High Performance Management?
Layoff Violations Headed to Arbitration

In an effort to create a higher profit margin, the Tribune Company set in motion of a series of management missteps when it laid off seven Guild unit members last Dec. 19. These layoffs - which eventually led to the arbitrary lay off of Guild activist Michelle Ferrante in January -- are headed to binding arbitration, as provided in the union contract. Had Tribune followed the contract, much disruption could have been avoided. It should be noted that though The Guild does not dispute management's right to lay people off, it has been more than two decades since this fate had befallen anyone at The Sun. During those years, voluntary buyouts have been used to reduce the staff. During last year's contract negotiations, we heard a great deal about "a level playing field" with the Washington Post. Well, the Post just reduced it staff with a generous buyout offer. Where is that level playing field now?

Here's an update of the layoff crisis created by Tribune:

Article 8 of The Guild contract requires that management meet with the Guild at least four weeks prior to the effective date of any "contemplated" layoffs in order to discuss alleviation of any hardship or other alternatives.

Instead, on the same day The Guild was informed of the "contemplated" layoffs, Tribune management chose to humiliate seven employees by forcing them to clean out their desks and walking them out of the building as if they were criminals. One 30-year laid off employee chose to accept a settlement; two employees elected not to bump to a job they previously held and took severance pay. Four part-time employees were laid off although several had more seniority than the two full-timers in the same job title.

A week after perp-walking employees out the door, The Sun met with the Guild, and learned from that meeting that it had erred and laid off employees with seniority. The Sun rescinded the layoffs of the part-timers, calling them back to work with as little as one day's notice.

Injury to insult

After failing to assure that one part-timer received her notice to return to work, management docked her a day's pay when she could not return on the appointed day - though she didn't even know she was supposed to there!

Still can't get it right

After these missteps, Tribune managers appeared even more determined to have their way. Having erroneously laid-off part time senior employees over full-time junior employees, they set about to manipulate the outcome once again. Properly conducted, the layoff (to increase bottom line profits) would have resulted in two full-timers being laid off (and provided bumping and severance rights).

Instead of laying off employees properly -- by seniority -- management manipulated the seniority list by moving the least senior employee into a management position. A day later, on January 23, it laid off the senior full-time employee, who was apparently not on any special treatment list.

Then, Tribune reached into a completely different job classification and laid off a full-time employee, Michelle Ferrante who had received two promotions and numerous awards during her decade at The Sun. Though she previously worked as a sales assistant - indeed she created that job -- management refused to allow her to bump to that job because its title had changed since Michelle last performed the work. This is a high performance culture?

Both the Christmas layoff and the January layoffs and manipulations have been grieved and are headed for arbitration.

-Michael Hill, Sun Unit Chair and Cet Parks, Guild Sun Local Rep

Layoff Events

· December 19, 2003: by 9 a.m., seven employees have been notified of layoff and walked out of the workplace. Senior employees are laid off over junior employees in the same job title.

· December 19: Guild requests meeting on layoffs

· December 26: Guild and Sun meet. Sun refuses to discuss how it determined the need for layoff or how it identified employees for layoff.

· December 30: Guild shows Sun evidence that in past layoffs it had put full-and part-time employees on a single seniority list.

· January 16: Sun notifies part-timers of recall to work two working days later. One part-timer doesn't receive recall letter, but is informed by the Guild of the recall. She is unable to return on the recall date, and misses one day's work. Sun refuses to pay her for the missed day.

· January 23: Sun promotes junior full-timer to management, lays off the senior full timer, and also lays off Michelle Ferrante, who's in another department and job class.

· March 9,10: Sun denies all layoff grievances and grievance filed to pay part-timer's lost day.