The Newspaper Guild in Seattle is suing Hearst in Seattle after the newspaper created an online-only reporter position and claimed it was exempt from the contract. This is an important fight. As we heard from our own publisher, the newspaper will become only part of the work done at the Times Union in the future as more and more readers migrate to the Internet.

For the same reason, our local is pursuing a grievance over the hiring of a “design director” for the new At Home magazine as an exempt position. (Not a soul on the lengthy masthead is Guild-covered, though ad sales people sell into it and business office workers handle billing.) As these niche products become more and more part of what we do, we need to make sure that work is done by Guild members. Our very livelihood is at stake.

We’ve heard a lot about the need for flexibility. We offered to make the design director position exempt from overtime for a two-year trial basis and to exempt the position from the seniority language on layoffs for that same period. (The Company argued it could not be sure the magazine would last.) The Company rejected our willingness to be flexible, instead proposing we just let the position be exempt for two years and then talk. In the meantime, the Company is gearing up to start several other new niche magazines…

You’ll also note that the Guild in Seattle did an excellent job of letting the reporter feel welcome and making it clear the issue was not her at all. It was the Company’s effort to get around the contract.

Here’s an interesting tale of a reader fed up with the cuts being made to his newspaper. His only relation to our own Mark Hempstead appears to be in a shared philosophy.

Walking the halls of the Times Union, you would not think the workers inside are a particularly unruly, undisciplined bunch who need constant guidance. But a look at the count of the workforce shows just how top-heavy the place is with exempt employees.

According to documents provided by the Company in May, there were 108 exempt employees who oversaw people working in Guild jurisdiction. (This includes the publisher, general manager and a few others who oversee people both inside and outside the Guild.) Some of those folks have left or are taking the recent buyout, bringing that number closer to 101. At the same time, the buyouts are leaving some 250 Guild members.

The bottom line? The ratio of managers to employees is about 1 for every 2.5 workers. Now either those half-workers are really unruly, or the place is top-heavy with management.

This issue came into play as the union issued its first proposal on the proposed newsroom reorganization called Prometheus. The Company’s plan calls for four positions now within the Guild to be converted into exempt positions. (The union has said that cannot legally be done.) At the same time, those four additional “managers” would oversee 9 fewer workers. All of this in the name of “streamlining” the operation.

The Company’s proposal would also strip most of the Class A positions out of the bargaining unit. The Guild’s proposal calls for none of our positions to be made exempt and for other “Team Leader” positions to revert to Guild jurisdiction when their occupants leave.

You can read details of the Guild’s proposal here.

“At a time when the people who are doing the work are seeing their jobs being cut, we should not be seeing more and more exempt people ‘supervising’ them and spending most of their time doing our work,” said Guild President Tim O’Brien.

Guild International Representative Jim Schaufenbil, who works with contracts across the country, describes the heavy concentration of management in Albany as “staggering.”

Company leaders said they would examine the union’s proposal and respond. The parties are scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. next Thursday, July 24. Employees are free to attend on their own time.

Guild negotiators presented a revamped proposal to enable workers to spend up to a week providing assistance to a nonprofit in the community.

The proposal would allow up to 5 employees in each department each year to go on a “Community Service Leave.” They would have to specify the agency where they would work, what they would do and have a supervisor there complete a time slip.

“This would allow employees a chance to spend some significant time helping in the community,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “It would also be a great way for the Times Union to promote itself and its willingness to support organizations that often struggle to find people to do good work.”

The Guild shared with the Company an article from the December 2000 @Hearst company newsletter by Pamela Fiori, editor-in-chief of Town and Country magazine. She concluded: “You don’t have to be rich or famous to be charitable. Most people give quietly. Some give anonymously. Others volunteer their time — and lots of it. More and more, employers not only understand this impulse but encourage it — to the point of matching funds and permitting time off for good deeds, even sabbaticals for community work. What a nice thought. A generous one, too.”

Company General Manager George Hearst praised the “very worthy, wholesome proposal,” but suggested it would require the Company to backfill the vacated positions. Guild International Representative Jim Schaufenbil asked how often the Company assigns a person to fill in when an employee is on any other type of leave.

The Company said it has given some employees’ time to work on charitable causes.

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.