Latest News from the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild

We're moving

2011-05-15T15:46:00.000-07:00

Sometime in the near future, this blog will be moved to milwaukeenewsguild.org/blog. Please update your bookmarks accordingly.

Umhoefer picked for health and safety post

2011-01-28T06:46:00.000-08:00

Dave Umhoefer is the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild’s new health and safety coordinator.

The local’s Executive Board has named Umhoefer, a Politifact Wisconsin reporter, to deal with any concerns about ergonomics, air quality or other health and safety issues affecting union-represented workers in the Journal Sentinel’s downtown newsroom and Wisconsin bureaus. He fills a post that has been vacant since metro reporter Susanne Rust left the paper in 2009.

Vacation deal approved

2011-01-20T06:39:00.000-08:00

In voting Tuesday, Milwaukee Newspaper Guild members approved a package of vacation changes, 55 to 5. Guild leaders and Journal Sentinel Inc. management representatives expect to sign the agreement within the next few days, retroactive to Jan. 1.

As an immediate result, members of our bargaining unit will be able to take two key changes into account when scheduling their 2011 time off: (a) All full-timers will now have three floating holidays, a net gain of two extra days off each year, and (b) all employees will now have an extra three months to take each year of vacation, so 2011 vacation can be used as late as the first quarter of 2012.

The latter point is of particular importance this year for employees who were hired between 1995 and 2006 and who may have time remaining in their transitional vacation accounts, or TVA. Because the TVA is supposed to be scheduled before the end of 2011, the change will allow affected employees to use up TVA first and roll over some 2011 vacation to early 2012. Guild representatives have personally contacted each affected employee to be sure they know how much TVA they have and how it must be used.

Another feature of the deal will restore a fifth week of vacation, after 20 years of service, for full-time employees hired in 2006 or later. Because all employees hired before 2006 were already eligible for the fifth week, part-timers hired from 2006 on will be the only newsroom employees who wouldn't qualify for it.

The tradeoff for these improvements: Employees hired from 1995 on, who are on the "earn-as-you-go" vacation system, would have to pay back the company if they left the paper after taking more vacation than they had earned. However, management has given the Guild on-the-record assurances that this provision would not apply to those who take buyouts or are involuntarily downsized.

Guild sets vote on vacation deal

2011-01-13T06:43:00.000-08:00

Milwaukee Newspaper Guild members will vote Tuesday on a package of vacation changes proposed by Journal Sentinel management. We'll hold our quarterly membership meeting the same day.

Most of the proposed changes are improvements -- two extra days off each year for full-timers; three more months to use our vacation; and restoration of the fifth week of vacation, after 20 years, for new full-time hires. But we would have to give up a bit of contractual protection for people leaving the company. And we were not allowed to negotiate any substantive changes to the package.

Because this would require amending our contract with a side letter, in a way that affects our benefits, our Executive Board has decided to put this question to a vote of our membership. The board is recommending members vote "yes."

Both the meeting and the balloting will begin at noon in the Abert Room. During the meeting, members will have an opportunity to discuss the agreement and hear updates on our other activities, including our preparations for bargaining. Lunch will be served. Voting will continue until 2 p.m., then resume from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Members who need to make arrangements to vote absentee should contact Karen Samelson or, in her absence, Greg Pearson.

The full text of the vacation agreement has been distributed to members and posted on the main Guild bulletin board in the newsroom. Here are the key points:

Overview: Journal Communications wants to have the same vacation policy for everyone in the corporation, both publishing and broadcast, to save the downsized payroll and human resources departments the trouble of worrying about the nuances of different contracts and policies when they calculate how much vacation everyone has coming. Ours still wouldn’t be identical to everyone else’s, but it would be a lot closer. Rather than drag everyone down to the lowest common denominator, the company is offering several improvements that we sought unsuccessfully at the bargaining table.

Floating holidays: We used to have one floating holiday for full-timers. A couple contracts ago, at the request of corporate accountants, we agreed to turn that into a vacation day. Since then, every full-timer with three weeks of vacation, for example, has had three weeks and one day. Now the company wants to turn that day back into a floating holiday and add two more, so we would have three floating holidays every year. In bargaining, we sought to add several personal days every year but wound up only with those the company was trading for a pay cut. Management has not connected these two new days to the pay cut in any way.

Fifth week: Most of our unit members get five weeks of vacation after 20 years. In the 2004-’08 contract, we reluctantly gave up the fifth week for those hired in ‘06 and later. We tried unsuccessfully in bargaining last time to get it back. Management is now ready to give it back, but only to full-timers.

Short-term rollover: Realizing that our short-handed staff has a lot of trouble scheduling vacations, especially in December, management is now willing to let us take our vacation as late as March of the following year. So, for example, we could take our unused 2011 vacation sometime in the first quarter of 2012. The rollover would not apply to the floating holidays.

Payback: When we went to the earn-as-you-go vacation system, several members said we shouldn’t agree to anything that required people to repay the company if they left after taking more vacation than they had “earned.” We successfully negotiated language that flatly bans such paybacks. This has been a source of friction and several grievances, and management tried and failed to eliminate that language in bargaining. This change would require payback in all cases. After our board voiced concerns about docking departing employees who had not planned to leave, management gave us on-the-record assurances that they never had done this to anyone who was downsized or took a buyout, and they didn’t intend to do so in the future.

