Negotiation Bulletins

Guild-AP Bargaining Bulletin No. 19

Kevin Keane — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:15:00 -0800

date:

2008-11-20 00:00

subtitle:

AP to reduce staff by 10 percent

text:

Associated Press President Tom Curley told employees Thursday that the company needs to cut 10 percent of the work force and that it will use attrition to accomplish as much of that goal as possible.

But Curley said at a Town Hall meeting that he doesn’t believe attrition will be enough and that some layoffs may be necessary.

The Guild contract with AP says that senior employees should be retained if qualified to perform the remaining work. The Guild has proposed that a senior employee in the affected classification be able to opt to leave with severance pay instead of the least senior employee.

AP agrees that current protection should continue unless an employee has received a written progressive disciplinary letter within the previous 12 months. Those employees, regardless of length of service, would lose their seniority and be selected for dismissal with severance.

The current rehire rights clause assures employees they will be rehired to fill vacancies in the bureau or department they worked if qualified to perform the work. The company wants the same “loss of seniority” provision applied to rehire rights.

Meanwhile, the AP said at the bargaining table that it will be ready to talk about its economic proposal Friday. The company originally said it would begin talking about money issues Thursday.

“While it’s a trying time in the media industry, we are fortunate the AP is on a better financial footing than some other companies,” said Martha Waggoner, chair of the rank-and-file negotiating committee. “The company said repeatedly at the bargaining table that the contract from three years ago contributed greatly to those finances, and we hope the AP will keep that in mind when making decisions about jobs.”

Curley also announced the location of the final two regional desks: Chicago for the Central and Phoenix for the West. The South desk opened earlier this year in Atlanta, and the company previously had named Philadelphia as the location of the East desk.

The company also said it wouldn’t consider moving the pension plan to a multi-employer plan that the Guild had considered as an alternative.

Guild-AP Bargaining Bulletin No. 18

Kevin Keane — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:06:33 -0800

date:

2008-11-19 00:00

subtitle:

AP presses for new regional desk managers

text:

The Associated Press told the News Media Guild on Wednesday that it wants to remove 16 jobs at the four regional desks from union protection and put those positions in management.

The AP said the following job titles would have management responsibilities: assistant editor, broadcast editor, enterprise editor and multimedia editor. The company said the changes were necessary as duties shift away from the national desk, which the company plans to close.

The Guild asked for details on what manager jobs would be placed under union jurisdiction as fewer are needed for the national desk and other areas. The company said it could not provide details immediately because of two major changes: regionalization and the change in jobs or their elimination because of the poor economy.

The Guild also pressed the company on 37 jobs that it says should be covered by the Guild, including many in the treasury department. The company agreed on a few but said the others are administrative.

The two groups meet again Thursday after the Town Hall meeting. The company hopes to begin discussing its economic proposals Thursday and Friday.

Guild-AP Bargaining Bulletin No. 17

Karl Jendretzky — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:51:32 -0800

date:

2008-11-17 00:00

subtitle:

Guild, AP discuss overtime and birth benefit issues

text:

The News Media Guild and The Associated Press discussed two issues that have stirred up a lot of discussion among Guild members – the AP’s proposed changes to the birth benefit and to the “Kentucky Derby” clause.

On Monday, the Guild presented the AP with a court decision that said companies can presume disability after a woman gives birth.

The AP has proposed eliminating the minimum eight weeks of sick leave in the current contract that takes effect when a child is born. The company says the policy is discriminatory and that its new sick leave proposal would help those same employees.

Also Monday, the company presented a revised Kentucky Derby proposal that applies to newspersons and not photographers, just as the current policy does. While the company no longer proposes to include some areas, such as legislative coverage, in the clause, it holds on to extensive changes for sports coverage. The proposal is attached.

AP Proposal on Kentucky Derby clause

The clause allows the company to pay straight overtime rather than premium overtime for some events. The company wants to add many sports events, including “national and international golf and tennis tournaments; Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup horse races; Daytona and Indy 500 auto races; collegiate or professional sports playoffs, tournaments and championship events; Olympics and pre-Olympic trials; world championships in Olympic sporting events; and the soccer World Cup.”

The company also wants to add overseas travel with the vice president, members of the president’s Cabinet or chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; film festivals; coverage of Academy Awards; and Fashion Week.

The Guild has asked how much the company would save for each area of coverage if the clause were expanded. The company has provided some examples, such as coverage of the secretary of state’s travels, which cost $13,746.74 from 2007 through September 2008. If that coverage fell under the clause and the overtime were paid as straight time, the company would have paid $9,164.49.

The company said it paid $167,750.88 for presidential travel coverage in 2008. If the coverage weren’t covered by the Kentucky Derby clause, the cost would have $251,626.32, the company said.

The Guild has proposed that all the assignments be paid premium overtime.

The union told AP that its “recall to duty” after leaving the office proposal that would eliminate the minimum of four hours pay would save it less than $700 a week.

The Guild and company will meet on Wednesday to discuss jurisdiction and coverage issues. The union wants a number of employees now outside the union to be entered into the unit so they will have contract protection. The company says it wants to remove some jobs from union protections because of regionalization.

Guild-AP Bargaining Bulletin No. 16

Karl Jendretzky — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:14:55 -0800

date:

2008-11-14 00:00

subtitle:

Guild tells AP that staffers are unhappy with proposal to eliminate birth benefit

text:

The News Media Guild told The Associated Press on Friday that Guild members are reacting strongly to the company’s proposal to eliminate the minimum sick leave benefit for new mothers.

During a meeting at the AP office in Washington, D.C., the Guild told the company that some members “were coming out of their seats” about the company proposal when they attended a union meeting last week in New York City. All units have said they oppose the proposal, which eliminates the minimum eight weeks of sick leave in the current contract that takes effect when a child is born.

The company says it is discriminatory and that its new sick leave proposal would well serve those same employees.

The union is reviewing AP’s legal claim with its attorney.

The company proposed eliminating supervisory differentials. Under its proposal, any editorial unit employees who received the differential in the past 12 months would have $35 weekly added to their salary.

The company says that with regionalization, fewer bureau staffers will have actual supervisory duties because those tasks are shifting to the regional desks.

The company agreed to Guild-proposed language, saying work schedules will not be used to harass or punish staffers.

The company also told the Guild that it would agree to keep the “mutual agreement” language that allows one-person correspondents and photographers and sportswriters who work alone in the bureaus to opt out of the scheduling provisions if both the company and the staffer agree. The company had wanted to say it could impose the provision in such cases and wanted to expand it to include all sportswriters, along with business news and entertainment news staffers.

The company said Friday that it would keep the “mutual agreement” provision if the union agrees that business news and entertainment staffers who also work alone in their classification can opt out of scheduling provisions.

The company and the Guild agreed to continue current terms on dismissal indemnity/severance, arbitration, transfers, severability, payroll information and military service.

For the technology unit, the company introduced several new proposals, including new language on senior technicians, which would add more responsibility to those positions, exclude them from scheduling terms with a differential still to be negotiated. The company also proposed eliminating the 26-week notice if a technician loses the senior designation.

The company also proposed new certifications that will result in additional weekly payments. Any technician who obtains web systems certification (CIW), certified video engineer (CEV), and/or a Mac certification will receive a weekly differential of $35 for each certification up to a maximum of $125 in cert differentials.

The two sides meet again Monday in New York City. The AP said it would advance its economic proposals next week.

Mike Silverman's Training Statement

AP Proposal on TU Senior Technicians

AP Proposal on TU Certifications and 4-Day Workweek

AP Proposal on TU Hours, Overtime and Work Schedules - Article 19

AP Proposal on EU Supervisory Differentials - Article 15

Guild-AP Bargaining Bulletin No. 15

Kevin Keane — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:19:49 -0800

date:

2008-11-13 00:00

subtitle:

Guild, AP discuss overtime, training and scheduling issues

text:

The Associated Press told the News Media Guild on Thursday that it wants to eliminate the minimum four-hour call back provision after leaving the office and the eight-hour minimum when working on scheduled days off -- when reporters work from home --because staffers aren’t filing for all their overtime, resulting in falsified time reports.

The company also told the union it wants to eliminate automatic scheduling penalty payments if schedules are changed within the actual work week to deal with news or staff emergencies.

The union asked the company what the effect would be if it eliminated the Kentucky Derby clause, which allows the company to pay straight time overtime rather than premium overtime for a number of assignments. The company has proposed to expand the list, while the Guild wants to eliminate the clause.

The company has said it will respond.

The Guild also pressed the company on its plans for training, including multimedia and video. The company provided a long list of training provided over the past 18 months, which it said reflected its commitment to training. The union said that much has to be done and that the union is willing to work with AP on overtime and scheduling provisions to ensure that everyone is trained.

The union told the company that its sick leave proposal alarmed longer service employees, while newer staffers have welcomed it. The company proposal caps disability payments at 26 weeks, while the current agreement provides employees with more than two years of service one week of full pay and one week of half pay for each year of service.

The company said its proposal will not save AP money, adding that its short-term disability proposal will increase its costs. AP information shows that no editorial or technology unit employees took sick leaves of longer than 26 weeks in 2006, while only two in each group were out for longer than 26 weeks in 2007. The company earlier reported that the average sick leave for AP employees is 5.7 days a year.

The union said it likes the enhanced sick leave for newer employees, but it will propose adding sick leave for longer service employees as well as a number of other changes.

The union told the company it’s unwilling to remove the mutual agreement provision that allows one-person correspondents, sportswriters and photographers who work alone in bureaus to exempt themselves from some scheduling provisions.

It also said it opposes the removal of all business news, entertainment and sportswriters from the scheduling terms.

The union raised concerns about job security and how seniority applied to employees who have moved from bureaus into the business, sports and entertainment verticals. The concern arises from a case involving Los Angeles and New York staffers whose seniority was not applied in their bureaus when the company closed ASAP.

The company said it was sensitive to the union's concerns and will continue to discuss it.

The union told the company it wants to remove the 10 percent cap on the annual performance bonus that can be awarded to senior journalists.

The company also is looking into the union’s proposal to eliminate the special writers overtime exception.

The two sides met Thursday in the AP’s bureau in Washington, D.C. Those at the bargaining table for the Guild included Rick Gentilo, Jim Ludwin and Larry Margarsak, who work in Washington, and Guild President and mobilizer Tony Winton. Others were members of the bargaining team: Martha Waggoner (committee chair); Vin Cherwoo, Don Ryan, John Braunreiter and chief negotiator Kevin Keane and Karl Jendretzky, the Guild’s deputy administrator.

At the table for the AP were attorney Steve Macri; Jessica Bruce, vice president of labor relations; Denise Vance, deputy managing editor for broadcast; Carole Feldman, assistant Washington bureau chief; Mike Silverman, senior managing editor; Montrese Garner-Sampson and Roland Newport of Human Resources.

John Dowling and Julie March of AP spoke via teleconference regarding training issues.