Radio Free Asia Guild Unit -- July 14, 2004 Bulletin

July 14, 2004

BARGAINING BULLETIN #19

RFA Management Moves Slightly In Bargaining, But Insists On Subjective Layoffs

Contract negotiations remain centered on job security, with the company making some movement in the right direction.

The company agreed that layoffs for Broadcasters would apply to all Broadcasters within a particular language service regardless of their grade. For example, RFA could not decide to layoff Broadcasters III while keeping Broadcasters I, II, IV, V. The same would be true company-wide for jobs where a particular language skill is not needed, such as administrative assistant and researcher.

The company also moved slightly in the area of layoff notice, saying it would give 14 days notice in a layoff. We had proposed 60 days notice, but revised that to 45 days in bargaining July 13.

But RFA still wants to use subjective criteria in deciding who to layoff, instead of basing it on seniority. RFA has said it wants to be able to keep the employees its managers decide are best qualified, but RFA has been unwilling to commit to objective criteria.

The Guild has tried to address RFA's concern by giving employees extra seniority for "outstanding" overall evaluations. Under our proposal, an employee receiving an overall "outstanding" evaluation would have 12 months added to their years of service, with a cap of 36 months. That means a five-year employee with two years in which he/she received an "outstanding" review would get credit for seven years service.

Bulletin Boards

RFA put forward a new bulletin board proposal which would be more restrictive than its previous proposal. In addition to keeping the union bulletin board under RFA management lock and key, the latest proposal would restrict what could be posted to such things as meeting notices and election results. We told RFA that was not acceptable.

Time Keeping

Do you have to sign in and sign out when you come and go from your desk? If you do, RFA says that's not right. The Guild proposed contract language that would bar RFA from requiring employees to sign in and out. RFA Vice President Libby Liu said if any language service currently has such a system it should be stopped.

Cantonese Update

RFA now says it intends to keep all vacant Cantonese Language Service positions here in Washington but that at least one of the vacant positions could be filled temporarily in Hong Kong. Earlier, Cantonese employees were told one of the two vacant broadcaster positions was being moved to Hong Kong. But at bargaining Tuesday night RFA said the person being offered the job would move to Washington as soon as he had the proper visa. RFA says the second vacant position also will be kept in DC.

Radio Free Asia Guild Unit -- News