The union representing more than 200 Indianapolis Star employees said members voted 81-9 yesterday to accept the mandatory unpaid week off Gannett told 35,000 U.S. workers last week they must take off by the end of March. "This has been a distasteful process, but thank you for your vote,'' the Newspaper Guild's local says. "Your sacrifice to lose a week's pay preserved jobs -- preventing an untold number of employees from being laid off."
Gannett asked unions to allow the furloughs under their contracts with the company, on a one-time basis, in lieu of layoffs. About 12% of Gannett's U.S. employees are unionized, spokeswoman Tara Connell told The New York Times. That is down from 14% a year ago, according to the company's last annual 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
26 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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So much for wasting time - and money - paying union dues!
ReplyDeleteThis is a classic example of when a union SHOULD stand up and say, NO F-ING WAY!" to Gannett. It is a no=grainer...
and yet...
This union caved.
These is NO evidence that these furloughs will prevent ANY future layoffs. Period. And there is no REAL evidence that the furlou8ghs are even needed, since Indy and almost all other Gannett papers are making a healthy profit.
If I were a member of this union, I would demand - sue - for all my union die money back - for a breach of contract and a failure to perform expected duties for the workers as the union.
Ha!
Yeah and because you would fight it the rest of the employees would be held to the layoffs.
ReplyDeleteDistasteful yes but I thank God I have my job.
Not many jobs out there right now if at all and there's even less choices. So is it bad yes but let's have some real concrete options here instead of I I WAS THIS OR THAT.
Once again you Union lemmings don't get it. You pay dues every month to an organization that has no clout. Your union bosses haven't been laid off but you guys go marchin ginto the night chanting Union, union, union! Wise up, you have no clout. SOmeone wrote the laid off union workers got a gift certificate on teh way out form the union. Wow, where do I sign up for that????
ReplyDeleteThank God? Not hardly - Thank those who have bought into the mantra that the sacrifices of all are for the good of the one. Is this also the mantra used as the higher ups count their bonuses?
ReplyDelete4:10 you can't spell for shit but I agree. Unions no longer have any clout.
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with the hate? They threatened to begin laying off guild members right away if we voted against the furloughs. Should we have voted against taking the furloughs and then just watched people with low seniorty get fired?
ReplyDeletePut this in your pipe and smoke it, guild haters"
ReplyDelete"If the Guild says "no" the Star promises immediate layoffs of an unspecified number of union members."
I think we did the responsible thing by voting yes. It sucks, but there you go. Lesser of two evils, and all.
Okay union bashers everywhere.
ReplyDeleteBe happy with all those hours you're working for free.
Be happy with the fact that you have no pension and you're 401-K just won't cut it at retirement time.
Smile when they lay you off and furlough you repeatedly.
Work for low pay.
Unions were never needed more in corporate American than they are today. The higher ups enjoy strength in numbers. Why wouldn't you want that for yourself?
If they don't take a week off will a nonunion employee lose their job?
ReplyDeleteThe union lemmings can beat their chests all the want. Your argument is moot. You couldn't stop teh layoffs if you didn't vote for the furlough. That equals NO Power. You guys are so 1950s. You can spin it all you want. What happened to you happened to us, thus you have no clout. But thanks for paying that monthly dues. The union leaders need to fund that pension fund.
ReplyDelete7:52...what are you talking about...I have a good pension and a great 401K because I move everything immediately into the Harris side and manage it myself. I was smart enough to pull out to cash, bonds and gold last year so this years stock market crash has had very little effect.
ReplyDeleteCan you say "Who is Ayn Rand?"
Its up to the individual, not the organization.
Listen up everybody! Gannett is going to take whatever you give them. Non-represented employees: You have no choice, bend over and grab your ankles.
ReplyDeleteUnionized Gannett employees: Rest assured, Gannett does not give one damn about the contract they have signed. They will use any excuse, make up any reason to get what they want. Gannett will threaten you if you don't sign, and follow up on those threats even if you do sign. To those who think Gannett will respect you for falling on your collective swords, you will find out in short order Gannett respects no one. This is a money grab, nothing more. Once Gannett sees that the same work can be accomplished with less people, they will accept nothing less.
There is however, one union that has respectfully declined Gannett's latest and most generous offer. This union has contract language that allows for decreased, over-all manning when there is no work, or for when troubled times occur, such as we are going through now. This union has taken it's fair share of manning hits lately, has bent over backwards to accomodate Gannett, but Gannett never seems to be satisfied. All this union asks is that Gannett honors it's word, honors the contract it has signed, a contract that allows for fluctuations in advertising and circulation size. It is all there for Gannett to use, but Gannett wants more.
My union has caved on many occasions but I would not give up that buffer between myself and management for anything. If you do, you wind up like Tucson; shuttered and out of business. Now there's a bunch of people who gave Gannett everything they asked for and look at loyality extended to them.
ReplyDeleteHow dare any of you bastards scream about the unions because they aren't strong! Who the hell, but the unions. created the 8 hour workday and also the half hour lunch and all the benefits of healthcare and pensions you have the american union stregnth to thank you thankless bastards that only think how they can tear it apart! Why don't you unionlesss people apreciate the things that you take for granite.............sort of like what your parents tried to teach you to appreaciate! Ingrates
ReplyDelete4:10
ReplyDeleteyou completely misunderstood the gift certificate posting. for several years, guild members have received a $25 gift certificate from the local at christmas.
this year, when several members were laid off in december, 30 of their colleagues gave back their gift certificates to be distributed to those who were laid off. why? because we genuinely cared about the wellbeing of our departing colleagues.
as for the union officers fattening their pensions, our officers are VOLUNTEERS. they are paid only for time they must take off work to negotiate. local 70 has never had a paid administrator.
and for those who think unions are a waste of dues money, several people who were given unjust evaluations kept their jobs because the guild fought for them and won. dues probably seem like a pretty good investment to those staffers.
"They threatened to begin laying off guild members right away if we voted against the furloughs."
ReplyDeleteDoing that would constitute retaliation on behalf of Gannett, which would be a clear violation of the National Labor Relations Act. Now, whether the NLRB would hand down and enforce any punitive decision against the company is a bet you'd have to be willing to take.
8:53 PM
ReplyDeleteSo 1950s, you say?
Well, I'd trade the retirement lifestyle of any worker---union or no---who was at his or her earnings peak in the 50s.
I once was anti-union. That was pre-Gannett, though.
Thanks unions for all the things you have given the worker. I'd also like to thank the Arabs for the Arabic numeral system and the Chinese for gunpowder.
ReplyDeleteUnions are 20th century, not 21st. The pendulum seems to be swinging the other way, in favor of the corp...which probably isn't a good thing. If unions are to stay relevant, something within them is going to have to change...and soon.
I've never heard of a union caving like the one in Indy did. On other journalism boards, the union people were bragging they wouldn't be affected by this...boy were they wrong.
If the union is so strong in Indy, why did less than half of the membership vote on the furloughs? Perhaps because the job description makes their jobs union, but doesn't mean they pay dues or participate in the votes. Support? I don't think so...
ReplyDeleteStar guild just exposed itself as the weakling we all knew it was. And at the beginning of negotiations for a new contract no less.
ReplyDeleteNice job, folks. Enjoy listening to management tell you how good it feels as it bends you over and sticks it to you during negotiations.
What a joke.
12:05 a.m. What makes you suppose the the NLRB would have any effect on Gannett whatsoever? Ask the newspaper workers in Detroit about that.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, if dealing with unions had no effect on Gannett, why did the company try so hard to break the unions in Detroit?
2:43 - you think the union caved? The alternative was layoffs. Sounds to me like they make a smart choice. It's about time unions saw the light.
ReplyDeleteAnd you are right, there is no evidence these will prevent more in the future. If you could predict that you would be making a ton on Wall Street by predicting when the economy will turn.
If the revenue isn't coming in how do you keep running a business model at a loss? This all is terrible but it is reality. Unions trying to get something they don't deserve is just stupid, get it? STUPID.
As much as I would love to address the ramblings of one or two ignorant neanderthal union-bashers (who formed their opinion of the Guild in the 1970s and apparently remain stuck in the past) I'll correct one faulty post. Dues in Indy are voluntary -- it is an open shop; 214 in the newsroom and building services are covered by the Guild contract, of which over 50% pay dues; and 77% of dues-payers bothered [considering somewhat fruitless circumstances] to come by the Guild hall despite very short notice and cast a vote, ultimately agreeing to the furlough. It's easy to sit on the sidelines and Monday Morning quarterback whether the Guild should have called Gannett's bluff on layoffs vs. furlough. I suspect it was probably in the posters' economic self-interest to not lose a week's pay at the expense of watching a newer coworker get canned. So be it.
ReplyDelete-- Tom Spalding
Indy News Guild
The Guld may have "saved" a few jobs today, but what about tomorrow. My wonderful union said no to the furlough and now myself along with 4 others are canned. At least the good ol' powers that be have their huge ass bonuses to "carry" them through this difficult time.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to take the altruistic view that union members came together and sacrificed in order to protect the jobs of a few. Here's the harsh reality, though. Management has already demonstrated that its view of seniority is very different from that of the union. And there is nothing that the union has been able to do to change that. Yes, the layoffs that have previously happened are going to arbitration. But that doesn't currently stop management from firing a 20-year-reporter whose "beat" has been eliminated while keeping someone with less seniority. Simple fact here is that a "yes" vote on furloughs was a vote to protect your own job, not that of someone else.
ReplyDeleteanyone have any clue how long it takes something like the contract-violating indy layoffs to get to actual arbitration? and what remedies can an arbiter order? reinstatement with back pay if severance has run out? actual or punitive damages? in short, what kind of teeth does binding arbitration have?
ReplyDeleteand to add to brother spalding's post about it being an open shop, indiana is an "employment at will" state. were it not for the guild contract, gannett could have put all of us out on the street when the pulliam heirs (including dan quayle) broke the first eugene pulliam's trust (and broke faith with loyal employees) by selling us to the lowest common denominator of journalism.
what this country needs is more and stronger unions, not more bernie madoffs and dick chaneys and robber barons who make billions for tricking people into buying worthless "bundled" mortgages. too bad those folks can't be shipped off to gitmo for the economic terrorism they've wreaked on the rest of us!