Part-timers: Although our part-timers would not get the fifth week back, they would continue to get more vacation than those in any other department. Newsroom part-timers earn vacation on the same schedule as full-timers. The rest of the company’s part-timers must work here five years before they get any vacation, and then they’re capped at 52 hours (slightly more than two weeks for those who work 24 hours a week). We would keep exactly what we have now — including no fifth week for part-timers hired in ‘06 or later.

Earn-as-you-go effective date: We use the earn-as-you-go system for full-timers hired in 1995 or later. For everyone else, it took effect for those hired in 1994 or later. We would keep our effective date. Along with the part-timer policy, that would be among the only vacation policy differences between us and the rest of the company.

The process: If we say no, everything stays as is, at least through 2011, but we can come back to the issue in bargaining this spring. If we say yes, we could still try to renegotiate the terms in regular bargaining, when everything else will be on the table as well. With a positive vote, the language would be retroactive to Jan. 1.

Content picked as steward leader

2010-11-06T21:01:00.000-07:00

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild's Executive Board has named Tom Content as a steward leader.

Content, a Journal Sentinel business reporter, replaces Mary Louise Schumacher in overseeing stewards, contract enforcement, membership and mobilizing for the business news, features/entertainment, photo and opinions staffs. Schumacher, the newspaper's art and architecture critic, did not seek reappointment to a second term.

The board reappointed the other two steward leaders: copy editor Russ Maki, to a third term serving the copy, design, graphics and national desks and the sports staff, and metro reporter Tom Held, to a second term serving the downtown metro desk, Wisconsin news bureaus and JSOnline.

Also reappointed were page designer Zeina Makky as communications chair, feature writer Jan Uebelherr as social chair, copy editor Jen Steele as newsletter editor, online producer Craig Nickels as Webmaster, metro reporter Larry Sandler as posting and exclusions coordinator, deputy business editor Bob Helbig as wage data coordinator and assistant features/entertainment editor Stan Miller as tech coordinator. Uebelherr and Helbig are also board members.

All of those appointed will serve one-year terms, until next October. The steward leaders and Vice Presidents Meg Kissinger and Karen Samelson will now select stewards.

Guild launches wage restoration campaign

2010-10-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild has launched a campaign to urge Journal Sentinel Inc. management to restore our bargaining-unit members' wages to the point they were at before last year's 6.6% pay cut.

"Our sacrifice has been great," newly elected Guild President Tom Silverstein wrote in one of two recent letters to members. "We lost a lot of good co-workers and friends and accepted a pay cut greater than management did. Today, thanks in large part to us, the company is on firmer footing. That is why now is the time for the company to follow the example of many companies in this area and restore workers’ wages and benefits in full."

Here's the complete text of both letters:

October 18, 2010

Dear co-worker,

Over the past year and a half, we’ve seen a lot of changes in our workplace and few of them have been good. Layoffs left us all shaken and unsure of our job security and the future of the newsroom. To our credit, we made it through the worst of the recent economic downturn and managed to produce a terrific product.

As the newly elected president of Local 51 of the Newspaper Guild, I’d like to take this opportunity to reach out to everyone in the newsroom and beyond to help us work toward restoring the things we lost when the company cut an uncompromising swath through our wages and then through our workforce.

Our sacrifice has been great. We lost a lot of good co-workers and friends and accepted a pay cut greater than management did. Today, thanks in large part to us, the company is on firmer footing. That is why now is the time for the company to follow the example of many companies in this area and restore workers’ wages and benefits in full.

The first step in formulating a campaign is to remind management of just that.

With that in mind, Local 51 wants to know how the 6.6% pay cut has affected you. We ask that you visit www.surveymonkey.com/s/2KDC3C3 and take a brief survey. We want to know where the cut has hurt you the most and what challenges you and your family faced as a result. The survey is open to everybody in the newsroom, not just Guild members.

Please express yourself freely and urge your co-workers to participate, too. We need to know how our membership has been affected. We hope to use these anecdotes to press our case with the company for full wage restoration. We’d prefer that you include your name, but if you would like to remain anonymous, that is fine.

If you have other concerns that you feel are more or equally important, we want to hear them also.

As we press forward in the coming weeks, the information you provide will be vital in showing management the sacrifice each and every one of us has made to keep this company profitable. The survey won’t take much time to complete and it will be of great benefit to the Guild.

You can expect to hear more from us about upcoming union activities that will show management we are united in the belief now is the time to make things right.

Thank you for your participation.

Tom Silverstein
President
Local 51 of the Newspaper Guild

October 21, 2010

Dear co-worker,

For months, Journal Sentinel workers have shared in the sacrifices to reduce company expenses. Wednesday’s third-quarter earnings report from Journal Communications is a sign that the company’s fortunes are improving.

It signals that the time is now to discuss how to reward employees who have seen their incomes slashed even as their workloads have grown. As the company recovers, so should workers.

Among the highlights in the third-quarter earnings report:

Revenue was up 1.7% from a year ago. That was largely attributed to gains in the broadcast division based on political ads and auto ads.
Operating earnings nearly tripled, to $11 million from $4.1 million for the same period a year ago.
Net earnings rose to $6.3 million, compared with $1.8 million a year ago.

The report pointed out that revenue for publishing operations continues to fall, because of weakness in retail and classified advertising, and going forward, it sees that weakness continuing.

