Nov. 24, 2004

Parking Fee Bargaining Update:
Company Treats Employees As Revenue Centers in Parking Fee Proposal

Some progress has been made in Guild-company bargaining over parking garage increases, and negotiations continue on December 6.

In response to Guild proposals, the company modified its initial proposal to increase parking $5 across the board increase effective 11/14.

Let’s walk through the five elements of the company’s latest proposal:

1. Parking fees would increase effective 12/26/04 by an additional $5.00 a week for those earning more than $25,000 annually, and by $3.50 a week for those earning less than $25,000 annually. Company negotiators admitted there was no known relationship between the increase and the company’s costs in running the garage, and would not discuss the fact that merit employees and management park for free. Apparently, though, it is fair to the company that Guild unit members paid about $233,000 last year in garage fees.

2. The company wants agreement that future parking garage increases for Guild covered employees will be locked in at the same percentage as for non-employees, and agrees there would not be more than one increase in any one year (and could be none). That’s amounted to about a 10% increase in each year there’s been an increase. So the Guild rate would rise by the same percentage. The company was unresponsive to Guild questioning about why the company wants to treat its employees like any stranger off the street.

3. All Guild covered employees would be offered the opportunity to set aside pre-tax dollars for parking or commuter expenses as provided by IRS regulation, if the Guild agrees to the rest of the company’s proposal. Currently the company offers this only to those using the parking garage. By expanding it, as the Guild proposed, employees will be able to defer parking expenses on a pre-tax basis (for use at any garage) up to $195/month, and for public transit expenses (such as bus, and light rail) up to $100/month. Employees using pre-tax programs will see savings by not having to pay FICA withholding, and federal/ state taxes on their pre-tax dollars.

4. The company would retain the right to modify, change, or discontinue the pre-tax program as long as changes are the same for merit employees of The Sun. The Sun would confer with the Guild about these changes. Technical glitches have caused Tribune to suspend the program in the past. Future suspensions work against Tribune’s interest: money. Tribune experiences a tax savings from employee’s pre-tax deferrals. For every $100.00 deferred, Tribune saves $7.65. Pennies matter to Tribune, and last year they saved nearly $18,000 in taxes related to parking garage pre-tax deferrals.

5. If the Guild cannot agree to this proposal, the company will withdraw its proposal and revert to its last prior proposal: $5.00 weekly increase for those above $25,000 and $3.50 weekly increase for those below.

The proposal is troubling, but seen through the dark lens of the way Tribune does business, has some positive elements.

Troubling because this is not about cost of running the garage, this is about using employees—union employees—as a revenue center. Management, the highest paid group at the paper—is being provided free parking subsidized by union employees, the lowest paid group at the paper. That speaks volumes about the values and ethics at the top. Most companies offer pre-tax programs as a matter of course to all employees.

Troubling because the pre-tax program has been available in some form or another for years. (And here we offer a correction to the last bulletin on this subject: the company does offer pre-tax savings programs for employees. It offered to negotiate a pre-tax parking reimbursement program in 2002—a program that saves the employee hundreds and the employer thousands of dollars—and told the Guild that its Guild covered workers would have to give up something to get this IRS benefit. So, the program wasn’t made available to Guild employees.)

Troubling because the company seems bent on draining as much of your pay raise from your pocket as it can. This increase will erase 20% of your last raise, and more of every piddling raise we get from here on.

Positive because without a union here, the company would just raise the rates.

Positive because the Guild put on the table proposals to delay and reduce the increase in order to help maximize the dollars in your pocket, and to broaden the scope of the pre-tax benefit to 600 workers.

We go back to the table on December 6. Meanwhile, we want to hear from you. Tell the Guild officer, steward, or mobilizer in your area how you feel about this issue and the company’s proposal and actions.

--Lori Calderone
Guild Administrative Officer

We Want to Hear From You!

Contact any of the Guild Officers, Stewards or Mobilizers listed below by Dec. 4 with your thoughts on parking and commuter expense issues.

Mike Hill News 6070
David Wright Advertising 6873
Bob Sager Facilities 6907
Julie Bell News 6153
Andrea Walker News 6879
Traci Hill Finance 6729
Sheila Cole Washington Circulation 6807
Jean Packard Library 6254
Amy Davis Photo 6940
Frank Roylance News 6173


 

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