Quoted Text

Times Union to end its union contract

BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.

    Albany Times Union Publisher George Hearst III has told employees that the newspaper will terminate its Albany Newspaper Guild contract by next month.
    In a memo issued to employees Tuesday, Hearst indicated that the newspaper would end its month-to-month contract with the union as of April 9. The publisher said the move is aimed at forcing progress in negotiations with the bargaining unit, which saw its last agreement expire more than seven months ago.
    “While this action is not unusual in most labor-management negotiations, it is unprecedented here,” Hearst explained in the statement. “We took this action only after much internal contemplation and discussion, but we felt that it was an essential step to stimulate progress in this negotiation.”
    The move comes as the Times Union braces to cut its costs by nearly 20 percent, partly through layoffs. Guild officials claim the Hearst Corporation could soon reduce the newspaper’s staff by nearly 70 positions, or more than a quarter of the union’s total membership.
    Characterizing it as an “unprecedented assault” on the union, Guild President Tim O’Brien strongly rebuked Hearst’s decision to end the contract. He said terminating the agreement will prevent union members from taking grievances to an independent arbitrator and end an arrangement whereby the company deducts union dues from employee paychecks.
    “It’s not a fight we would have chosen,” O’Brien said during a break in negotiations Wednesday afternoon. “But by having someone else choose it, we’re not going to shy away from it.”
    George Hearst was traveling to California and could not be reached for comment, his secretary said Wednesday evening. Allison Lauenstein, the paper’s director of marketing and strategic planning, declined to comment beyond the publisher’s memo.
    Also in the memo, Hearst indicated that he would no longer participate in negotiations with the Guild. He did not specify who would resume negotiations on behalf of the company.
    “I understand that the new realities of our industry are troubling to many of you, as they are to me,” he stated in the memo. “But the long history of quality journalism of our newspaper is at stake, and I hope the Guild bargaining committee will join with me to build a better future for the Times Union.”
    The union is continuing to negotiate a new contract with Hearst after its most recent agreement expired in August 2008. Both parties agreed to roll over the previous contract on a 30-day basis while discussions continue.
    O’Brien said the cuts the company is eying are simply not possible through concessions in the contract with the Guild, which already offered a number of concessions. Among them, the union agreed to a 5 percent across-the-board pay reduction, the elimination of a sick-day bonus normally given to those workers who don’t use this time over the course of a year and an elimination of overtime payments before employees work 40 hours in a week.
    The union also agreed to amend contract language and allow the company to lay off workers by job title rather than department. However, they refused to budge on a provision that protects senior employees from work force cuts.
    The union’s executive board is scheduled to meet this evening to discuss a plan of action. O’Brien said the Guild has “tremendous support” among the labor community in the Capital Region and would consider..................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00402

Maybe AIG should deal with a guild?????? or maybe Ford, GM and Crysler should deal with a guild instead of UAW????

HHHHHMMMMMM,,,,,,contracts? what to do with them......there are lawyers all over just waiting to 'help renegotiate' contracts......
newbies who know that contracts were made to be broken-----unless of course ya'll are on the take.......
arbitors? who are they? do they have contracts? How to pay them off? decisions decisions decisions.......

what a web we weave......this is definitely not a political party issue but a generational issue........JMHO