But it’s important to know that despite the weak economy, the company has been able to reduce its debt by more than 25% so far this year. This means it was able to reinvest in itself at a time when many companies can’t.

Perhaps the most puzzling part of the report was CEO Steve Smith’s comments that the company would be “selectively investing in our people” going forward. It’s hard to know what that means, but those of us who have been around a long time cringe at the thought the company will once again be selectively “investing” in its people.

Journal Sentinel workers accepted a 6.6% pay cut -- a rate higher than management’s reduction -- in hopes of saving people’s jobs, and then watched the company slash the workforce dramatically. Our commitment to producing an outstanding newspaper and website never wavered during that trying period and remains today as the company gets back on solid footing.

As a group, we deserve to be rewarded.

If not now, when?

Tom Silverstein
President
Local 51 of The Newspaper Guild

Silverstein elected Guild president

2010-09-28T22:18:00.000-07:00

Milwaukee Newspaper Guild members chose Tom Silverstein as our new president Tuesday.

Silverstein, a Journal Sentinel sportswriter, is a longtime steward who was a member of our most recent bargaining committee.

He succeeds Greg Pearson, who decided not to seek re-election. Pearson, a copy editor, served more than two years as president, after nearly four years as 1st vice president, the longest anyone had held our grievance chairmanship. He also has been a steward leader, board member and negotiator.

Members re-elected metro reporter Meg Kissinger to a second term as 1st vice president; copy editor Karen Samelson to a third full term as 2nd vice president; metro reporter Erin Richards to a second term as secretary; metro reporter Amy Hetzner to a fifth full term as treasurer; and feature writer Jan Uebelherr and Politifact Wisconsin reporter Tom Kertscher to a fourth full term and a third term, respectively, as at-large board members.

Returning to the Executive Board, after an absence of more than four years, is former president Bob Helbig. He's also been our vice president, our longest-serving treasurer, a board member, steward leader, bargainer and most recently our wage data coordinator.

Helbig, a deputy business editor, succeeds two at-large board members who did not seek re-election: metro reporter Mark Johnson, who served more than four years, and editorial writer James Causey, who served one year. A bylaws amendment adopted last year reduced the size of the board from 10 members to eight, effective with this election, and one seat had been vacant.

All of those elected will serve one-year terms, starting Friday. Their first task will be to fill appointed posts, including steward leaders and committee chairs and members. The vice presidents and steward leaders then will choose stewards.

Also at Tuesday's annual meeting:

Members elected Silverstein and Kertscher as delegates to the international Guild's sector conference, with Samelson and Helbig as alternates. Silverstein was also elected as our delegate to the international convention of the Guild's parent union, the Communications Workers of America, with Kertscher, Samelson and Helbig as alternates.
The membership renewed the "universal rebate" that keeps our dues at 1% of pay, for another year. An annual vote is required to maintain the discount.

Final layoff grievances resolved

2010-08-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild has completed settlements for Journal Sentinel newsroom employees who were laid off in August 2009. The last three settlements were signed in late July and early August.

We had filed grievances on behalf of 19 employees who were laid off last year despite ranking higher in seniority than others who were retained.

One of those employees, online producer Emmett Prosser, was offered his job back. He returned to work in March. The other 18 reached financial settlements with Journal Sentinel Inc.

Guild board OK’s bonus, pushes to restore pay

2010-08-20T19:34:00.000-07:00

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild’s leadership recently cleared the way for Journal Sentinel newsroom employees to receive a 2% bonus, but not without a reminder that we still expect management to restore our wages to what they were before last year’s 6.6% cut.

On July 21, Journal Communications CEO Steve Smith announced a lump-sum bonus for everyone who had taken pay cuts, with the payout amounting to 2% of one year’s wages at our current (i.e., reduced) level. Although that bonus took effect automatically for non-represented employees, union consent was required to pay it to anyone covered by a union contract. We needed to agree by noon the next day in order for the bonus to appear on the July 29 paycheck; otherwise, it would show up on the next check after an agreement was signed.

Our Executive Board met that deadline, authorizing Guild President Greg Pearson to sign an agreement that specified the bonus would not count toward wage restoration. However, board members also sent management a letter urging swift restoration of our previous wage levels.

When we originally agreed to the pay cut, the deal called for wages to be restored for our bargaining-unit members at the same time as for non-union employees, and in proportion to the non-represented group’s 6% cut. That language was subsequently incorporated into our contract, which also requires that our wages would be restored across the board even if non-union employees get their money back on a “merit” basis. Smith had previously hinted that wage restoration might be under consideration for the second half of this year, but his most recent letter suggested 2011 as a more likely target.

Also, although the bonus is calculated as a percentage of our current pay, the contract specifies that wage restoration would be based on our old pay. For example, if non-union employees get back 2% of their former pay, we would get back 2.2% of our previous wage rate, and so on until the full 6.6% is restored.

Here’s the complete text of the bonus agreement:

"This confirms the agreement between the company and the union that the company shall make a cash bonus payment to eligible bargaining-unit employees. The eligibility for and terms of the cash bonus are as set forth in Steve Smith's letter of July 21, 2010. This cash bonus shall not be considered a partial restoration of the negotiated wage reduction by which the company is required to restore partially or wholly under certain conditions."

