Keeping the internal printing coordinator will be less expensive than shipping the work to Connecticut, the Guild demonstrated Tuesday.

The union provided evidence that the Company dramatically underestimated the amount of work Mark DeCenzo does. Three boxes of plates tell the story: Last year, Mark DeCenzo produced 284 different jobs not the 180 the Times Union had claimed. The TU had counted material done directly through the marketing department, but DeCenzo has long done work for others who called or came to his office.

While the Company says it would cost an average of $300 per job for the work to be done in Connecticut, the Guild said the revised figures show that having the work done inhouse would cost an average of $260 each, a savings of $40 per job. In addition, the internal printer says he is willing to produce the single-page  Smart Sheets for the newspaper, generating added revenue.

“It makes no sense to outsource the work,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “Mark always turns around work quickly and gets it to the person who needs it. You’re not going to get the same level of dedication and service by shipping the work out of state. And on top of that, it’s going to cost the Times Union more.”

The union also continued discussions with the Company over the layoffs. The union has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, and Guild leaders reiterated that the appropriate time to propose and negotiate layoff criteria is before an impasse is declared not afterward. The union also said the Company’s actions are a fait accompli, not a genuine effort to negotiate.

In questioning an editorial manager Thursday, it was revealed the Company developed its criteria in May, while the parties were in negotiations and before an impasse was declared. The manager also said in retrospect that some of the criteria — like scoring page designers as “below expectations” for not shooting video — made no sense.

The Guild pointed out that some reporters were graded as failing to meet expectations for not shooting video when they have asked for training and not received it.

The union also asked for copies of all the laid-off workers personnel files. The union had already examined the files and found major differences between the commentsmade in performance reviews and those made when it came time for layoffs. But on Tuesday, one laid-off worker told O’Brien he examined his own file and found glowing performance reviews missing.

 “We had assumed the Company’s personnel records were complete, but now we need to let the targeted employees review their own files to make sure we’ve seen everything,” O’Brien said.

The Company complained that the Guild was not making a proposal on layoff criteria, but the union replied that it is still examining what the Company has proposed. At the same time, union bargainers are having to review the proposals to outsource maintenance and the print shop work all at the same time while doing their day jobs.

The Newspaper Guild today held a forum for laid-off workers from the Times Union.

Representatives from the state Labor Department, the state Health Department, the Workforce Development Institute and the AFL-CIO also presented information on unemployment insurance, health insurance options and job training opportunities.

“While we continue to legally challenge the layoffs the Company has made, we know this is going to be a long battle and we wanted to be sure our members were provided with all the information we could get to them,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “They learned valuable information about how unemployment works and about the fact that once their health insurance runs out, they can use COBRA for their own care but might be eligible for state assistance to get health care for their children.”

The union invited all members to attend. Those who have been laid off by the Times Union got personal calls reminding them of today’s event. The handful of laid-off workers who were unable to attend will be sent information packets containing copies of all the material distributed at the forum.

Afterward, the workers said they were grateful to the union for providing the forum as well as for its continued fight against the Company’s illegally handled layoffs.

The Times Union proposed Thursday to eliminate the internal print shop and outsource the work to Connecticut, a move that could cost a 13-year employee his job.

Over the years, Mark DeCenzo has worked diligently in a small room off the back shop. He’s printed business cards, rack cards, posters, envelopes, letterhead and business forms. It’s a demanding job, and he’s made literally tens of millions of impressions on the two-color offset press he runs.

Mark has been a printer since he was 15 years old. His wife, Tina, works in the business office. The couple has a 10-month-old daughter. Both of their families live in the Capital Region so a layoff for Mark would be particularly devastating. The Times Union wants to send the work to a nonunion Hearst paper in Danbury, Conn.

“The Company refused to divulge what jobs it wanted to outsource prior to the contract vote, but it has made swift work of trying to outsource our work after declaring impasse,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “Now the bosses have made clear they looking at what work they can ship off to a nonunion newspaper where the pay and benefits are less.”

After speaking to Mark at lunch time, the Guild proposed that the Company look into use Mark’s skills to increase revenue rather than lay him off. For example, the Times Union now pays outside contractors a premium to print the single-page Smart Sheets advertisers pay to have placed in the newspaper. Mark has said he’d be willing to do that work.

“Rather than lay off a devoted, loyal worker with a new baby, we believe the Times Union should be looking to find ways to take advantage of the great skill and knowledge Mark brings to his work,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said.

Company bargainers said they had not looked into the possibility of using the print shop as a revenue source but they would do so and respond. The parties next meet at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 13.

The Times Union also is looking to outsource two full-time and one part-time maintenance jobs and to transfer that work to an independent contractor. One of the maintenance workers the Company has said it intends to lay off is a single father whose wife recently passed away who has a 13-year-old daughter.

The Guild maintains the outsourcing of any work is improper. The National Labor Relations Board is investigating the legality of the Company’s declaration of impasse.

The Guild also had a discussion in the morning with the Company over the 14th person laid off. The employee had been on a three-week vacation and returned to learn he was losing his job. Suspecting that may be the case, the worker had e-mailed in advance to ask if he could go directly to the personnel office rather than be walked there by a manager the moment he came into work. Like many of the Times Union workers, he thought that was a more dignified way to be let go than the way the company had treated others.

Today marked Mary Fultz’s final day as a Times Union employee, and there was no better way to spend it than at the bargaining table.

Mary came to the Times Union from the Troy Record in 1987 to work on the copy desk. She spent her final months at the TU as a page designer.

Over the years, Mary has served as unit chair and chief steward in the union, and she has suffered through several rounds of negotiations as a bargaining committe member, none as difficult as the current ones. She has brought her humor, kindness and wit to all of her roles both for the newspaper and the union.

Mary is a huge “Star Trek” fan, and her first stop post-retirement will not be Disneyland but a “Star Trek” convention in New Jersey. She plans to move from the area to be close to her family in Oswego.

We do hope Mary keeps in touch (she’s on Facebook if you want to join her there). We will miss her, and not only because she’s the one who takes the minutes at bargaining. But we do wish her the best of luck wherever she chooses to boldly go.

At the top of the July 19 classified advertising section appeared this headline: “Making layoffs less painful.”

Below it was this attention-grabbing information in a box: “Kindness is key: Business owners and bosses should follow these five simple tips to better handle layoffs in this trying economic climate.”

Here are the five tips in the Tribune Media Services column the TU reprinted:

1. Say you are sorry for their loss.
2. Thank them for their past service.
3. Let them stay on for a few days after the layoff notice.
4. Offer to help with their professional transition.
5. Let their colleagues say a proper goodbye; perhaps arrange a farewell luncheon.”

That’s right. The TU printed a column telling business owners that the best way to handle layoffs is NOT to make people leave right away and that you should LET THEM HAVE TIME FOR A PROPER GOODBYE.

You’ll notice the column said nothing about making sure you have extra security in the building, walking those selected off to the personnel office as their colleagues watch in horror, immediately shutting off their Internet access, removing their names from their mailboxes right away and making sure their swipe cards no longer let them in the building. (Oh, and then claim they’re not really laid off. They’re just on a paid leave.)

The column’s author, Joyce Lain Kennedy of Tribune Media Services, responds to her reader’s 5 tips on properly handling a layoff this way: “I couldn’t agree more with your philosophy. And the people who show kindness under stress won’t be branded as jerks when business rises again.”

So to summarize, the TU printed a column saying that if during layoffs you make people leave immediately without letting them say a proper goodbye, you are a jerk. That’s not the Guild talking here, folks. It’s words to live by, brought to you by the Times Union, which ought to practice what it prints.