“On-call” system sought for newsroom

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

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

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.

Journal Sentinel wants 2-year pact

Journal Sentinel Inc. negotiators proposed this week that the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild’s next contract last just two years, through Dec. 31, 2010.

Guild bargainers had previously proposed a four-year contract. It’s the first time in memory that the company is seeking a shorter contract than the union. The management team said their proposal reflects the difficulty of long-term financial forecasting for our company and others in the newspaper business.

The company’s proposal on the term of the contract came as bargaining resumed after a hiatus of more than five months. Management negotiators halted the talks last November, as the company’s fiscal outlook started to deteriorate. Our contract was set to expire Dec. 31, but it has a clause that provides an automatic extension while negotiations continue.

During the break in regular talks, the two sides agreed on a deal to avoid layoffs by cutting wages 6.6%, effective this coming Sunday, in exchange for a no-layoff guarantee through Sept. 30 and 10 personal days during 2009. Guild and management representatives signed that agreement Wednesday.

Also during talks Wednesday and Thursday, we discussed provisions dealing with union jurisdiction and columnists, after an overview of tentative agreements that had been previously reached and Guild positions on issues not yet resolved. A subcommittee will resume discussion of drug and alcohol testing provisions during May. Future bargaining sessions are set for June 2-3, June 29-30 and July 8-9.

Wage cut approved, 86-46

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild voted Thursday to approve a 6.6% pay cut for the 191 Journal Sentinel Inc. employees it represents. The decision averts the layoff of 20 or more workers in our bargaining unit, which includes journalists and support staff in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newsroom and JSOnline.

Guild members approved the pay cut by an 86-46 vote. That vote came after several weeks of talks with the company, which told union negotiators in March that it needed to trim $1.2 million from the Guild-represented payroll portion of the newsroom budget.

At the Guild’s request, the company first offered a voluntary buyout, which resulted in nine employees — six full-timers and three part-timers — accepting the buyout proposal.

After two days of negotiations earlier this month, Guild bargainers agreed to present to our membership a proposal for a 6.6% pay cut that will extend until at least May 2010. In exchange, each member of our unit will receive 10 personal days for the remainder of 2009, and the company will not lay off anyone in our unit through Sept. 30.

Every element of this deal — the wage cut, the personal days and the no-layoff guarantee — was unprecedented. And it was the first time we voted on an agreement with the threat of layoffs hanging over our heads.

This was a very difficult choice for our union, largely because the job security guarantee was so limited. Many members voted “no” because the company refused to guarantee that it wouldn’t just take our pay cut and then turn around and lay off as many people in October as it would have let go in May. But the majority voted “yes” because they believed it was important to protect not only our colleagues' jobs but the high quality of our newspaper.

The most recent round of buyouts was the third offered to Journal Sentinel newsroom employees in less than two years. With those buyouts and the layoffs of the staff of the now-defunct MKE youth-oriented weekly, our local has lost about 55 of the employees that it represented. Our members believed that further reductions would only weaken the paper.

We hope that Journal Sentinel management understands that the Guild has made some significant sacrifices in the interest of our paper's health. We call on them to take those sacrifices into account, and to bargain in good faith with us, without seeking further concessions, as we resume our long-delayed contract talks.

Wage cut vote set for April 23

For the first time in the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild’s history, members will vote on whether to cut their own wages, in exchange for limited protection against layoffs.

The plan comes to the membership with no recommendation from either the local's Bargaining Committee or our Executive Board, after two days of very difficult negotiations. If the membership votes the plan down in balloting next week, Journal Sentinel Inc. negotiators say the company will proceed immediately with involuntary job cuts.

Terms of the package are as follows:

• Effective May 3, wages for all members of our bargaining unit will be reduced by approximately 6.6%.
• The wage cuts will expire May 2, 2010, or when the non-represented Journal Sentinel staff’s 6% wage cuts expire, whichever is later. If the company partially restores wages for non-represented staff, it will do the same for us.
• All full-time employees will receive 10 personal days in 2009, on the same terms as the non-represented staff. Part-time employees will receive a proportional number of personal days. In 2010, we would receive the same number of personal days as the non-represented staff, if any.
• The company will not lay off any members of our bargaining unit through Sept. 30 of this year.
• These wage cuts will not apply to anyone who took the recent buyout.

The talks earlier this week followed the buyout, which attracted only nine employees, almost all from the copy desk, graphics/design and editorial assistant ranks. Guild negotiators had warned that the buyout terms were not generous enough to draw the numbers needed to meet the company's $1.2 million newsroom payroll reduction target and avoid layoffs. The combined wages of the departing staffers totaled $436,800, leaving us $763,200 short.

Management representatives then rejected a Guild proposal to close the gap through unpaid furloughs. They also refused to accept a 6% wage cut, because it would have left us about $73,000 short of their target. They refused to agree to a definitive date to end the cuts. They refused to extend the no-layoff guarantee to the end of this year. They refused to guarantee that we would get any personal days in 2010. And they refused to even discuss structuring the wage cut in some way that would ease the burden on the lowest-paid members of the staff.

Guild negotiators briefed members on the package at a membership meeting Wednesday. Voting will be scheduled 11 a.m.-1 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. next Thursday, April 23. Details of the balloting and absentee-ballot procedures will be distributed to members.

Layoffs, job cuts don’t touch newsroom — yet; Guild meeting April 15 on what’s ahead

None of the 31 jobs eliminated at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in recent days came from the newsroom. Nor were workers represented by the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild affected by the 6% wage cut imposed on most other Journal Sentinel employees.

That doesn’t mean we’re immune to cutbacks. We’re just proceeding on a different track, starting with a buyout offer that remains open through this week. But tough choices could be ahead in bargaining next week, and the Guild has called an April 15 membership meeting to discuss what comes out of those talks.

On Monday, Journal Sentinel Publisher Betsy Brenner announced 26 full-time and five part-time workers had been downsized. Guild leaders believe these jobs came from advertising, circulation, marketing and possibly other departments.

That followed Journal Communications CEO Steve Smith’s announcement Thursday that most company employees, including newsroom managers, would receive 6% pay cuts in exchange for 10 additional paid days off. The wage cuts did not apply to workers covered by either a union contract or, in the case of broadcasters, a personal contract.

In our case, management representatives told Guild negotiators last month that the company wanted to cut $1.2 million in annual payroll costs from our bargaining unit, about a 10% reduction. To avoid layoffs, the Guild asked the company to offer a voluntary buyout and then negotiate on unpaid furloughs.

The buyout window opened last week and remains open until Friday. Depending on wage levels and part-time or full-time status, up to 24 people would have to leave to meet the target through buyouts alone; that number could be 18 or less if some higher-paid full-timers are among those taking the buyout. As far as we know, buyouts are not being offered to newsroom managers or anyone else not represented by the Guild.

Once we know who has been accepted for the buyout, and what their wages add up to, we will return to the bargaining table April 13-14. The company has signaled it is unenthusiastic about furloughs and is likely to push for cuts in base wages. But furloughs remain on the table for discussion. Management representatives have said involuntary job cuts could begin in May if a deal is not in place by the end of April.

After this round of negotiations, Guild members will discuss the outcome in a brown-bag luncheon session at noon April 15 in the company’s second-floor training center. Any deal that results from the talks will be submitted to the membership for a vote, but that vote will not come at this meeting. As in the past, the union will arrange for members to vote later by secret ballot.

Deadline is April 10 for latest buyout

Milwaukee Newspaper Guild leaders are working to ensure that Journal Sentinel newsroom employees have complete information about the company's latest buyout offer before the April 10 deadline.

On Wednesday, the company presented the buyout package to our bargaining unit. The buyout is open to both full-timers and part-timers and offers two weeks of severance pay for each year of service — but capped at 15 years of service, or 30 weeks pay (i.e., those with more seniority can take the buyout but wouldn’t get any more than 30 weeks’ pay). The company will provide two months of health insurance, but no additional cash incentives and no outplacement aid. Payments will be in two-week installments, not a lump sum.

Guild negotiators sought Tuesday evening to improve those terms, by raising the cap, but the company's bargaining team refused.

