"NO!"

Membership Unanimously Rejects BNA Settlement Proposal

BNA's settlement proposal was unanimously rejected by over 100 Guild members at last Thursday's membership meeting at Francis Junior High School. The membership rejected BNA's proposal for 1.5% for 0-5 and 3% for step 6 in year 1, 2% 0-5 and 3.5% for step 6 in year 2, and 2% 0-5 and not less than 2% and not more than 3.5% (based on CPI) for step 6 in year 3. Guild members rejected management's hollow arguments in defense of its paltry wage offers in a time of economic prosperity for the company:

"This is the best we can do", stated Chief Negotiator Neal Barkus on April 18.: Not true! The fact is that BNA has averaged a 10% turnover rate in each of the past three years. The cost of the wage package (with so many employees leaving without taking advantage of LSIs and general increases) is actually MUCH less than the percents negotiated. BNA actually spends only 1.1% overall to pay for LSIs valued to individual employees at 3.3%-5.3%. Yes, employees take home these LSIs. No, it doesn't cost BNA 3.3%-5.3% on top of the general wage increase. BNA CAN do better by putting some of what it doesn't actually pay out into the general increase.
"Salary and benefits already consume 52% of every revenue dollar." Management Bargaining Committee #5 Report March 22.: BNA's salary and benefit costs fall just above the median (the middle) in a 1998 survey of 122 companies. Only Ľ of the companies surveyed reported LOWER salary and benefit costs in proportion to operating expenses. More than half the companies reported HIGHER salary and benefit costs than the 52% of every revenue dollar.

With profits UP (13.1%), and the Consumer Price Index for March UP (3.7%), and April CPI headed higher, salaries should NOT lag behind the cost of living.

Moving Forward to Oblivion?

The results of the vote of the annual meeting, which showed substantial support for a shareholder's proposal to sell BNA and to end employee ownership, probably shocked some people. But it should let them know what some of us suspected, that BNA is not a happy place and that we may have limited time to change things.

After the election, Paul Wojcik sent around an e-mail entitled "Moving Forward." Paul said the results were "a significant reminder of an important fact: BNA is an investment as well as an employer, and continued employee ownership is not a given. It must be earned."

There is an even more important fact that Paul is missing, that BNA is not just an investment and employer, but a community.

I once met a government official who had been a pilot at TWA and had been an official of their union. He talked about meeting with Carl Icahn, who had bought and looted the company. One of the pilots told Icahn how TWA was like a family, that people made friends there, and even met their spouses there. Icahn replied, "If you want a friend, get a dog."

BNA, many of my friends who have been around here a long time say, has been what TWA was like. But BNA management is developing an Icahn-like attitude. BNA is increasingly offering its dividend in place of anything else.

As I've gone around talking to people after the vote, I've found that people talk about things other than finances. I've been told, for example, that the vote came out the way it did because people don't trust top management and don't have confidence in it.

Bargaining--the First Test

If I had to bet, I'd predict that the shareholder proposal in some form will be on the ballot next year. BNA management better change, or we will be discussing who will be buying the company this time next year.

The first test management faces is in the conclusion of bargaining. It's time (actually well past time) for management to show that it cares about the welfare of the people who work here and is willing to offer decent wages and the superior benefits of which it used to pride itself. It's time for BNA to win back the trust and confidence of its employees.

Paul did say something in his message with which I agree wholeheartedly. He wrote, "But now it is time to heal those working relationships and to become friends again. There is much more to accomplish to make BNA successful, and at BNA we achieve most when we work together." He continued, "We can do that [make BNA more successful]…if we pull together, respect each other, and take the challenges we face head on."

I hope Paul talks to his bargaining committee. I have been involved with the Guild since 1987. I have never seen less interest on management's part in trying to have a useful working relationship than in the last few years and in this bargaining.

In addition, management very clearly does not respect union bargainers or the workforce. Management proposals are filled with hints that employees are all goof offs, who are trying to take advantage of the company. So we have to be able to discipline people for unscheduled leave, because otherwise they'd probably really be sneaking off to the mall. We have to change the RIF provisions because one Riffed employee didn't spend all his time waiting by the phone for BNA to call to say there was a job available.

If we are to pull together and make this company successful, then it is up to management in the next few weeks to show the way. Let us hope for the best.

-- Ken May

Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild
Local 32035 The Newspaper Guild
Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO