Vote Thursday on plan with 2 weeks’ pay for each year of service with caps
September 28, 2015

The Company is offering an across-the-board buyout for employees after negotiating terms with Guild leaders. Before the offer becomes official, members must vote on the plan this Thursday.

The offer is for two weeks for every year of service, with a minimum of 15 weeks and maximum of 52. Employees would get health insurance for the same period of time.
For employees in advertising, commissions would be calculated as part of the package.

The Company would not challenge unemployment claims, but employees would have to answer questions honestly, disclosing they received a severance package.

A vote on the buyout offer will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. and 5:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday in the advertising conference room. Guild leaders will discuss the proposed offer at noon and at 5:30 p.m.

The deadline to apply would be Thursday, October 15. The Company will decide which applications it accepts.

“We do not like to see any more positions cut as our members are doing more and more work with pay that has been stagnant for 8 years,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “On the other hand, we would much rather see employees leave voluntarily with cash in their pocket and health care coverage.”

The Company has said the buyout will also be offered to exempt employees.

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.”