More on lump-sum merit bonuses

Hopefully by now, your supervisor has given you a sheet that explains what your lump-sum discretionary bonus is for 2005. The money is to be handed out on this week's paychecks.

As you probably know, these bonuses are required by contract, in part to make up for the fact that most employees did not get discretionary raises in 2005. The union has emphasized to management that people want to know what the bonus amount is, what the percentage is and how the figure was determined.

This is a one-time payout. For 2006, 2007 and 2008, employees will get discretionary raises that are added to their base pay.

Here are some details about the 2005 bonuses:

The company has met its contractual obligations on the amount of money that is being handed out (which is 1% of the end-2004 payroll, annualized). In all, more than $135,000 in lump-sum bonuses will be paid out. Management has given $128,570 in bonuses to full-time employees. Part-timers will receive $7,392 in bonus pay.

Bonuses went to 244 people, including 213 full-time workers and 31 part-time workers. The people who did not get bonuses either got discretionary raises in 2005 (there were a handful who did) or were hired since Jan. 1, 2005, and were not contractually required to receive one. However, management did choose to give bonuses to some employees who were hired in 2005.

And the winners are ...

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel staffers took home the most awards in several years in the Milwaukee Press Club's annual contest. In all, 19 Journal Sentinel newsroom employees shared seven first-place and five second-place awards, including two staffers who won two awards each. The figures include a current employee who won for work at her last newspaper and a former part-timer who won for his work at a student paper.

For the second time in three years, the Guild paid entry fees for members who requested it, in the wake of the company's decision to stop competing in this statewide contest. This year, we paid for 14 entries by 15 Guild members, and most of them won something. Other staffers entered at their own expense.

Here's a list of the Press Club awards won by Journal Sentinel staffers:

NEWSPAPERS

Newspapers Category 2
Best Overall Design

· 1st
Katherine Bryja, Christine Taylor, Kristian Rodriguez
MKE
Milwaukee's Other Brew

Newspapers Category 9
Best Photo Essay or Series

· 1st
Kristyna Wentz-Graff
The Post-Crescent
Tribe in Transition

Newspaper Category 11
Best Series News Reporting

· 2nd
Greg J. Borowski
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Pabst City: A Deal Undone

Newspapers Category 12
Best Beat Coverage

· 2nd
Tom Heinen
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Religion Beat Coverage

Newpapers Category 13
Best Single Feature Story 750 Words or More

· 2nd
Nicole Sweeney
MKE
Renato Umali: A Calculated Look At Life

Newspapers Category 16
Best Sports Story

· 1st
Cliff Christl
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Gym Dandies: All-Time Wisconsin Basketball Team

Newspapers Category 20
Best Single Business Story

· 1st
Jennie Tunkieicz, Alice Chang, Sheila Lalwani, Megan Twohey
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Racine County Bureau
Death By A Thousand Cuts: Racine Struggles to Build Foundation

Newspapers Category 21
Best Business Series

· 1st
Michele Derus, Gina Barton
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A Traitor in their Midst

Newspapers Category 22
Best Investigative Story or Series

· 2nd
John Diedrich, Gina Barton
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Beating of Frank Jude

Newspapers Category 23
Best Public Service/Public Education Feature Story

· 2nd
Steve Massie, Steve Wideman, Kristyna Wentz-Graff, Jamie Mara
The Post-Crescent

WEB

Web Category 2
Best Feature Story Originally Published on a Website

· 1st
Heather Gergen, Mary Louise Schumacher, Brett Longdin
JS Online
Gallery Night & Day Coverage

COLLEGIATE  
   
Collegiate Category 5
Print: Best Editorial or Commentary

· 1st
Adam Bergstrom         
The Leader (UW-Milwaukee)
The Law and Terri Schiavo   

Bonus bulletin

Latest word is that lump-sum bonuses for Journal Sentinel bargaining-unit members will show up on the March 30 paychecks. These bonuses, averaging 1% of 2004 wages, are being handed out in lieu of 2005 discretionary raises. Before your bonus appears on your check, your supervisor should give you a sheet explaining how the bonus was calculated. Contact a Guild representative if you don't get this explanation within the next week or two.

A time to meet -- and eat

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild's next membership meeting will be at noon next Monday, March 13, on the second floor of Turner Hall. This will be a chance to discuss how the new contract is being implemented and to answer any questions that you have about that or other issues. Lunch will be served.

Ask questions first and sign later

Journal Sentinel Inc. is reviewing its Family and Medical Leave Act form.

A newsroom employee recently was given a copy of the form, and the Guild sent it to our lawyer, Barbara Zack Quindel, for review. She raised some issues with the form, related to consent and release of medical records.

We have asked the company to review the form, which it is doing.

In the meantime, if you receive or need a Family and Medical Leave Act form,
please talk to Greg Pearson, Guild 1st vice president, or another Guild representative before signing the form.

Doing the numbers

Journal Sentinel management has started telling Guild bargaining-unit members what our lump-sum bonuses will be, so this is a good time to review how those bonuses were calculated.

At management's insistence, our new contract calls for those bonuses instead of the discretionary ("merit") raises we would have received in 2005. We'll go back to the regular system of raises to our base wages for discretionary pay this year and the next two years. Also at management's insistence, the discretionary pool has been cut from 1.5% to 1%, and that's not changing during the life of this contract.

Each full-time employee should receive a sheet that shows the bonus as a percentage of weekly pay, multiplied by 52 weeks. (The calculation is a bit more convoluted for part-timers, but it still comes out the same.) The idea is that the bonus therefore comes out to the same amount that a similarly sized merit raise would produce in the course of one year, with the obvious difference that a raise keeps giving you the same amount in future years.

In the past, when the pool was 1.5%, a lot more people received merit raises that were below 1.5% than above it, and as a result, the median -- the point that half of us are above and half of us are below -- was actually less than 1.5%, but a few really big raises pulled the average up to the contractually required 1.5%. That could happen again with these bonuses. As with a regular merit raise, each of us should have a conversation with our supervisor to determine what message management is sending about our performance through this particular bonus, if the supervisor has not made that clear.

One other point about wages: We have discovered a couple of errors in back pay for the 2005 across-the-board raises. With few exceptions, everyone should have received a full year's worth of a 1.5% across-the-board raise on the Jan. 19 paycheck. (Some people received more because of changes in minimum wage scales or because they moved up a step on the scale.) Please check to make sure you received the right amount, and please contact a Guild representative right away if you find anything wrong.