Radio Free Asia Guild Unit -- June 8, 2004 Bulletin

June 8, 2004

BARGAINING BULLETIN #15

RFA Proposes Weak Protection Against Unfair Discharge, Job Security In Contract Talks

Job security is the main issue remaining before the Guild and RFA start talking money. The Guild has presented a detailed economic package, but RFA has not yet responded.

RFA is insisting on contract language that would severely weaken protections against unfair discharges and layoffs.

The Guild has proposed that in the event of layoffs the company should first ask for volunteers to accept a layoff. The most senior employees would get the option first. If there are not enough volunteers, the Guild proposed the employees with the least seniority in a job classification should be the ones laid off. This is routine in unionized work places.

RFA wants to be able to pick and choose who gets laid off, regardless of how long employees have worked for the company. Such a process would allow a manager to pick his or her favorites to stay. In non-union companies, employers often replace older, more senior employees with younger workers at far lower wages and lower medical costs. They use this power to play carrot and stick games with the workers.

RFA bargainers told the Guild that job security isn’t RFA’s concern, and said they would keep employees RFA decided were the best qualified. We’ve told RFA if it could come up with objective criteria we would be more than happy to talk about it. But without objective criteria that cannot be manipulated by a boss there is no real job security and morale would suffer.

Chief Guild bargainer Paul Reilly told RFA leaving layoffs up to the discretion of Service directors is not acceptable.

Reilly said the RFA proposal also would allow the company to essentially fire employees by using the layoff language.

“If a manager didn’t like an employee, but didn’t have just cause, this language would allow you to layoff the employee instead,” Reilly told RFA’s bargainers.

The Guild also wants laid off employees to be allowed to bump into jobs they are qualified to perform if the person in the job has less seniority. RFA says it does not want to allow bumping.

The next bargaining session will be June 14.

Radio Free Asia Guild Unit -- News