Saturday, March 10, 2012

For third year, union representation rate falls

About 11% of Gannett's U.S. employees were represented by labor unions by the end of last year, according to the recently released annual 10-K report to federal securities regulators. That's down from 12% in 2010 and 14% in 2009.

Workers in GCI's U.K. subsidiary, Newsquest, also were represented by unions, but the report doesn't give the percentage.

[Updated at 1:49 p.m. ET on March 11.] GCI's was higher than the nation's overall private sector rate, 7.6%. And it was higher for the publishing industry as a whole, 4.7% (excluding Internet companies), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Across the U.S. in all industries, both public and private, the union membership rate was 11.8%, basically unchanged from 2010, the Bureau says. In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, the U.S. union membership rate was 20.1%, the Bureau says.

Earlier: Indianapolis Newspaper Guild sees 4% raises in new contract.

10 comments:

  1. Yeh. Seriously. Who needs unions? The company will look out for a worker's interest. How obvious is that while no one has any knowledge of union history, many of some fat cats enjoying the benefits brought about a Worker's Union. Love to see those types revise fact and history.

    But they will.

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  2. Corporations, like Gannett will continue to grab more and more of working American's wages and benefits for whatever reasons they deem necessary, and then corporate will lavish the bonuses and raises on themselves, patting each other on their backs; "Job well done!" they'll exclaim. "Now we're competitive." And all that's really happened is a money shift from your pockets into theirs.

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  3. Are you a union member or a Socialist?

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  4. When it comes to the Lamestream Media, Gannett is definitely leading the charge.

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  5. Apple, Intel, Microsoft, et al . . . no union.

    Newspapers, US automakers, steelworkers . . . union.

    You tell me which are the dinosaurs, dying a slow death propped up by the occasional government infusion of money and policy.

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  6. Jim: The figure to compare is the private sector rate -- 7.6% -- and the publishing industry (ex-Internet): 4.7%. GCI's rate is is well above those of its peers. Make of this what you will.

    The overall 11.8% rate reflects the 40% rate of government workers.

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  7. 12:23 Excellent points. I've revised this post to include those figures.

    And I corrected the headline to reflect the body of the post, which is about the percentage of GCI employees represented by unions -- rather than being members of them.

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  8. In Detroit,"Frank Vega" was know as an union buster. Since he left have the unions, that deal with Gannett, became stronger, weaker or the same? Or is their any truth that the unions, were afraid of Frank?

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  9. Yeh, like "socialist" is a dirty word. Funny, but sad and ignorant. Read, people! You're supposed to be better educated.

    In any case, the point remains: Gannett said, "Don't you silly workers fret none, you don't need none of those unions -- we're looking out for YOU!" Nope.

    In fact, NONE of the workplace conventions taken for granted and enjoyed today by ill-informed anti-unionists were the work of a corporation. How's the vacation pay, the 8-hour workday, etc., workin' out for you? Think that was a corporate idea? Think that's "socialist?" Thank the unions. It's your own country's history.

    If one doesn't like that, just ask the company to look out for your interests. Oh, wait. We did. How's that workin' out for everyone?

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  10. I'd love to see more union representation at Gannett. Management has made it abundantly clear that they can't be trusted to treat workers honestly or humanely. While unions have their own set of problems, it would be incredibly satisfying to walk out rather than submit to one more humiliating restructuring. Let management put out the paper and sell the ads!

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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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