And here’s the complete text of the Guild’s letter to management:

"The board of Newspaper Guild Local 51 is pleased that management has chosen to provide a bonus to Guild members. However, we would like to make clear that since the pay cuts were intended to be temporary, it is our fervent hope that the company will move quickly to restore salaries. Bonuses, while better than no increase, do not offer employees the security they deserve."

Contract signed

2010-06-13T23:49:00.000-07:00

Milwaukee Newspaper Guild and Journal Sentinel Inc. representatives signed a new contract last week, covering our bargaining unit through 2011.

A small number of newsroom workers will receive raises as a result of the contract. That’s the group who were due to move up on the pay scale, but who were frozen at their previous wage level while negotiations were going on.

Because of the 6.6% wage cut, those individuals will move up to 93.4% of the minimum rate for their new pay steps. The same principle will apply to anyone who moves up the pay scale in the future, until and unless our wages are restored to their previous level. If you are in this group and you have any questions about how this applies to you, please see a Guild representative.

Contract ratified, 54-10

2010-05-28T00:48:00.000-07:00

Milwaukee Newspaper Guild members ratified a new contract with Journal Sentinel Inc. by a vote of 54-10 on Thursday.

The pact, which runs through 2011, preserves several key protections from previous contracts, including our severance and notice pay in case of downsizings and our cap on the percentage of health care costs we must pay, although the company gains more control over who to lay off and over how our benefits are structured. The contract also keeps much of our current wage and differential structure in place, and outlines how — but not exactly when — our wages would be restored to where they were before last year’s 6.6% pay cut.

In short, it’s a contract that falls short of what many of us had hoped for, but that is nonetheless the best our bargaining committee believed we could get, and in some ways better than some of the others we’re seeing at other Guild locals across the country.

Guild and management representatives will now proceed with signing and implementing the contract.

Layoff grievance settlements reach 16

2010-05-28T00:10:00.000-07:00

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild has now reached settlements for all but three of the 19 employees who filed grievances over last year's downsizing.

In late March, JSOnline producer Emmett Prosser returned to the newsroom, the only one of the group to date who has won back his job. Earlier this week, another employee reached a financial settlement, the 15th member of the group to do so.

The remaining three are scheduled to go to arbitration in June. All of them have lifetime job guarantees from their prior service in the composing room, but the company has refused to recognize the validity of those guarantees.

In all, 35 newsroom employees lost their jobs in the layoffs. Among the 16 employees whose layoffs were not challenged — either because they were low in seniority or because they asked us not to grieve for them — the company has canceled the layoffs of two part-time scoretakers and has rehired a full-time online producer in a different part of the company. Three other part-timers were hired as temps.

Guild sets membership meeting, contract vote

2010-05-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild has set Thursday as the date to vote on a tentative agreement for our 2009-2011 contract with Journal Sentinel Inc.

But first, we will hold our regular quarterly membership meeting at noon Wednesday at Turner Hall. International Representative Darren Carroll and Bargaining Committee members will be present to answer any questions that Guild members may have on the contract. Lunch will be served.

The next day, voting will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. in the Journal Sentinel's Grant Library. Members who need an absentee ballot should contact 2nd Vice President Karen Samelson as soon as possible. Mail ballots must be returned to our post office box by Thursday.

Only dues-paying Guild members are allowed to vote on the contract. Non-members who wish to join can contact any Guild representative.

All Guild members have been provided with the complete language of the tentative agreement, along with summaries of all changes from the prior contract and related unwritten understandings between the company and the Guild. Anyone who has questions before the membership meeting can contact any member of our Bargaining Committee.

The Bargaining Committee has unanimously recommended a "yes" vote on the contract. The Executive Board has decided to offer no recommendation.

More contract discussions set

2010-03-03T23:52:00.000-08:00

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild has scheduled two more meetings for members to discuss the tentative agreement reached on our next contract with Journal Sentinel Inc.

Those sessions have been set from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, and again from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. the same day. Both will be in the Journal Sentinel's Abert Room, and members can bring their lunch or dinner.

International Representative Darren Carroll, who helped negotiate the deal, will join us for the noon session, and members of our bargaining committee will be available at both sessions to answer any questions Guild members may have about the tentative agreement.

No date has been set yet for a ratification vote. Watch for more information soon.

Among related matters:

In addition to the key provisions outlined in a previous post, the tentative agreement means that the company will not be allowed to compensate interns in academic credit alone, nor can it require departing employees to pay back the company for taking more vacation than they had earned. The deal also maintains the “evergreen clause” that keeps an old contract in force while a new one is being negotiated.
The Guild and Journal Sentinel Inc. have agreed to settle our grievance over the company’s suspension of the tuition reimbursement program. The settlement provides a cash payout to any newsroom staffer who was turned down for tuition reimbursement, starting last fall.
We are now up to 14 settlements on grievances stemming from last year's layoffs, leaving five individuals’ cases unresolved. While further settlements remain possible, arbitration hearings have been set on the remaining cases, starting later this month.

Guild reaches tentative contract deal with Journal Sentinel

2010-02-18T22:52:00.000-08:00

Negotiators for the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild and Journal Sentinel Inc. reached tentative agreement Thursday on a new contract that would last through 2011.

Reflecting our membership’s priorities, the deal would keep our current two weeks of severance pay per year of service in layoffs; require the company to offer buyouts before layoffs; call for the eventual rollback of our 6.6% wage cut to be distributed equally across-the-board; avoid cuts in differentials; and maintain the current cap on health care premiums. At the same time, the agreement would reduce the role of seniority in determining who is laid off and would increase the company’s control over our benefits.

