Update, Feb. 2: The MediaNews bankruptcy marches ahead.

So far, proceedings in Delaware bankruptcy court seem to agree with the idea that Chapter 11 proceedings will be limited to MNG’s holding company, Affiliated Media Inc., and will not affect employees or union contracts.

David R. Hock of Cohen, Weiss and Simon represented The Newspaper Guild/ Communications Workers of America locals at the first day hearing on Jan. 26. It appears the pre-packaged bankruptcy will come to a swift conclusion, heading for confirmation without objection on March 4.

The U.S. Trustee is not inclined to convene a creditors’ committee. Local counsel of record will keep us updated on any court filings.

What the bankruptcy documents have shown so far:

• Hearst loses its $300-$400 million investment in MNG, but will get warrants that someday could be converted to stock.
• MediaNews President Jody Lodovic and Chairman and CEO Dean Singleton will continue to control the company post-bankruptcy.
• Under the reorganization plan, Singleton gets $634,000 in annual salary, an annual bonus of up to $500,000, and another $360,000 in salary from the Denver Post Corp. (Read AP’s story here).
• Lodovic gets $1 million in annual salary and an annual bonus of up to $500,000. He already got $500,000 in bonuses for leading the reorganization, and stands to get an extra $250,000 bonus when the bankruptcy is official.

Guild attorneys will continue to monitor the proceedings, including scouring all local agreements and pension plans for any mention of Affiliated Media.

The full text of the bankruptcy disclosure statement can be read here.

Consolidation with the Chronicle?

At this point, a main concern for all of us should be whether this bankruptcy will pave the way for even more consolidation — including a potential merger of the Bay Area News Group with the San Francisco Chronicle.

Singleton has been open about his desire to pursue more aggressive consolidation post-bankruptcy, telling the Washington Post that to imagine where such mergers might occur, “You can look at the map.”

As blogger Alan Mutter notes, “The long-running losses at the Chronicle, plus the MediaNews bankruptcy, may be sufficient to persuade regulators that an antitrust waiver is necessary to sustain journalism in Northern California.”  (Read the rest of his piece here.)
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Bargaining bulletin, Oct. 7: Guild negotiators and Company representatives continued talks regarding a proposed wage reduction for the BANG-East Bay unit Wednesday without reaching an agreement.

The Guild offered several alternative proposals, including one that would shave 2 percentage points from the Company’s pay cut plan by requiring employees to take one week of their vacation unpaid in 2010. Details of the plan would be worked out in later discussions.

Company representatives said they would respond by Monday. Parties are scheduled to meet again at 11 a.m. Monday.

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Bargaining bulletin, Sept. 26: Representatives for the BANG-EB unit of the Media Workers Guild met Friday with company negotiators to discuss pay cuts proposed by management.

Under the contract ratified by our members in June, no pay cuts could be implemented before the Oct. 12 payroll period. As expected, management has moved forward with a plan to cut the pay of Guild-represented employees under the same terms already implemented in June for unrepresented employees.

The Guild has two weeks to offer alternatives to the cuts, and committee members began to do so Friday.

We objected to the need for any pay cuts, arguing it’s a mistake to further demoralize a workforce already battered by layoffs and benefit reductions at a time when the economic climate appears to be improving.

Assuming that some cost cuts may be needed, we made several suggestions on how to mitigate or avoid the salary reductions. The company has agreed to respond to the Guild’s suggestions by Wednesday.

Some of the alternatives we raised include:

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Bargaining bulletin, May 28: Negotiators for the Bay Area News Group-East Bay Guild Unit reached a tentative agreement with company management Thursday for a new labor contract.

The proposed labor agreement would be the first for the 180-member BANG-East Bay Unit, which organized in June 2008.

Guild members now get to vote whether to ratify the accord.

Two meetings are scheduled Tuesday June 2:

• 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in Conference Room 202 at the Contra Costa Times in Walnut Creek, and
• 5-8 p.m. at the CWA Hall, 1831 Park Blvd., in Oakland.

Ballots will be collected at both locations, but results will not be announced until after the Oakland meeting.

We strongly encourage all members to study the proposed contract, consider the views of bargainers and your colleagues, and participate in this vote — so critical for the sake of our jobs, our new union and our company. Any bargaining unit members who have not yet joined the Guild may still do so. Contact any shop steward or unit officer, or call 415-421-6833, for an application form.

The negotiations were complicated by an unprecedented downturn in the economic fortunes of the newspaper industry, which has led to ongoing layoffs, pay cuts and benefit losses around the country. In the Bay Area, Guild members at the San Francisco Chronicle recently endured 150 job cuts after the Hearst Corp. threatened to close the paper, while the San Jose Mercury News Guild Unit is facing paycuts and other concession proposals in a separate contract proposal scheduled for a membership ratification vote on Monday.

“We didn’t get everything we wanted, but we think this proposal is a strong starting point to build our future relationship with the company,” said Sara Steffens, unit chair of the East Bay Guild unit. “There are some things in this contract that nobody’s had before at BANG-East Bay.”
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Bargaining bulletin, Dec. 2: Our Guild negotiating team reached tentative agreements with BANG-EB management Tuesday on military leaves and our right to obtain current information about our bargaining unit.

We made headway on discipline procedures, and discussed hours and overtime, four-day work weeks and time off for family and other leaves. We think we are moving closer to agreement in all of those areas.

Considerable time was devoted to discussion of health care and the open enrollment announced to employees today. We asked for information about changes in costs to employer and employee. The company confirmed that it plans to end the 2008 subsidy to healthcare premiums, as they announced when it was originally put in place. However, we have offered to investigate the option of linking with the San Francisco Chronicle Guild Unit and Hearst Corp. on a new approach that may help contain costs in the future.

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Bargaining bulletin, Oct. 16: Our Guild bargaining committee met with management on Thursday to exchange nearly complete sets of proposals for all but the core economic issues. We reached agreement on a few subjects and scheduled our next session for Oct. 30.

The Guild team also offered new details on our proposed multimedia training initiative. We are now at the point of exchanging paperwork among the company, the Guild and an outside video-training organization which offers custom programs for journalists.

Management’s proposals for the most part would expand the company’s discretion and limit employee rights to protest decisions in all but the most extreme circumstances. Although we aren’t likely to accept such proposals as offered Thursday, we intend to study carefully the company’s entire 36-page proposal. It’s an important starting point for what we intend to see through to a productive conclusion: a first contract for the BANG-EB workforce that we can all take pride in ratifying.

Among the Guild proposals are provisions that would:

* Preserve the right of employees to negotiate individual raises above a future pay scale
* Require the company to provide necessary equipment in good working order.
* Ban any unpaid work.
* Expand benefits for part-timers.
* Improve vacations, sick pay and leave rights.
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The BANG-EB Guild bargaining committee met with management Sept. 24 for the first substantive discussion toward forming our unit’s first contract.

We proposed putting “quality” first in any new contract by making the following language part of an opening section:

The parties hereby agree to work cooperatively as newsrooms adapt to changed methods of reporting, illustrating, packaging and delivering the news. The Company and the Guild agree to the mutual goal of maintaining editorial quality as the paramount concern in all business decisions affecting the editorial product.

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