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Umhoefer picked for health and safety post

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.