BARGAINING BULLETIN

Tentative accord in East Bay

First contract up for member vote Tuesday

28 May 2009

Media Workers Guild

Negotiators for the Bay Area News Group-East Bay Guild Unit reached a tentative agreement with company management Thursday for a new labor contract. (For more information, see our BANG-EB Unit Web site.)

The proposed labor agreement would be the first for the 180-member BANG-East Bay Unit, which organized in June 2008.

Guild members now get to vote whether to ratify the accord. Meetings are scheduled in Walnut Creek and Oakland for Tuesday June 2: From 11 am to 1 pm in Conference Room 202 at the Contra Costa Times in Walnut Creek, and from 5 to 8 p.m. at the CWA Hall, 1831 Park Blvd., in Oakland.  Ballots will be collected at both locations, but results will not be announced until after the Oakland meeting.

We strongly encourage all members to study the proposed contract, consider the views of bargainers and your colleagues, and participate in this vote -- so critical for the sake of our jobs, our new union and our company. Any bargaining unit members who have not yet joined the Guild may still do so. Contact any shop steward or unit officer, or call 415-421-6833, for an application form.

The negotiations were complicated by an unprecedented downturn in the economic fortunes of the newspaper industry, which has led to ongoing layoffs, pay cuts and benefit losses around the country. In the Bay Area, Guild members at the San Francisco Chronicle recently endured 150 job cuts after the Hearst Corp. threatened to close the paper, while the San Jose Mercury News Guild Unit is facing paycuts and other concession in a separate contract proposal scheduled for a membership ratification vote on Monday.

“We didn’t get everything we wanted, but we think this proposal is a strong starting point to build our future relationship with the company,” said Sara Steffens, unit chair of the East Bay Guild unit. “There are some things in this contract that nobody’s had before at BANG-East Bay.”

Both the Mercury News and the BANG-East Bay are part of the MediaNews Group, one of the nation’s largest news companies. The East Bay chain includes the Contra Costa Times , Oakland Tribune and more than a dozen other daily newspapers and Web sites.

The East Bay agreement provides for basic job protections, grievance and arbitration, guaranteed severance, overtime rights and significant flexibility for management.

Here is an unofficial summary of key provisions:

TERM: 18 months, expiring Nov. 30, 2010, concurrent with expiration of the San Jose Guild contract if both are ratified. The contract may be extended an extra three months by mutual agreement.

PAY: Minimum hourly pay of $18.75 for journalists (including reporters, photographers, copy editors and internet content providers) and $15.20 for editorial assistants and other support staff, effective six months after ratification.

JUST CAUSE: Unit members can be subject to discharge and discipline only for just cause, subject to grievance and binding arbitration.

GUILD MEMBERSHIP: Bargaining Unit members may choose to join the Guild or not, and can decide whether to pay dues through payroll deduction.

STRIKES/LOCKOUTS: Work stoppages or employer lockouts are barred under the contract terms.

LAYOFF: Management can layoff Guild Unit members because of economic reasons, and has latitude to consider factors including work record, qualifications, ability to do remaining work and length of service. Laid-off workers go on a rehire list for six months.

SEVERANCE: Anyone laid off must be provided severance of at least one week per year of service, with a minimum of two weeks and up to 12 weeks, or more if additional severance is provided to nonunion employees.

WAGE REOPENER: Agreement provides for a reopener on pay issues if management announces a general companywide paycut. Any pay reduction for the Guild Unit could come only after a two-week negotiation, and no sooner than October 2009. Pay cuts can be no greater than those implemented for nonunion staff.

HEALTH BENEFITS: Union and management representatives are pursuing the possibility of adding BANG-East Bay Unit members to the same Guild-run health system that provides affordable, high-quality coverage for  San Francisco Chronicle staff. Current health benefits remain unchanged.

FLEXIBLE SCHEDULES: Unit members and supervisors are invited to propose alternative work schedules, including four-day workweeks, job-sharing and flex-time arrangements. Part-time schedules can be requested, subject to management agreement.

VACATIONS: Unit members will accrue vacation at the same rate now applied to nonunion employees: 2 weeks for the first two years of service, three weeks for 3-9 years’ service,  and four weeks thereafter. No one who loses any vacation entitlement will lose more than one week, and may take that week unpaid.

SCHEDULES: Work schedules must be posted at least a week ahead. Employees whose schedules are changed after posting must be paid overtime, unless the change was due to unforeseeable business factors.

OVERTIME/COMP TIME: Employees are guranteed time-and-a-half overtime pay after 40 hour a week or 8 hours a day for mandatory time worked beyond the normal workday. A formal comp time system is established with provisions for recordkeeping and flexibility for managers and employees.

HOLIDAYS: Eight paid holidays per year, including the employee’s birthday. Time worked on a holiday is also paid at the overtime rate.

EXPENSES: Current practices for reimbursing employees for business expenses will continue. The  Guild and the company may convene a subcommittee to align varying reimbursement policies inherited from the former ANG and Contra Costa groups. Photographers must be paid at least $20 a day for each day they use their car on company business, or more if mileage exceeds the minimum.

BYLINES: An employee can withhold his or her byline/credit line for journalistic reasons.

TRANSFERS: Involuntary transfers must be only for sound business reasons, and only then to Guild-covered worksites in the Bay Area.

OUTSOURCING: The company has broad leeway to outsource work, but agreed to meet and discuss alternatives with the Guild in advance.

BULLETIN BOARDS: All worksites must provide bulletin boards for use by the Guild.

MISCELLANEOUS BENEFITS: In nearly all cases, current policies and benefits (adoption benefits, tuition reimbursement, discount subscriptions etc.) will remain unchanged, unless the policies are changed companywide. One exception: The Guild agreed to give up a small company scholarship program, but offers union members several other scholarship programs for college-bound children.

OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES: Employees can freelance, but need to obtain written approval if the work poses a potential conflict.

“I hope our members take a close look at the complete package. It provides a chance for a lot of stability for at least the next year and a half, and a point from which we can move ahead in the next negotiations,” said Eric Louie, a member of the bargaining team and reporter at the Valley Times.

Complete copies of the tentative agreement will be available soon through our Web sites (onebigbang.org and mediaworkers.org). Copies will also be made available through our shop stewards and unit officers.

Please contact one of us if you have questions: Sara Steffens, 510-388-0562, or modernsara@gmail.com; Eric Louie, 415-377-4609.

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