Please weigh in: Bargaining surveys now circulating in BANG-East Bay newsrooms
Update, June 10: With our contract set to expire in November, the BANG-East Bay bargaining committee is already preparing for upcoming negotiations. That means we need to hear what your goals and priorities are for our next agreement with the company.
You may have already received a copy of a bargaining survey from your shop steward. If not, your steward will be approaching you in the coming days to fill out a copy of this short, anonymous survey. We hope you’ll take a few minutes to complete and return this to your steward, and help our unit get ready for negotiations.
Also in this update:
- Online filing
- Membership clarification
- San Francisco Chronicle bargaining update
- Sacramento Bee tentative agreement
- Hawaii Newspaper Guild merger
Online filing
Recently, newsroom workers got an e-mail specifying the company’s policy on filing online stories or short updates after a night meeting. We’ve heard a few questions and concerns about this in terms of scheduling and equipment.
We fully support the company’s efforts in improving our online presence, including updating our website as quickly and as often as possible. As we pursue this goal, we also encourage employees to carefully track any resulting overtime and how this affects your schedule in general (employees are entitled to either overtime or comp time when they work beyond a scheduled shift.)
If you feel you need certain equipment to complete this work (such as a company cell phone or laptop with internet connection), we encourage you to ask your supervisor for that as well.
If you have any questions or problems regarding this policy, reply to this email, talk to your shop steward, or call unit president Eric Louie at 415-377-4609.
Membership clarification
We’ve come across some confusion recently about what it means to be a dues-paying Guild member in good standing. Dues account for 1.65% of your gross pay, capped at $24.88 per pay period.
Our contract covers “all full time and regular part time employees in the editorial department of the Bay Area News Group-East Bay.” So, for example, if you ever need the Guild’s help in a dispute with a supervisor, we will represent you whether you are a dues-payer or not.
However, you must pay dues to be able to vote on contracts, participate in members-only meetings, help decide how our budget is spent, take advantage of Guild scholarships and training opportunities, serve as a shop steward, or run for unit office.
If you aren’t a member, you forfeit your right to be part of all these decisions and opportunities. That’s your right, under our open-shop contract. But unless you join with us as a full member, you depend on others to make those decisions on your behalf.
In addition to those benefits, the tax-deductible dues also help pay for any support our unit needs in contract negotiations, bargaining changes to working conditions, and dealing with workplace issues and grievances.
If you filled out a membership form sometime in the last couple of years, that does not necessarily mean you are paying dues. If you’re not sure, you can ask a shop steward to check for you, or take a look at your pay stub – if you’re already paying dues that way, you should see an item called “ESBAY Guild Due” in the “deductions” box.
If you’re not already paying dues and would like to begin having the amount deducted from your paycheck, just fill out a dues check-off form and give it to your shop steward, or mail it to:
California Media Workers Guild
Local 39521, The Newspaper Guild-CWA
433 Natoma Street, Third Floor
San Francisco, CA 94103
If you’d rather not pay dues through your paycheck, you can have the amount deducted straight from your bank account by filling out an “authorization for debit entries” form; or, you can mail a check to the Guild office.
If you have questions or need a form, reply to this email, talk to your shop steward, or call unit president Eric Louie at 415-377-4609.
San Francisco Chronicle bargaining update
Guild members at the San Francisco Chronicle have begun negotiations for a new contract to replace the current agreement, which runs out June 30.
The union committee, led by Chronicle Unit Chair Michelle Devera, has met with management several times over the past month. Members delivered an initial proposal that outlines more than a dozen improvements. Many would restore cuts agreed to in February 2009 to avert a threatened sale or shutdown of the Hearst-owned newspaper and SFGate.com website.
Issues include pay raises, vacations, sick leave, retirement benefits and job security.
As a show of solidarity and support, Chronicle workers have begun wearing red on Wednesdays.
For bargaining bulletins and other updates, visit Mediaworkers.org
Sacramento Bee tentative agreement
A three-year tentative agreement has been negotiated by the Sacramento Bee Guild Unit, where the management had been seeking a sharp cut in severance and virtually unlimited rights to transfer employees and outsource jobs.
Workers are scheduled to vote today on whether to ratify the proposed agreement, reached Friday May 21.
Ed Fletcher, a Bee reporter and the Guild’s unit chair in Sacramento, wrote a summary of the deal, posted here on the Media Workers website.
“While the tone of the negotiations was a marked improvement over last year’s talks, Friday’s session could be described as tense,” Fletcher wrote. “At the end of the day, metaphorically and actually, the negotiating team felt the company’s proposed agreement reflects the economic realities of our time and is a marked improvement over the company’s initial proposal. The unit’s goal is to fight for the working journalists and advertising staff covered by the contract, while recognizing the unsteady, evolving industry.”
Terms include a 2 percent average pay increase for 2010 and retroactive pay raises for some employees. Pay raises for 2011 and 2012 will be negotiated later.
One of the most contentious issues was severance pay, which has been capped at 40 weeks’ pay for veteran staff. Management demanded a reduction to a 26-week cap, even for employees who already had accrued severance rights in excess of that limit. In the end, a compromise was reached that preserves the full severance entitlement for senior employees but sets a new limit for recent hires.
Job security was another sticking point. The Guild fought to keep as many jobs as possible in Sacramento. The company wanted unlimited ability to turn jobs from full-time to part-time, and to outsource operations at will.
The tentative agreement limits part-time conversions to seven jobs held by those hired since 2007, and provides enhanced severance for anyone choosing to leave the paper, while protecting benefits for those who choose to stay part-time.
Also, outsourcing will be limited to sending design and copy desk work to other McClatchy properties. Special severance terms kick in for any Sacramento Bee employees affected by such a move.
Hawaii Newspaper Guild merger
Members of California Media Workers’ Executive Committee and Representative Assembly recently voted to participate in a “strategic review” of possible merger options with the Hawaii Newspaper Guild and other CWA locals in the Bay Area.
No decisions have been made other than to continue merger discussions guided by a set of principles, listed in a resolution you can read here.
The Hawaii Guild is being rocked by the consolidation of the Advertiser and Star-Bulletin in Honolulu, which will lead to elimination of hundreds of jobs. CWA Local 9415, based in Oakland, also has members in Hawaii, and has been a close ally of the San Francisco-based California Media Workers Guild, which includes the BANG-East Bay and Mercury News units. Our East Bay unit holds its regular meetings at CWA 9415’s headquarters on Park Boulevard, for instance.
A proposed merged plan will be discussed by California Media Workers’ executive committee during its next regular meeting:
10 a.m.- noon
Saturday, June 19
California Media Workers headquarters
433 Natoma in San Francisco
(Third floor)
No merger of locals would affect the status of individual bargaining units — the BANG-EB unit would not merge simply because our parent union local became part of a larger local. But a merger, or some other kind of alliance beyond what exists now, could make sense by keeping costs down and allowing for pooled resources. A larger local, for instance, could support an expanded organizing and communications staff.
As always, please contact us if you have any questions.
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