hearst this morning asking the Company to provide answers.

You can read the letter here.

More than 150 Guild members filled a meeting hall at the Albany Labor Temple tonight to discuss the Company’s announced layoffs.

Guild leaders tried their best to answer questions, although the Company has shared no details to date. Publisher George Hearst has said the Company will develop its plan over the next month, and it won’t be until the third quarter of the year that all layoffs are complete.

Members expressed frustration the Company won’t open its books, allowing a Guild International official to review them but keeping the findings confidential. Taking this step — which has happened at other privately held newspapers, including in the Hearst Corp. — would help ensure members that reductions are truly needed.

Employees also said it would be helpful to know how much the Company is seeking to save so the Guild’s bargaining team could be in a better position to offer alternatives. One young staffer pleaded for people to be willing to offer concessions in the hopes of saving jobs like his, and members assured him that they are willing to do so.

The Guild will take in all the input they received to formulate a response, but members agreed the Company could help immensely by removing some of the large number of givebacks they are seeking from the table. Other proposals still left include eliminating the no-pays cuts clause, giving the Company a blank check to outsource work, enabling bosses to change days off without consent, and eliminating the language that protects against an illegal speedup.

To a person, the attendees were supportive of the Guild’s bargaining committee and said the Company should not be under the delusion that the members have a different viewpoint than the bargaining team.

 “They’re not telling us what to think,” one editorial employee said. “We’re telling them what we think.”

The Newspaper Guild is planning a meeting for this Thursday to discuss the Company’s proposed layoffs.

The session will be held at the large auditorium in the first floor of the Albany Labor Temple, 890 Third St., Albany. Yes, we know the Desmond is more convenient, but the space at the Labor Temple is free to us and the Guild too needs to be cost conscious.

The exact start time will be determined Monday morning, but we expect it to be either 5:30 p.m. or 6 p.m.

We do not yet have any details of the Company’s plans, but we can answer questions and get your input on what you want your union to do. We can also explain the process as outlined in the contract.

It’s important to note that there have not been layoffs previously at the Times Union, so this process is new to us as well. We still believe it is in everyone’s best interest for the Company to offer buyouts first.

Please take time to come to this very important meeting.

Publisher George Hearst said Thursday the Times Union will soon announce a layoff of workers.

He declined to publicly discuss numbers or say when an announcement would be made, but said it was imminent. “A notification will be going out to employees in the early days ahead,” Hearst said at a contract negotiating session with the Guild.

Under the contract, the Company must give workers at least 45 days’ notice of layoffs so the union can talk to the Company about any steps if possible to alleviate the hardship. If shorter notice is given, the employees must be given 45 days’ pay. You can read the contractual language on layoffs here.

“We are aware of the economic troubles our nation is facing,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “We know the newspaper  industry is seeing more job cuts announced every day. While we do not favor layoffs, especially when our workers are already stretched thin, we will do our best to help our members through these difficult times.”

Employees who are designated for layoff have “bumping rights” to return to a previously held position. If a person is let go, they also must be placed on a rehiring list. Rehires are done on the basis of seniority in a job classification.

The Company has proposed changing the layoff language in a way that would render seniority rights useless. Currently, the language says layoffs are to occur in the reverse order of hiring. The Company wants to alter that language to make seniority “one of” the factors considered in a layoff. Hearst said at the table, however, that the Company does not want to consider seniority. It wants to pick and choose employees based on managers’ opinion of their “quality.”

Bargaining Committee member John DeMania noted that such opinions are arbitrary. “This month you are a superstar,” he said. “The next month, you’re in the doghouse.”

Guild bargainers noted any agreement would have to be approved by a membership vote, and it would be difficult to get members to approve language that makes everyone vulnerable to layoffs in the midst of a troubled economy.

“These issues are not negotiated in a vacuum,” O’Brien said. He noted the union had given the Company a serious proposal that removed many items its members considered important, and it offered major concessions as well.

But foremost on everyone’s minds was the impending layoffs. “As soon as we have information, we will share it with you,” O’Brien said. “We also intend to call a membership meeting to allow people to ask any questions they may have.”