Against the backdrop of the worst economy in which we have ever bargained, and in comparison to the settlements being reached by other Guild locals nationwide, our bargaining committee considers this the best deal we could reach. Committee members will discuss the tentative agreement at our previously scheduled membership meeting at noon Tuesday at Turner Hall. All dues-paying members are welcome and encouraged to attend. Lunch will be served. We will not be taking a ratification vote at this meeting; that will be scheduled later.

Here are the key details of the three-year agreement, which would run from Jan. 1, 2009 (retroactively), to Dec. 31, 2011:

Job security: No change in the two-weeks-per-year severance pay or the required 60-day notice for layoffs. At least two weeks before issuing that notice, the company would be required to announce a layoff target and offer a buyout on terms at least as favorable as the contractually required severance; each person accepted for the buyout would reduce by one the number to be laid off. Instead of the current requirement to lay people off primarily in order of reverse seniority, with some exceptions, the company would base layoff decisions on a combination of factors — such as skills and diversity — but seniority would be the deciding factor if everything else is equal.

Wages: If wage cuts are partly rolled back for any other group of Journal Sentinel employees, we would get a proportional wage restoration across the board. No change in wage structure, differentials, overtime, turnaround or mileage reimbursement.

Benefits: Our health care, sick leave, pensions, 401(k)s and tuition reimbursement would all be the same as what the company offers its other employees, with no contractual prohibition against changing or even eliminating benefits. However, the company’s share of health care premiums could not drop below the current minimum: 65% of the cost of the benchmark plan for a family that does not qualify for the non-smoking discount, with higher company shares for everyone else.

Time off: We would get five personal days this year; the company would decide whether we get any personal days next year. No changes in vacations, holidays, family leave, funeral leave or jury duty leave.

The Bargaining Committee has voted unanimously to recommend the membership ratify this contract. The Executive Board and the international Guild will also review the deal prior to a membership vote.

Newsroom avoids latest downsizing; arbitration sought on previous cuts

2009-12-08T18:55:00.000-08:00

None of the 39 Journal Sentinel Inc. employees laid off Monday came from the newsroom staff represented by the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild.

In a letter to employees, Publisher Betsy Brenner said the affected workers were taken from circulation, advertising and other business departments. She characterized the layoffs as the final staff cuts of 2009, a year in which the newsroom previously lost 84 jobs to a combination of involuntary downsizing, buyouts and attrition. All but six of those jobs came from our bargaining unit.

As for the newsroom downsizing earlier this year, grievances have been resolved, one way or another, for most of the 35 staffers involved, but the rest are headed to arbitration.

The Guild filed a grievance challenging all of the layoffs, questioning whether the company had followed our contract's seniority provisions. Since then:

The company has canceled layoff notices for two employees and allowed a third to transfer to a different job outside the newsroom.
The Guild agreed not to pursue its grievance for 16 staffers, including the three who kept jobs. Most were low-seniority workers who were laid off in accordance with our contract, while some asked us not to move forward.
Twelve employees have reached settlements with the company, and other settlements remain possible.
For the remaining employees -- a maximum of seven -- the Guild board has voted to move to arbitration, a legal process in which both sides choose a neutral individual to decide the case. That can take several months. This group includes three workers who have lifetime job guarantees that the company does not consider valid. The Guild has filed a separate grievance over that issue, and that grievance is also headed to arbitration.

We have reached a resolution on a third grievance, which sought compensation for employees who tried but failed to take all of their 10 personal days (provided as part of the agreement to cut our wages earlier this year) before they were laid off. In that case, we agreed to drop the grievance on behalf of the employees who were sent home during the contractually required 60-day notice period, in exchange for assurances that the employees still working during the notice period — about eight — would be allowed to take their remaining personal days before leaving the payroll.

A separate grievance over the company's suspension of the tuition reimbursement program is on hold until we can discuss the issue in bargaining.

Meanwhile, the company has moved 10 formerly excluded editors into the bargaining unit. Guild and company representatives have discussed this move in terms of its relationship to the layoffs, the ratio between excluded managers and bargaining-unit personnel, whether some of the jobs should have been posted and whether some of the new unit members are now eligible for substitution pay for filling in for managers. We have agreed in principle on how to deal with those issues and expect to resolve them when we return to the bargaining table.

The next bargaining sessions are set for Dec. 16-17.

Held, Schumacher named steward leaders

2009-11-15T23:09:00.000-08:00

Tom Held and Mary Louise Schumacher are the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild's newest steward leaders.

Our local's Executive Board named Held, a Journal Sentinel metro reporter, and Schumacher, the newspaper's art and architecture critic, to the posts for terms that started in October. Both had been stewards.

Held now oversees contract enforcement, membership, mobilizing and stewards for the downtown metro desk, Wisconsin news bureaus and JSOnline. He replaces metro reporter Mark Johnson, who did not seek reappointment as a steward leader but remains a board member.

Schumacher's jurisdiction includes the features/entertainment, business news, photo and opinions staffs. She replaces editorial assistant Janine Ghelfi, who left in the buyout after a record 12.5 years as a steward leader.

They join copy editor Russ Maki, who was named to a second term as steward leader for the copy, design, graphics and national desks and the sports staff. Under a bylaws amendment approved by the membership in September, the number of steward leaders was reduced from four to a maximum of three, to reflect the downsized staff. The fourth position had been held by sports copy editor Vince Butler, who departed in the downsizing, and most of his former jurisidiction was combined with Maki's.

