Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Bee Guild says it is negotiating with management over furloughs and salary reductions... a vote on reductions could come March 6

Latest news at the Sacramento Bee from Ed Fletcher at the Bee Newspaper Guild:

I’ve been asked lots of questions about how this is all going down, so I’ll lay out as much as I know.


Over the next couple days, the guild leadership is expected to start hearing proposals on salary reductions and furloughs. The plan then would be to fine tune the proposals between now and Friday, Feb. 27.


We’ve requested that the company allow one of our representatives or staff members to see the books, so we are not blindly accepting their demands. The company has not responded to that request or answered any of the numerous questions we’ve asked.


On Feb. 27, the hope is to come to some tentative agreement on wage reeducations. At that point, my understanding we’ll have two scenarios: With the reductions x number of layoff, without the reductions x + y layoffs. If we don’t reach an agreement — because the demands for cuts are too steep or they don’t give us enough information to determine this action is needed — the company will likely begin issuing the layoff notices (plan x + y) soon there after.


If we do come to a tentative agreement, paid members would then need to ratify these temporary concessions to our contract. The vote is scheduled for March 6 at the Eleanor McClatchy Center. If ratified, I would expect the company to begin layoffs (plan x) shortly thereafter. If you are not a paid member, you will NOT be allowed to vote on the contract concessions or other proposed changes to the contract outlined in earlier bargaining bulletins. If the tentative agreement is rejected, they would likely begin issuing notices following plan x + y.


Finally, we believe the information in the News and Review on the number of layoffs needed to trigger a WARN act is wrong. That number of layoffs at The Bee that would trigger the California requirements is 50, not 500.


Ed Fletcher

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18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Could you ask Ed to translate this voodoo economics formula for us? Say what???

Anonymous said...

Why is the guild dragging this out another two weeks? Crazy.

Anonymous said...

We’ve requested that the company allow one of our representatives or staff members to see the books, so we are not blindly accepting their demands.
--

If they do that, it will be the biggest union victory in 40 years. By the same token, if they do that, they might as well file for Chapter 11 or 7 tomorrow. Don't hold your breath.

Anonymous said...

The Bee Guild isn't going to get squat. It's just posturing and the company will steamroll them to get the cuts they want. The time for meaningful negotiations is long past.

Anonymous said...

On the bright side... the demand for top journalists must still be be very high. Katie Couric, journalist and former cheer leader, is making around $15,000,000 a year.

So why should any classically trained professional journalists with the highest ethical standards take a pay cut?

Anonymous said...

So why should any classically trained professional journalists with the highest ethical standards take a pay cut?
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Because the alternative is unemployment and you can't get a job in the field anywhere else. Too bad classical journalism doesn't include a few classes on Supply and Demand, Marketing Economics, or Business Administration.

Anonymous said...

Or cheer leading.

Anonymous said...

“…the number of layoffs needed to trigger a WARN act is wrong. That number of layoffs at The Bee that would trigger the California requirements is 50, not 500.”

Some weeks ago, a poster said the papers are laying off employees in dribble and drabs to avoid the WARN act trigger. Maybe there is some truth to that? No wonder attorneys are already trolling the newspaper layoff waters.

Anonymous said...

The hideous guild continues to be a bunch of spoiled brats whose only goal is to be an obstacle. I have utter contempt for these left-wing fascists.

Anonymous said...

Re: “The Bee Guild isn't going to get squat. It's just posturing and the company will steamroll them to get the cuts they want.”
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In Hawaii, the union forced the newspaper to open the books, there was much huffing and puffing, and in the end, they settled for a contract that was less than the deal first offered.

Anonymous said...

I hope that ALL papers have to make this kind of cut. Especially The KC Scar. They put us in this debt with that "white elephant" of a press pavilion.

Anonymous said...

Word from a N&O watcher is to not expect any layoff news ahead of the slaughter. The pathetic rag couldn’t find the news on John Edwards until after a tabloid broke the story. There is no integrity there, probably never was.

Anonymous said...

Re: They put us in this debt with that "white elephant" of a press pavilion.

The truth about the connection between the press pavilion and the RiseUp scandal needs to be made known.

Anonymous said...

-Philly news execs will roll back their 2008 raises-
Associated Press | Forbes.com

Lawyers in court Tuesday say Philadelphia Media Holdings CEO Brian Tierney and two other executives will roll back their recent raises, which were handed out as the Philly dailies cut staff. || Earlier: CEO got raise as papers tanked

Anonymous said...

Brian Tierney's Late-Night E-Mail to Philly Staffers

The most important fact that you need to know about how the Chapter 11 filing affects you is that business will continue as usual. PNL will continue to operate under its current name and logo, and all operations as you know them will remain the same. We have asked the court to permit all salary and benefits, including pensions and 401(k) plans, to continue as usual. The filing has in no way changed your employment terms.
http://tinyurl.com/beb4wk

Anonymous said...

Good at firing employees? Here's a bonus!
****
Journal Register already handed out a total of about $450,000 in bonuses to 31 key executives, or an average of $14,190 per key employee, on Dec. 31. Why? Because they had made “substantial headcount reductions” by the deadline of the business plan agreed with creditors.
@Fitz & Jen

Anonymous said...

Today's Sacbee has an article called "Steps to Life after a Layoff". No mention of their own upcoming layoffs. Strange.

Anonymous said...

How’d that useful idiot thing work out for you all?


By the look of things, Seattle is about to become, at best, a one-newspaper town.

Unfortunately for Art Thiel, his isn't the one. "I think I could be a pretty good pool boy for a wealthy widow," says the wisecracking Seattle Post-Intelligencer sports columnist, starting to riff on his future if the P-I is shuttered by the Hearst Corporation in mid-March.

"I was also thinking of a career teaching English for English Speakers. Spell-checker aside, I get stupefying e-mail from doctors, professors, government officials, and I say 'My gosh, I could help these people!'"

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2009/02/post_post-intelligencer.php