The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper GuildTNG-CWA, Local 32035
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Washington Post - Guild NewsJuly 2, 2003 In This Issue: More
than ever, big companies like the Tribune and the Washington Post
Co. stand ready and eager to take back what we have: eroding our wages,
health benefits, pensions, and job security—while constantly
asking us to do more and more, in efforts like “continuous news”
and continuous ad campaigns. In the 21st century workplace, we can either try to maintain a strong union, or we can give up and let the big employers have their way, unilaterally. The choice is clear. And we can learn a positive lesson from the Sun, because their Guild members showed the importance of sticking together and caring about each other in the face of serious adversity. Make no mistake: our Sun colleagues did not win a great victory. But they successfully fought off a serious attempt by a powerful monopoly employer to undermine the advances that it took the Guild decades to win. Sound familiar? They did this at the Sun by taking their issues to the community, and by making every day in the workplace a show of union solidarity that the Tribune could not miss. The Chicago-based Tribune Co., with 11 newspapers including the L.A. Times and 26 TV stations, has been notoriously antiunion for decades—and showed its colors up front (during bargaining) by recruiting scores of replacement workers—at extra pay--from its papers in Orlando, Chicago and elsewhere, in case the Sun went on strike. Among the Tribune’s bargaining demands: totally eliminating across-the-board Guild raises and creating a “merit pay”-only compensation system; dramatically cutting back on sick leave by eliminating year-to-year accumulation; gaining the unilateral right to transfer employees without consent to lower job categories, with no protection or appeal system. Those are just some of the highlights. The Guild, among many actions, conducted a highly successful open-ended byline strike that lasted more than a week, and hired a plane to fly over Camden Yards with a pro-union message when the Orioles played the Chicago Cubs (owned by Tribune Co.). Ultimately—with the threat of replacement workers hanging over them--Sun employees averted a strike on June 24th when they voted 319 to 102 to reluctantly accept a negotiated 4-year contract settlement. (Their voter turnout of two-thirds of their membership should be an example for us of participatory democracy in the workplace. They got a better contract because people showed it mattered to them.) Like us, the Baltimore Guild was forced to accept a first-year wage freeze (ours was for nine months), instead settling for a $1,500 “signing bonus.” But the Baltimore Guild got a $24 weekly raise for all employees in the 2nd year, followed by two years in which $24 weekly raises will be a combination of across-the-board and merit pay. In two key areas, the Guild retained its sick-leave system and also won transfer protections, guaranteeing that no employee’s pay could be cut by more than 3 percent in such a transfer. In other areas, however, the Guild was forced to accept concessions. The Tribune’s reactionary bargaining position prompted an angry statement from the Guild members who reluctantly approved the final offer under the threat of being replaced:
Here in Washington, we have tried for years to forge a constructive relationship with the Post Company’s corporate management, and we know how difficult a fight that has been. But we have a choice: Trust our future to the good will of a large company, or maintain a collective voice to speak up for our own best interest in difficult times. It’s really a no-brainer. WE NEED A STRONG GUILD. AND WE NEED YOU TO BE PART OF IT. SEE YOUR SHOP STEWARD. JOIN THE GUILD, AND PERSUADE YOUR FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES TO DO THE SAME. Post Ethics Hotline: The Untold Story Many of you have told us you were puzzled by Post management’s recent announcement that it had set up an “Ethics Hotline,” which any employee can call to leave an anonymous tip about alleged wrongdoing by another employee. The Guild was puzzled, too. The most specific reason management gave for creating the Hotline was that it would help bring the company into compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed by Congress in July 2002. But as all of us savvy Washington Post folks know, that act takes aim at corrupt corporate managers, not working stiffs like us who rarely get to see the company’s books, much less cook them. Moreover, we couldn’t help but get a shiver down our Guilded spines when we learned that the Hotline would be managed by Pinkerton. We’re sure it’s just a coincidence, but that’s the same company that has long been infamous for its anti-labor activities. As far back as the 1860s, Pinkerton “detectives” were helping to bust strikes and protect non-union scabs, and the company has continued to stir controversy into the 21st century as its agents have skulked around farmers’ fields under contract to agricultural biotechnology behemoth Monsanto, to see what kind of crops the farmers were growing. To find out what this Hotline is really all about, three Guild reps met with Post managers June 19. Post attorney Mary Ann Werner expressed surprise that employees might think the line was set up primarily to facilitate the process of ratting on each other for perceived offenses or improprieties. As implied by the company’s reference to Sarbanes-Oxley, the primary emphasis really is on corporate malfeasance, she said. It used to be that anyone wishing to reveal corporate wrongdoing had to tell their story directly to a corporate manager, with no easy option of anonymity and all the risk of perhaps telling a manager who was – oops! -- involved in the fraud. By having Pinkerton handle the phones, a caller can be assured of anonymity, Werner said. (We’re not sure there is an awful lot of gain here, since all Pinkerton does is pass the report on to corporate officials who, if it chooses badly, may be involved in the corruption themselves. But we’ll let Sen. Sarbanes and Rep. Oxley worry about that.) That said, management did make the point that the Hotline can also be used to report any alleged violation of the Washington Post Code of Conduct, so all of us are, after all, subject to being accused through this new system. So we asked Mary Ann: Your memo has a lot of space devoted to the art of making an anonymous accusation but not a word about the rights of the accused. At what point will an accused employee get to learn of his or her alleged misdeeds, to build a defense? How will the charges be investigated and a verdict reached? What exactly will end up in an accused employee’s personnel file if the accusations are not confirmed? In short, what protections does a person have against an unfriendly co-worker who might use the Hotline as a way to stir trouble? Unfortunately, there were few firm answers to these and related questions, and no assurance that answers might appear in writing any time soon. Mary Ann did assure us verbally that if details of a complaint could not be proven then the complaint would not end up in an employee’s personnel file. However, she added, the accusation and results of any investigation would probably be kept in a separate employee file. She did not spell out the circumstances under which contents of such a file might be used against an employee. Mary Ann said the company would not tolerate people making punitive accusations. If vice president for labor Trish Dunn were caught making unfounded anonymous complaints to Pinkerton about union leaders, for example – just to use a fanciful example -- she would be subject to punishment. But Werner would not say when, if ever, an accused employee might expect to be informed of a complaint. Nor would she spell out any bottom-line “rights of the accused.” Perhaps, she said, some of these questions would get answered in future “communications” from the company. Then again, perhaps not. We believe that The Post – having set up a Hotline explicitly to facilitate the bringing of accusations against employees, owes those employees a full explication of the rights of anyone accused of wrong-doing in the workplace.
Guild Stewards: Who’re You Gonna Call?
If you cannot reach a Guild Steward, call Guild Representative Rick Ehrmann at 202-785-3650 ext 14 Vacation Donation: A Great Way to Help Your Co-worker The Guild negotiated a Vacation Donation Program into the new vacation system. The program applies to all employees who have “Excess” vacation. The program can be found in Article XII - Vacations, page 33, paragraph 5 (b) of the Guild - Post Contract:
Employees seeking to donate excess vacation should call Ms. Lisa Martin at 334-6489. “Thank
you so much for your help and the help of all my colleagues”
Click
here for the previous issue of Post Guild Unit News
Click
here for an index of back issues of Post Guild Unit News
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Washington-Baltimore
Newspaper Guild, Local 32035 TNG-CWA, AFL-CIO/ 1100 15th St., NW,
Suite 350 Washington, DC 20005/ 202-785-3650 /Fax: 202-785-3659 Copyright © 2003 Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild |
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