In an effort to move contract negotiations forward, the Guild made a major proposal Tuesday that would allow the Company to lay off a limited number of people outside seniority. Employees who lost their jobs as a result would get enhanced severance pay and benefits.

The Guild proposed that the Company could “skip” people with demonstrable exceptional skills or ability. The Company would have to provide evidence of such skills or ability, and the union would have the right to file a grievance. All employees must have been offered equal access to any special skills training.

The number of employees who could be skipped would be limited to no more than 10 percent of those laid off and no more than two people in a job classification.

If the Company laid off 70 people, as it has threatened to do, that means it could “skip” seven employees.

Those who get laid off outside of seniority would be entitled to one week of additional severance for every four months, or majority thereof, they’ve worked at the Times Union.  Essentially, that means a person would get three weeks of severance pay for every year of service. The Guild also proposed that employees so laid off would get 18 months of health-care coverage.

If a person was within 18 months of retirement, the Company would also give them full credit (and make the appropriate contribution to the pension fund) so they could retire when they reached retirement age.

“No one should be laid off a few months’ shy of retirement age and lose the benefit they worked so long, hard and loyally to achieve,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said.

While the decision to weaken seniority protections was difficult and might upset some of the Guild’s members, O’Brien said the union is trying to balance the Company’s stated need for flexibility with the union members’ desire for some level of job protection.

O’Brien said it would be unfair to allow the Company to lay off the most senior employee in a department while keeping a person with limited  experience here who might be looking to move on soon. He cited specific examples in editorial: It would be inappropriate to put Carol DeMare, a reporter with more than three decades of experience, at risk of a layoff while “skipping” an employee like Marc Parry, an excellent reporter who just left the newspaper (and we’re proud of him) to take a job at the Chronicle of Higher Education he’d actively been pursuing for months.

“Our proposal would give the Company a fair chance to save some people with special skills, while not putting our most senior employees, the people who would find it hardest to get a new job, at risk,” O’Brien said.

The Company still wanted a blank check to lay off anyone no matter how long or loyal their service. Those who lost a job outside seniority would get three weeks’ pay per year of service and health insurance for the same number of weeks as the dismissal pay. The Company would cap both at a maximum of 52 weeks.

The Company also proposed to eliminate the current language that requires laid-off employees to be placed on a rehiring list. Instead, the Company proposes to create a rehiring list for one year that would not require management to rehire anybody.

O’Brien called the proposal a “RINO” — Rehiring in Name Only.

The negotiations are set to resume at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the Executive Conference Room. Members are free to attend on their own time.

Guild members and supporters came to the Common Council in Albany Monday to denounce the Times Union’s threat to cancel our contract on Thursday.

“This time, the future of our union and the Times Union itself are at stake,” Chief Steward Ray Pitlyk said. “In contract talks with the Guild, the newspaper’s management is demanding the unconditional right to outsource work done by Guild members and lay off members without regard to seniority.”

Ken Crowe, a past Guild president and reporter at the newspaper, noted that other unions at the plant have not been subject to the same demands to allow outsourcing and to lay people off outside reverse seniority.

Doug Bullock, a county legislator and vice president of the Capital District Area Labor Federation, called for the public to call Publisher George Hearst at 454-5555 to express outrage at the cancellation threat.

“I think it is outrageous that any employer treats employees this way,” he said. “I urge the council to vote for this resolution.”

The council will take up the resolution on April 20. It delayed the vote after two representatives for the company read about the resolution on the Guild’s blog and called to ask to be heard on it.

“It will come back before us on April 20,” Council President Pro Tempore Richard Conti said. “I think it’s appropriate we have an open discussion. It will be coming back.”

At Sunday’s Auto Show, Guild members once again took to the streets to let people know how the Times Union wants to be able to “drive jobs out of the Capital Region.”

Members stood outside the Times Union Center distributing bright orange fliers that explained how the newspaper wants to be able to outsource any and all of our jobs. We detailed how the computer system would allow pages in Albany to be laid out in Houston. And we let showgoers know about the Times Union’s desire to be able to lay people off regardless of how long and loyally they have served the newspaper.

“When did worker become a bad word?” one disgusted attendee asked.

In this upcoming week, the parties will meet for four straight days, Tuesday through Friday, in an attempt to negotiate an agreement. But if the Company cancels the contract on Thursday as threatened, Guild members are prepared to do a lot more than leafleting.

As President Tim O’Brien told a breakfast of labor leaders Friday, this negotiation isn’t about wages or benefits. It is about the fundamental reasons workers have a union: to protect them from being laid off when they are experienced but older, when new jobs are hard to come by, and to keep their jobs from being handed off to freelancers, independent contractors and cheap call centers where quality customer service is not provided.

“We will work to negotiate a fair agreement this week, and we hope the Company will realize that it too needs to make substantial movement,” O’Brien said. “But we will not bargain out of fear. If the Company chooses to cancel the contract, it has been amply forewarned of the consequences.”

Ever play that gag when you were a kid? You’d tell some other child about your amazing, superfast running speed. You’d say “I am going to run around the world.” You’d assume a running position, then you’d turn and smile: “Want to see me do it again?”

That’s what it has been like to bargain with the Company this time around.

In his latest memo, Publisher George Hearst says the Company has made a new proposal. Oh, he still wants to be able to lay off anyone the Company chooses regardless of how long and loyal that person’s service. But now as he boots these workers out the door, he’ll give them health care for a little while. We’re sure this is a great comfort to people in their 50s, say, who wonder if they will ever be able to work again, especially if they have ongoing health issues.

Of course, seniority is only one of the huge issues on the table. Mr. Hearst does not say a thing — and the Company did not propose — any changes to the proposal to lay employees off and outsource their jobs. Or to eliminate the no-pay-cuts clause.

But the Guild bargaining team will weigh his proposal and respond. It would have been helpful to get it sooner than on Friday afternoon, so we may take some time Tuesday morning to contemplate our reply before meeting with the Company.

We do find it funny that the Company complained last week that we weren’t moving fast enough, then waited until Friday afternoon to produce this minuscule move. And they expect all of us to believe they are moving superfast when in fact they are standing still.

Albany city leaders will vote Monday on a resolution in support of workers at the Times Union. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday on the second floor of Albany City Hall.

The resolution already has 13 sponsors in a 15-member body. It honors the Albany Guild local on its 75th anniversary but notes the recently changed tone in the relationship with the Hearst Corp.

The Times Union is trying to gut the employees’ contract, allowing management to lay off employees and outsource their work. It  also wants to be able to lay off workers no matter how long or loyal their service.

When the union stood up to the newspaper company, the Hearst Corp., threatened to cancel the Guild’s contract on April 9. Guild leaders have warned that such an unprecedented action would lead to boycotts, picketing and other job actions.

The union has offered concessions in an attempt to resolve the dispute, including wage cuts, reduced overtime and other savings.

In its resolution, the Common Council says it backs the union in its fight.

“This body supports the Newspaper Guild of Albany on the occasion of its 75th anniversary for its long history of dedication to the working men and women of Albany and the Capital Region,” the resolution reads. “This body supports the Guild in its fight to keep experienced, loyal employees at work and to keep jobs in the Capital Region and condemns any attempt by the Times Union to cancel its union’s contract.”

The council further resolves that, should the Times Union cancel the Guild’s contract, “this body will stand in solidarity with the union and will support any and all boycotts, picketing or other efforts necessary to achieve a fair outcome.”