As we have reported previously, all of this is based on the company’s push to save $1.2 million in bargaining-unit payroll costs, as part of $5 million in cuts throughout the company. Once we know how many people have taken the buyout, we will return to the bargaining table April 13-14 to discuss other measures, such as unpaid furloughs and wage cuts, to reach the target without involuntary job cuts.

Here’s how the latest buyout differs from those in the past: (1) No previous buyout has ever been capped. (2) Additional cash or outplacement aid was part of some previous buyouts. (3) The last two buyouts were not open to part-timers. (4) Previous severance payments came in a lump sum.

Here’s how the buyout terms differ from our contract's involuntary downsizing terms: (1) If you are downsized, you get two weeks of pay for each year of service, with no cap. (2) Anyone pushed out in a reduction in force is also entitled to 60 days’ notice or 60 days’ pay. (3) The contract does not require the company to pay any health insurance if you’re downsized, but you do get some kind of outplacement aid.

The contract calls for involuntary job cuts to be based on reverse seniority, with some exceptions, such as to maintain diversity and special skills. The Guild's view is that seniority is the first consideration and the company must justify each deviation from seniority.

As in previous buyouts, the Guild will distribute information answering frequently asked questions about the details of the offer and how it applies to various situations.

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.

Journal Sentinel seeks $1.2 million in cuts; buyouts, furloughs to be discussed Tuesday

Milwaukee Newspaper Guild members will meet Tuesday to discuss voluntary buyouts and unpaid furloughs as an alternative to involuntary job cuts.

Journal Sentinel Inc. negotiators told the Guild last week that the company wants $1.2 million in payroll reductions from our bargaining unit -- raising the prospect of cutting newsroom jobs -- as part of $5 million in personnel spending reductions companywide. Guild bargainers responded by calling for talks on buyouts, to be followed by negotiations on furloughs if needed.

After two days of bargaining, the management team said it would give us a buyout package by early April, then come back to the table to discuss furloughs. The buyout offer is likely to provide a very short window for employees to accept it, so anyone who may be interested should be prepared to decide quickly. We have no details of what the buyout terms may be, other than management’s statement that they would not be the same as the last two buyouts.

Guild leaders have called a special membership meeting for noon Tuesday, at Turner Hall, to discuss the situation. Lunch will be provided.

If the package negotiated by the Guild is insufficient to meet the company’s target, management said it would use involuntary cuts to get the rest of the way to its goal. Had the Guild refused to negotiate and allowed the company to reach the target entirely through job cuts, as many as 24 positions could have been lost. But that number includes lower-paid full-timers and part-timers, so fewer people would need to leave if a voluntary buyout attracts some higher-paid employees.

One-week unpaid furloughs for everyone would save about $240,000. The company also offered the options of wage cuts (about $120,000 for each 1% reduction) and the complete elimination of all differential pay, saving $150,000.

The next bargaining sessions are set for April 13, 14 and 15.

A time to meet, a time to talk and a time to party

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild is providing three very different forums to respond to the latest grim financial news from Journal Sentinel Inc.

A recent letter from Publisher Betsy Brenner said the company would seek wage freezes and raised the possibility of unpaid one-week furloughs. It's important for all Guild-represented workers to understand that all such proposals will be subject to negotiation, and that our Bargaining Committee will fight for the best deal possible for newsroom employees. Contract talks are expected to resume in the next few weeks, after being on hold since November.

All Guild members are encouraged to discuss the situation at our quarterly membership meeting at noon Tuesday, Feb. 24, in the meeting room upstairs at Turner Hall. Guild officers and negotiators will provide the latest information, offer a look at what's ahead and listen to members' concerns. Lunch will be served.

Then, to ease the tension a bit, the Guild's Winter Bailout Party is set from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, March 1, in the upstairs party room at Bootlegger's, 1025 N. Old World 3rd St. Everyone in the bargaining unit, both members and non-members, is invited to bring a guest to enjoy a buffet and drinks.

Finally, to help the company navigate through the financial crisis, the Guild is sponsoring a brown-bag forum at noon Wednesday, March 4, in the second-floor training center. Everyone is invited to brainstorm ideas for Journal Sentinel Inc. to raise revenue.