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TRANSCRIPT
May 8, 2014
Bargaining Update #1 Today we met the company to kick off bargaining and exchange proposals for a new union contract. We share with the employer a keen understanding of the rapidly changing publishing business and advertising market that are our future. Our union proposals were aimed at balancing the Globe’s ability to adapt to change, with the need for fair compensation and job security to retain and attract top talent. Our major proposals are:
• Tightening up the layoff language in cases in which the company is allowed to lay off.
• An improved process for adjusting to new skills and technologies. • For branded or custom content, disclosure to the affected editorial
employees of the identity of the advertiser or sponsor. • Improved paid leave for bereavements. • Improved parental benefits. • Improved benefits for counseling and massage therapy. • Updating the base year for the DB pension plan and increasing the matching
contribution formula for the DC pension plan. • Reversing salary reductions for outside sales representatives.
The employer’s major proposals are:
• Eliminating a large number of editorial job classifications and grandfathering the pay of current employees in those jobs.
• Giving management the right to assign editorial employees to write and edit advertorial copy as part of their regular duties.
• Reclassifying all advertising employees into new jobs, with new pay levels.
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• Eliminating the DB pension plan for all service after 2014 and shifting plan members to the DC plan.
• Remove the “financial duress” clause to allow the company to do layoffs for any reason, including contracting out.
• Involuntary transfers and/or demotions of any employee deemed by management as not performing adequately.
• A new Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) which would allow the company to manage and assess an employee’s performance and, if necessary, demote or dismiss that employee without a right to contest that demotion or dismissal.
• For sales reps, the failure to meet target in 3 out of 4 quarters, and/or falling below 80% of target in 2 out of 4 quarters will trigger a PIP and failure to improve performance in the next quarter will result in demotion or dismissal without challenge (unless exempted by the employer if the failure to meet target is due to the market or other factors).
It is not the union team’s desire to speculate publicly on the company’s bargaining strategy, and we note that these are opening proposals. We did not discuss them across the table at any length but will when we resume bargaining on May 20 and 22. We will report to you on the progress of negotiations at that point. It is likely we will schedule a membership meeting in early June. The company has also decided to follow its practice from 2009 and ask for “conciliation” immediately, which creates a legal strike/lockout deadline of July 1st. Sue Andrew, Unit Chair John Daly, Editorial Jim Hester, Advertising Hindy Kennedy, Advertising Pat Wylie, Circulation Howard Law, National Representative