By a more than three-to-one margin, employees of the Times Union voted  today to reject a contract offer that would have given the company the power to outsource any and all jobs and lay off employees regardless of how long they had worked at the newspaper.

Publisher George Hearst had insisted on the vote and strongly encouraged members to participate. The members rejected the proposal by a vote of 125 to 35.

“Had the membership approved the company’s proposal, we would have respected their decision and been bound by it,” said Guild President Tim O’Brien. “The publisher sought this vote, told members how important it was to him that they vote and he needs to respect their decision. Our members were quite clear on what they found unacceptable in the company’s offer and they have been telling us what changes would make it acceptable. We intend to seek new bargaining dates and to go forward with a renewed spirit of flexibility.”

The publisher should take a renewed look at the proposal, listen to the concerns of his employees and come back to the table ready to compromise.

“As a sign of our good faith, the Guild is suspending its advertising campaign so that we can go forward with a new spirit of collaboration,” O’Brien said. “We look forward to returning to the table, and we believe the parties can and should come together in a compromise that will reflect both the perilous nature of our times as well as the need to continue to produce a quality newspaper staffed by local employees.”

As our members prepare to vote on the Company’s proposal, union members gathered outside the Times Union Thursday for a show of solid support.

Some 75 union members rallied outside the newspaper holding signs, cheering and attracting supportive honks from passing motorists. They came from a wide assortment of unions including NYSUT, UUP, PEF, CSEA, the Steelworkers, the Amlgamated Transit Union, the Teamsters, and other units of CWA.

Highly regarded defense attorney Steve Coffey came to the rally after talking about the  Guild’s battle for a fair contract Thursday morning on Paul Vandenburgh’s radio show on Talk 1300. Coffey said he was disturbed that the Times Union would seek to lay off employees who had been at the paper 20, 30 or 40 years like Carol DeMare. He also said the newspaper should not be seeking a blank check to outsource work.

Also attending were Assemblyman Robert Reilly and County Legislators Douglas Bullock and Bryan M. Clenahan.

“When you work inside the concrete bunker that is the Times Union building, you often don’t realize what tremendous support we have in the Capital Region,” said Guild President Tim O’Brien. “The Times Union’s efforts to outsource our jobs and eliminate seniority have galvinized community attention. They recognize the damage that would have on the newspaper, its advertisers and our readers. We are appreciative to all who came out today and to our members who joined us.”

In one of his forums with employees Wednesday, Publisher George Hearst inaccurately claimed an impasse is forever.

Guild President Tim O’Brien was in the meeting. He suspected the answer was wrong, but didn’t immediately respond because he needed to research the right response. He consulted with representatives of the Guild International, including its legal counsel, after leaving the meeting and had a swift answer.

“What George Hearst said is untrue,” O’Brien said. “An impasse lasts for what would have been the term of the contract. In this case, the Company is proposing a three-year agreement, one year of which is almost over. We would be back in negotiations by 2011 at a minimum.”

In addition, the Company could make no further contractual changes without an agreement with the Guild. So, for example, if the Company wanted to reorganize positions in a department (as it did last year in editorial) the Company would have to bargain over it. The Guild would naturally insist that any agreement be part of an overall contract settlement.

The parties also would continue to negotiate and, at any time, could reach a mutual agreement.

“We do not believe that the parties are at impasse just because the Company decided to force a vote,” O’Brien said. “But George was wrong to tell members that an impasse is forever. It is not.”

During the session, Hearst was asked about a recent tentative agreement at the Washington Post, where the company agreed to limits on layoffs outside seniority and a bar against laying off people in order to outsource work. Hearst conceded the Guild in Albany had offered flexibility by setting percentages on the number of jobs that could be outsourced or the number of workers who could be laid off outside seniority. When he said the percentages offered by the Guild were unacceptable, one employee bravely asked what percentages would be acceptable.

“We’re not here negotiating,” Hearst responded crisply. “I appreciate the spirit of your question.”

Hearst did not offer much in the way of reasons why members should support his efforts to outsource any and all work or to lay off anyone regardless of how long their service, except to say that a yes vote would have ‘more curb appeal,’ ‘better kharma’ and ‘the optics are better.’ We’re not sure what any of that means.

But Hearst did acknowledge the Guild would have greater say in negotiating layoffs or outsourcing if the proposal was defeated. And he urged members to pay their dues so that they are eligible to vote. On that point, we wholeheartedly agree.

Yet another local governmental body has voted to support the Albany Newspaper Guild and to condemn the recent actions of the company.

On Tuesday night, the Schenectady County Legislature voted 13-to-1 with one abstention to support the Guild in its battle with the Times Union for a new contract.

“The Schenectady County Legislature supports the efforts of the Newspaper Guild of Albany to keep experienced and loyal employees at work, to retain jobs in the Capital District, and this Governing body opposes the actions of the Albany Times Union to cancel the union contract,” the resolution states.

The legislature’s bipartisan vote drew passionate favorable comments from both side of the political aisle.

“People in Schenectady have seen the damage outsourcing can do,” said Republican Minority Leader Robert T. Farley. “We need to support workers trying to retain jobs.”

Schenectady County is the home to General Electric, which has outsourced much of its manufacturing jobs.

Local newspapers are supposed to employ local people said Democratic Majority Leader Vincent M. DiCerbo.

The Guild mobilizing committee is extremely grateful for all the support we’ve seen from so many members of the Capital Region community and we hope the company will come to see how important local jobs are to the health of the newspaper.

Unlike the Times Union, the Washington Post has been losing millions. But when it came time to settle a contract with the Newspaper Guild, the Post agreed to limit the number of people laid off outside of seniority and to protect workers from being laid off and their work outsourced.

Here’s a quote directly from the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild’s Web site:

“The Post demanded absolute flexibility in conducting layoffs with seniority as only a part of these decisions. After heated discussions, we arrived at a compromise solution which would allow The Post to exclude up to 25 percent of employees in a section targeted for layoff from consideration for layout. After that, the remaining 75 percent of employees would be laid off by seniority. This largely maintains seniority protection for long term employees as well as giving shorter term employees the possibility of being excluded from layoffs.”

And on the issue of outsourcing, the language in the tentative agreement says that no one could be laid off as a proximate cause of outsourcing.

Publisher George Hearst likes to talk about the state of the industry and what is happening elsewhere. We’d be happy to talk to him about why the money-losing Washington Post is willing to be flexible on the issues of seniority and outsourcing. And we are hopeful that, if his proposal receives the defeat it deserves, he will be similarly flexible at the still-profitable Times Union. In good faith, we expect that kind of approach would result in an agreement we could recommend.