Update, Jan. 19: Last week, we all received an email from Dean Singleton stating that MediaNews has, in consultation with its lenders, created a “prepackaged” bankruptcy filing for its holding company, Affiliated Media Inc. Filing could come as early as this week.

The official documents and the resulting hearings should provide more details of the arrangement, including the new ownership structure, and what, if any, compensation Hearst will receive for relinquishing its stake in the company. In the meantime, MediaNews has promised that neither workers nor daily operations of our newspapers will be affected by the bankruptcy, and we intend to hold them at their word.

What the Guild is doing on our end:

The Newspaper Guild has represented workers at five newspaper company bankruptcies, and in every case, employees continue to work and get paid, noted Carol Rothman, secretary-treasurer of TNG. “None of the guild properties have been affected any more drastically than anyone who is not in bankruptcy,” said Rothman.

The Guild has hired a law firm that specializes in bankruptcy to monitor workers’ interests as the filing proceeds, and representatives across the country are gathering relevant financial information.

Union members in St. Paul have been assured by Marshall Anstandig, MediaNews’ senior vice president for labor relations, that their contract will continue to stand through its expiration date, July 31, 2011. The Pioneer Press was the unnamed newspaper cited in MediaNews’ Friday press release as losing money, Anstandig said.

The St. Paul unit is scheduled to vote later this week on potential salary cuts and other concession

If you have any specific questions or concerns about the bankruptcy announcement, please don’t hesitate to contact Unit Chair Eric Louie or any of our shop stewards. We’ll do our best to find answers for you.

For those who want to read up on the issue, here are some good link:  The Wall Street Journal has the most comprehensive coverage. Here’s the word from Editor & Publisher (yes, they’re back!). Click here for our Guild response. Content Bridges ponders further consolidation in the wake of the filing. And a former MediaNews publisher weighs in on Singleton’s next chapter for Nieman Lab.

MediaNews Summit

Unit chair Eric Louie spent the weekend at the Guild’s San Francisco offices with union leaders from MediaNews properties from California, Colorado, Michigan and Minnesota. The group shared bargaining strategies and discussed the company’s financial future.

Following Friday’s bankruptcy announcement, the summit began with an overview of how The Newspaper Guild has represented workers’ interests during past newspaper company bankruptcies, and a discussion of potential next steps.

Those attending also discussed the outcome of recent rounds of bargaining, focusing not only on cuts and concessions, but also those areas where bargaining teams were able to protect workers.

Contracts expire this fall at BANG-East Bay, the San Jose Mercury News and the Monterey Herald.

Other discussions focused on sharing ideas to help our bargaining units continue to stand up for quality jobs and quality journalism.

The summit was part of the MediaNews Project, supported by a Strategic Industries Fund grant from our parent union, Communication Workers of America.

The project focuses particularly on improving communications and coordination among Guild units at various MediaNews properties.

You can read more about the MediaNews Project here.

‘New Times, New Guild’ series

Our Local, California Media Workers Guild, has created some of the nation’s most innovative and forward-thinking union programs — including the nonprofit Bay Area News Project, our growing freelance unit, and a new effort to increase newsroom fluency in language and culture by pairing journalists with court interpreters.

You can read about these and other efforts in a seven-part “New Times, New Guild” series now featured on MediaWorkers.org, our Local’s award-winning Web site.

BAVC Training

During last year’s contract negotiations, management and the Guild agreed that the shifting landscape of news-gathering and presentation required increased training opportunities for our newsroom employees.

The Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) was identified as an ideal partner to provide such training, at no cost to the company. The state funds a program through BAVC for retraining employees, and the money is good through July 2010.

The company agreed last year that in January 2010, it would select ten employees (five from the East Bay group and five from San Jose) to take advantage of this intensive multimedia program.

We hope to hear from management soon about the application process. We have every reason to believe the company will honor its agreement on this, as it has in the past, despite the obvious distractions of the last few weeks.

Other news

Job cuts at McClatchy show that even when business starts to improve, it’s no guarantee newspapers will turn away from a self-destructive cost-cutting strategy and find real solutions.

Get involved

Bargaining for our next contract will be here before we know it, and we could use your help.

If you’re not a Guild member yet, please consider becoming one now – it allows you to vote on contracts and union leadership, among other benefits.

Even before we secured our first contract, our unit enjoyed immense support from the Guild staff in negotiating layoffs and buy-outs, pay cuts and other changes to our newsroom. The Guild also provides support and training for both current and former employees.

If you need a membership form or have any questions, please see your shop steward, or contact Eric Louie or Shelly Meron.

Speaking of shop stewards, we could always use more! It’s a relatively easy way to help out and be a resource to your co-workers. If you’re interested in becoming a shop steward, please contact Eric or Shelly.

Tags: bankruptcy, Bargaining, contract, MediaNews, Training
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