Also during its October and November meetings, the board appointed page designer Zeina Makky as communications chair, replacing sports designer Ana Menendez, who left in the downsizing; business writer Joel Dresang, a board member, as health and safety chair, replacing metro reporter Susanne Rust, who took the buyout; deputy business editor Bob Helbig, a former local president, as wage data coordinator, replacing Maki, who did not seek reappointment; assistant features/entertainment editor Stan Miller, as tech coordinator, replacing photo tech Dave Kirner, another former local president, who left the paper.

The board also reappointed metro reporter Erin Richards, the local's secretary, as human rights chair; feature writer Jan Uebelherr, a board member, as social chair; copy editor Jen Steele as newsletter editor, online producer Craig Nickels as Webmaster and metro reporter Larry Sandler as posting and exclusions coordinator.

All of those appointed will serve one-year terms, ending next October. The steward leaders are working with the top officers to appoint stewards.

Local 51 President Greg Pearson, a copy editor, was named to replace Kirner on our bargaining committee. Unlike the other positions, bargaining committee members do not serve a fixed term and remain in office until the contract is settled.

Kissinger elected Guild's 1st VP

2009-10-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

Milwaukee Newspaper Guild members have selected Meg Kissinger as our local's second-in-command.

Kissinger, a Journal Sentinel metro reporter, was elected 1st vice president, in charge of contract enforcement. She fills a position that had been vacant since letters editor Sonya Jongsma Knauss left the paper to become editor and general manager of MilwaukeeMoms.com. Over the years, Kissinger has previously served as a board member, interim steward leader, committee chair and steward.

Guild members also chose metro reporter Erin Richards as secretary. She succeeds feature writer Jan Uebelherr, who was elected to the at-large Executive Board seat that Richards previously held.

Also joining the board as at-large members are business reporter Joel Dresang and editorial writer James Causey. Dresang is a former board member and former steward.

Members re-elected copy editor Greg Pearson, to his second full term as president; copy editor Karen Samelson, to her second full term as 2nd vice president, in charge of membership and mobilizing; metro reporter Amy Hetzner, to her fourth full term as treasurer; and metro reporters Mark Johnson and Tom Kertscher, to a fourth full term and a second term, respectively, as at-large board members.

In other action at our annual meeting earlier this week, members:

Elected Pearson, Richards and Dresang as delegates to the international Guild's sector conference, with Samelson and Kertscher as alternates.
Chose Pearson as delegate to the international convention of our parent union, the Communications Workers of America, with Richards, Dresang, Samelson and Kertscher as alternates.
Approved a bylaws change to cut the local's board from 10 to eight members, by reducing the number of at-large seats from five to three, effective after this election.
Enacted a second bylaws change to cut the number of steward leaders from four to "up to three," effective with the term starting in mid-October.
Renewed the rebate provision that keeps our dues at 1% of pay.

Guild challenges layoffs

2009-09-04T00:44:00.000-07:00

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild has filed multiple grievances challenging the involuntary downsizing of 35 employees of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newsroom.

All of those workers were notified Aug. 4 that they would lose their jobs in early October. They are receiving full pay and benefits during the 60-day notice period required by our contract.

One grievance focuses on the way employees were selected for layoff. Our contract requires seniority to be the primary factor in this decision, but some of the most senior staffers were cut. At the moment, this grievance covers everyone involved in the layoff, but we are continuing to analyze the individual merits of each case, in consultation with our attorneys, and considering the wishes of the workers involved.

Another grievance calls on Journal Sentinel Inc. to honor the lifetime job guarantees of four newsroom employees who previously worked in the composing room but were nonetheless laid off. In one of those cases, the company had already acknowledged the validity of a staff member’s lifetime job guarantee, and we thought his name showed up on the layoff list by mistake, which is why we previously reported 34 layoffs, rather than 35.

A third grievance asks for compensation for personal days not taken by the laid-off employees. In exchange for the 6.6% wage cut we accepted earlier this year, all members of our bargaining unit were given 10 paid personal days. Many employees made an effort to schedule those days before the Oct. 1 expiration of the no-layoff guarantee that was part of the same deal. But in some cases, repeated requests to schedule these days were denied. Unlike unused vacation, unused personal days ordinarily would not be paid out on termination.

Finally, the Guild filed an unrelated grievance over the company’s suspension of the tuition reimbursement program. This program is defined by our contract and the company did not bargain with us when it sought to suspend the program earlier this year. Members of our bargaining unit who were already attending classes were reimbursed through the spring semester. We filed the grievance when a newsroom staffer was turned down for reimbursement for fall semester tuition.

The grievance process requires a series of discussions with the company in an attempt to settle our differences. If those efforts are unsuccessful, our local’s Executive Board will decide whether to bring the cases to arbitration.

After we filed the grievances, our bargaining team met with management negotiators and discussed contract provisions dealing with vacations, part-timers and databases. We reached tentative agreements to keep one of the vacation provisions in its current form and to make technical changes in language covering part-timers.

“On-call” proposal dropped

2009-08-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

Journal Sentinel Inc. negotiators have withdrawn a contract proposal to schedule reporters or photographers to be “on call.”

