This blog is mainly about the spectacular train wreck at The Sacramento Bee and its parent company, the McClatchy Company. But I also post about current events, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, politics, anything else that grabs my attention. Take a look around this blog, hope you enjoy it.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Rebound? former basketcase newspaper stock moves closer to $1 a share
GLOBE PROPOSES 23 PERCENT PAY CUT, WHILE GUILD EXECUTIVE PAY DOUBLES SINCE 2005 (UNION HACKS TAKE CARE OF UNDERLINGS)
(The pay of the Guild’s seven executive committee officers has almost doubled since 2005, jumping from $95,739 to $178,655 last year.)
Boston Globe management and the Boston Newspaper Guild resumed negotiations this evening so far apart that the company has proposed, with what it called its "last, best offer," to slash wages of Guild members by about 23 percent to gain the $10 million in concessions sought from the union, according to Guild and management representatives with knowledge of the negotiations.
Globe management presented that offer on Sunday, a move that could lay the groundwork for management to declare an impasse and unilaterally impose the draconian wage cuts, said Thomas Kohler, a Boston College law professor. Labor laws allow companies, under certain legal conditions, to impose the conditions of their last, best offers if an impasse is reached in negotiations.
Globe spokesman Robert Powers declined to comment. In a statement yesterday that announced agreements on financial and contract concessions with six other Globe unions, Powers said management was "evaluating our alternatives under both the Guild contract and applicable law to achieve as quickly as possible the workplace flexibility and remaining cost savings we need to help put The Globe on a sound financial footing."
DUMB MARXISTS WORRY AS THEIR GUILD LEADERS GET FAT. GUILD ANIMAL FARM ANYONE?
Guild leaders get fat with pay hikes. Union prez takes raise as members sacrifice
Beleaguered leaders of the Boston Globe’s biggest union - under fire for failing to strike a concession deal with the paper’s out-of-town overlords - have themselves received generous pay hikes over the past three years - even as their members have gone without a raise, according to federal filings.
As recently as March, Boston Newspaper Guild president Dan Totten noted union members haven’t had a raise since 2006 as he slammed Globe and New York Times [NYT] Co. management for getting an extra two weeks paid vacation in exchange for accepting a 5 percent pay cut.
“The BNG is now in its fourth year of a wage freeze. Yet today, The NYT and Globe announced a five percent wage cut for managers, who will also receive an additional 10 personal days,” Totten said in a March 30 statement. “The Guild believes this is an affront to the workers who work without pay raises and perks every day.”
Records show that Totten’s Guild salary has jumped 12 percent in three years, from $87,482 in 2006 to $97,929 in 2007 to $98,076 in 2008.
Collectively, the pay of the Guild’s seven executive committee officers has almost doubled since 2005, jumping from $95,739 to $178,655 last year.
The New York Times, champion of the working man, promoter of "card check" legislation, and owner of The Globe, is threatening its employees with the big hammer. The irony is delicious.
3 comments:
GLOBE PROPOSES 23 PERCENT PAY CUT, WHILE GUILD EXECUTIVE PAY DOUBLES SINCE 2005 (UNION HACKS TAKE CARE OF UNDERLINGS)
(The pay of the Guild’s seven executive committee officers has almost doubled since 2005, jumping from $95,739 to $178,655 last year.)
Boston Globe management and the Boston Newspaper Guild resumed negotiations this evening so far apart that the company has proposed, with what it called its "last, best offer," to slash wages of Guild members by about 23 percent to gain the $10 million in concessions sought from the union, according to Guild and management representatives with knowledge of the negotiations.
Globe management presented that offer on Sunday, a move that could lay the groundwork for management to declare an impasse and unilaterally impose the draconian wage cuts, said Thomas Kohler, a Boston College law professor. Labor laws allow companies, under certain legal conditions, to impose the conditions of their last, best offers if an impasse is reached in negotiations.
Globe spokesman Robert Powers declined to comment. In a statement yesterday that announced agreements on financial and contract concessions with six other Globe unions, Powers said management was "evaluating our alternatives under both the Guild contract and applicable law to achieve as quickly as possible the workplace flexibility and remaining cost savings we need to help put The Globe on a sound financial footing."
DUMB MARXISTS WORRY AS THEIR GUILD LEADERS GET FAT. GUILD ANIMAL FARM ANYONE?
Guild leaders get fat with pay hikes. Union prez takes raise as members sacrifice
Beleaguered leaders of the Boston Globe’s biggest union - under fire for failing to strike a concession deal with the paper’s out-of-town overlords - have themselves received generous pay hikes over the past three years - even as their members have gone without a raise, according to federal filings.
As recently as March, Boston Newspaper Guild president Dan Totten noted union members haven’t had a raise since 2006 as he slammed Globe and New York Times [NYT] Co. management for getting an extra two weeks paid vacation in exchange for accepting a 5 percent pay cut.
“The BNG is now in its fourth year of a wage freeze. Yet today, The NYT and Globe announced a five percent wage cut for managers, who will also receive an additional 10 personal days,” Totten said in a March 30 statement. “The Guild believes this is an affront to the workers who work without pay raises and perks every day.”
Records show that Totten’s Guild salary has jumped 12 percent in three years, from $87,482 in 2006 to $97,929 in 2007 to $98,076 in 2008.
Collectively, the pay of the Guild’s seven executive committee officers has almost doubled since 2005, jumping from $95,739 to $178,655 last year.
The New York Times, champion of the working man, promoter of "card check" legislation, and owner of The Globe, is threatening its employees with the big hammer. The irony is delicious.
A 23% paycut? Why must they be so draconian?
Their wages can remain just as they are, pensions untouched, health care the same... just increase the price of the newspaper to cover it.
$99.95 per copy should do it. $159.95 on Sundays.
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