GUILD MOVES BARGAINING FORWARD

Trying to move things forward, Guild negotiators yesterday made six counter proposals to company offers on Multimedia, Ethics, vacation advances, the "lag" week without pay the Sun has proposed, notice of work schedules and the movement of the assistant night editor job classification from N-1 to N-2 without loss of pay or benefits.

That makes a total of 11 counter-proposals the Guild has made overall, compared to two by Howard Weinstein and the Sun. Weinstein took most of the afternoon session time to pursue his two favorite subjects - "frivolous" grievances and the worst features of the Washington Post contract.

As the talks broke off at 5:35 p.m., Guild chief negotiator Lori Calderone asked Weinstein repeatedly if he planned to make any actual proposals on Wednesday.

"We want to get something done- to move the process," Calderone said.

"We'll see what tomorrow brings," was the most Weinstein could muster.

In some ways, the Sun seemed to backtrack on earlier statements made at the table. Weinstein had said days ago that Sun employees who are asked to do television related work under the multi-media rubric would not face discipline if it turns out they aren't suited for the medium.

But yesterday, Tribune attorney Tim Fair implied that if an employee was trained for the new work and still performed poorly, discipline might well be meted out.

"If we go to training, there are certain expectations," Fair said.

In other Guild counter proposals, The Guild proposed:

· Dropping vacation advances except for people earning under $700 a week gross pay.

· The elimination of the assistant night editor position as long as the one person in that category suffers no loss.

· Allowing a "lag week" in pay - BUT only for new employees hired after June 25. Local President Bill Salganik reasoned that people being hired will know the terms as they come to work, but it is unfair to take a week's pay away from current employees who have bills and mortgages to pay.

· The Guild also offered to agree to the Sun's request to give 7 days notice of shift changes rather than 9 if the Sun agrees to include Facilities Support people in a shift selection process in Appendix A of the current contract.

The Guild's counter on Ethics largely reflects where the parties were last year when the Sun withdrew its policy, except to hold the Publisher and company executives to the same basic standards that Guild members are expected to uphold.

The Guild's multi-media proposal still seeks a $75 fee for on-air appearances, and a sharing of the profits from re-use of the work, both items Sun negotiator Howard Weinstein said he strongly opposes.

The Guild also discussed our proposal to upgrade travel/accident and life insurance. The $10,000 life insurance benefit hasn't changed in nearly 20 years, and the travel accident insurance proposal, which cost the company less than $3,000 a year for the entire 640 Guild members, doubles the maximum benefit from $125,000 to $250,000.

Guild member Dan Fesperman, a reporter who spent seven weeks in Afghanistan last winter, talked about his experiences in the war zone, including his near fatal brush with several gunmen who stopped their vehicles behind his in a caravan of reporters' cars, and then murdered four reporters. The Guild believes Sun employees deserve a strong safety net for their families.

In addition, Guild chief negotiator Lori Calderone told Weinstein and the management team that we reject 12 other company proposals, several involving company attempts to eliminate or delay arbitration rights.

As to the grievances, Salganik and Angie Kuhl noted that the Guild is legally obligated to represent members who have problems or are facing discipline. "We are the public defender," Salganik said.

Finally, Calderone again reminded the company that we could bargain every day forever but if the Sun was not going to bring any proposals to the table, we would not be able to solve problems and reach a settlement soon.

- Larry Carson, for the Guild bargaining committee

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