As originally submitted, the plan would have allowed the company to pay some staffers a $40 premium to be available for 12 hours on weekends or holidays, without being in the newsroom. But anyone who was called in would have been compensated in time off, not cash, for hours worked. After Guild bargainers questioned whether the comp-time-only provision would violate federal overtime laws, the management team said it had decided the idea was unworkable in light of the legal issues.

Also during bargaining Monday and Tuesday, Guild negotiators rejected a company proposal to let up to 12 interns work for academic credit instead of wages. Our members have told us they would not accept college students working for free in a newsroom that has laid off 34 of our colleagues from paying jobs.

Guild and management representatives held off-the-record discussions about potential grievances stemming from the layoffs. We are consulting with our attorney, the international Guild and the laid-off employees to determine how to proceed.

In other business, the two sides agreed to keep current contract language on discipline, and to make minor changes in several vacation provisions. Other vacation issues remain open, including Guild proposals to provide the fifth week of vacation after 15 years, rather than 20, and to restore the fifth week for employees hired after 2005, as well as a management proposal to require departing employees to repay the company for taking more vacation than they have earned under the “earn-as-you-go” system.

We also discussed contract provisions dealing with health care, sick leave, pensions, 401(k) plans and tuition reimbursement. During a previous session July 29, we discussed provisions dealing with vacation, holidays, family leave and personal days.

Meanwhile, the lineup of bargainers has changed. At its Aug. 5 meeting, our local’s Executive Board named sportswriter Tom Silverstein to the bargaining committee. Silverstein, a longtime steward, replaces editorial assistant Janine Ghelfi, who departed in the buyout. Ghelfi helped negotiate the last three contracts, in addition to serving a record 12.5 years as a steward leader and about 10 years on our board.

The next negotiating sessions are set for Sept. 2-3.

Journal Sentinel lays off 34 in newsroom

2009-08-04T17:24:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Journal Sentinel Inc. announced it had cut its staff by 92. This reduction included the permanent layoffs of 34 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newsroom employees represented by the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild, as well as the voluntary buyouts taken by 32 members of our bargaining unit and five managers.

It was the largest layoff and second-largest buyout in our newsroom's history. By comparison, when The Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Sentinel merged in 1995, 70 to 80 newsroom staffers took buyouts and 21 members of our unit were laid off.

This is a very difficult day for all of us in the newsroom, not only for those who are losing their jobs, but also for those who remain. As we deal with the loss of our colleagues, we face the task of putting out the best newspaper and online product we can with about one-third less staff than we started the year with, and about half the staff we had a few years ago.

We did everything we could to avoid this day. Just three months ago, our members voted to cut our own pay by 6.6%, after a previous buyout attracted only nine staffers. We took that pay cut in exchange for a no-layoff guarantee through Sept. 30. While the 60-day layoff notices issued Tuesday meet the letter of that deal, many of our members had hoped our sacrifice would buy more time for our colleagues.

We are also concerned that many veteran employees were laid off without regard to seniority. Guild leaders and attorneys will be carefully reviewing each case to determine whether grievances, discrimination complaints or other litigation would be warranted.

Furthermore, we objected to management's refusal to allow employees to bring Guild representatives into the meetings where they were notified of their terminations. While we recognize that the company was legally within its rights to do so, we believe it was wrong to deny the workers the support they needed at this stressful time.

The Guild stands with all those we represent. In the days ahead, we will continue to fight for justice for both those who lost their jobs and those who remain.

Deals reached on drug testing, open shop

2009-07-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

Negotiators for the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild and Journal Sentinel Inc. tentatively agreed Wednesday to keep current contract language on drug testing and union membership.

The drug-testing deal ends a lengthy effort by the company to weaken contractual provisions that protect our bargaining-unit members’ rights when they are suspected of drug or alcohol abuse.

In exchange, the Guild team dropped our proposal to require that non-journalists be union members. We had initially proposed a union shop for everyone in our bargaining unit. The current language calls for an open shop.

Also Wednesday, management bargainers provided a written version of their academic internship proposal. Their language would allow the Journal Sentinel to hire up to 12 interns a year who would work for college credit rather than pay. Those positions would count against the current contractual maximum of 20 interns a year overall.

The company team also indicated its on-call proposal was on hold to work out legal problems. The proposal would let the company schedule reporters or photographers to be on call, rather than in the newsroom, on weekends or holidays, in exchange for a $40 premium, but anyone actually called in would be compensated only in time off. Guild bargainers had questioned whether the comp-time-only provision would violate federal overtime laws.

We also discussed vacation provisions. The next bargaining sessions are set for July 29-30, then Aug. 10-11 and Sept. 2-3.

“On-call” system sought for newsroom

2009-07-09T23:51:00.000-07:00

Journal Sentinel Inc. negotiators are proposing a new system that would let newsroom managers schedule some reporters and photographers to be “on call” on weekends and holidays instead of working in the newsroom.

With a shrinking staff, the company wants more flexibility in scheduling personnel, management bargainers told the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild’s bargaining team Thursday. The move also would let more reporters work traditional Monday-through-Friday schedules, instead of adding more people to the local news desk weekend rotation and/or increasing the frequency of their shifts, company bargainers said.

Here’s how the system would work, under management’s proposal: The current crew of four local reporters and one to four photographers each Saturday, Sunday and holiday would be reduced by one or two positions. But one or two people would be scheduled to be on call for 12 hours that day. During that time, they would have to refrain from alcohol, be reachable by telephone and be available to come to work on short notice.

Each person on call would be paid $40 regardless of whether they were called to work. If they were called to work, they would be compensated for the hours worked only in time off, at the rate of time-and-a-half, with no weekend or holiday differential or callback pay, and they would not be subject to the current four-hour minimum overtime rate for work on a day off.

Guild bargainers questioned whether the comp-time-only proposal would violate federal overtime laws. We also asked how this would apply to part-timers who would have worked less than 40 hours before being on call. The management team said it would answer those questions when it gives us a formal written proposal on this issue. Our team will wait to see the proposal in writing before reacting further.

Also in talks Wednesday and Thursday, the two sides reached tentative agreement on jurisdiction language that allows editors to post brief online items that are either links to other online material or don’t require any reporting that normally would be done by bargaining-unit members. We also discussed provisions dealing with vacations, holidays, excluded positions and columnists, as well as a management proposal to compensate some interns solely in academic credit rather than pay. The next bargaining session is set for July 22.

Journal Sentinel offers more newsroom buyouts; layoffs could follow

2009-07-07T22:27:00.000-07:00

Journal Sentinel Inc. is offering another round of buyouts to newsroom employees — the fourth in less than three years. And management negotiators have told the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild that the company could lay off an undetermined number of workers if not enough employees take the buyouts.

Managers declined to specify a target for job cuts, in either people or dollars, other than to say it would be substantially greater than either of the first two rounds of buyouts, which attracted more than 20 employees each. Guild leaders plan to continue pressing the company to tell us what the target is.

But if the buyouts fall short of whatever the target turns out to be, layoff notices could go out in late July or early August for downsizing to take effect Oct. 1. That’s the earliest anyone could be laid off, under the limited no-layoff guarantee we received in exchange for our 6.6% wage cut, and the earliest that notices could go out, under the 60-day notice provision of the current contract.

During negotiations last week, union and company representatives agreed on the following buyout terms:

The buyout will be open to both full-timers and part-timers in our unit.

Departing employees would be paid two weeks of severance for each year of service, with no cap.

Full-timers with 15 or more years of service would receive an additional 10 weeks of severance pay. At the Guild’s urging, the company also agreed to provide an additional five weeks of pay to full-timers with less than 15 years of service and part-timers with more than 15 years in, and an additional three weeks of pay to part-timers who have worked here for less than 15 years.

Severance will be payable in a lump sum.

All full-timers who leave would be eligible for the COBRA health care extension authorized by the federal stimulus legislation, and all employees taking the buyout would get outplacement aid.

Applications will be taken until 8 p.m. July 27. As in the past, the company can reject applications. In most cases, those accepted would leave by July 29, although some people could stay later.

By comparison, the current contract calls for two weeks of severance pay for each year of service, with no cap, plus 60 days’ notice or 60 days’ pay. (60 days would be 8.5 weeks of pay.) The federal COBRA extension is available to everyone who is either laid off or who takes a buyout to save their co-workers from being laid off. Outplacement aid is also guaranteed by contract.

Management is seeking to weaken our job security protections in the next contract. Their negotiators indicated that they will broaden their assault to include an unspecified reduction in our seniority provisions, in addition to seeking to reduce severance from two weeks per year to one week, and to provide the 60 days’ notice only when required by law.

But company representatives agreed that any layoffs this fall will be governed by the current rules regardless of whether we agree to something different in the next contract and regardless of whether we sign the next contract by then. That means everyone who gets laid off would get the two weeks per year of pay and 60 days’ notice, and the layoffs would be governed by the current seniority rules.

The Guild has distributed flyers with more information about the buyout and will hold two question-and-answer sessions next week to help employees trying to decide whether to take the buyout.

As in the past, anyone who is considering the buyout should keep in touch with Guild President Greg Pearson. Please let him know whether you are considering the buyout, whether you have actually applied, whether you were accepted and whether you were rejected. Your names will be kept confidential.

Also last week, management negotiators presented a comprehensive revised proposal that did not include wages. It did include their long-awaited vacation proposal, which seeks to force employees hired after 1995 to pay the company back if they leave after taking more vacation than they earned under the “earn-as-you-go” accrual system. Our current contract says nobody can be forced to pay back anything in a case like that.

The company team also indicated it will seek a new system for paying workers to be “on call” at certain times, and will press for the right to hire interns who are compensated in academic credit rather than pay. They did not present details on either proposal. We also discussed provisions dealing with union jurisdiction, job postings and interns.

The next bargaining sessions are set for Wednesday and Thursday.

Rally Monday marks 25 years of Local 51

2009-05-31T19:41:00.000-07:00

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild is turning 25, and our union leadership thinks that’s a milestone worth marking.

Local 51 was founded on June 1, 1984. Given all the industry turbulence that Journal Sentinel employees are dealing with, our local’s Executive Board decided a party might not be appropriate.

Instead, the Guild is inviting members to a rally at noon on June 1. Jack Norman, who helped found Local 51 and led it through some troubled waters, including the merger, will reflect on the anniversary. President Greg Pearson and Bargaining Chair Larry Sandler will make a few remarks, and we’ll discuss what lies ahead in negotiations.

The rally will be on the second floor of Turner Hall (use the north stairs off the parking lot; the restaurant will be closed). Lunch will be served — and, of course, birthday cake.