In the last week, the company has turned more acrimonious in its negotiations with the Guild. The company continues to demand a 15% wage cut in the first year of the contract, followed by a 5% cut the second year and 5% cut the third year. They still insist on eliminating retiree health care and are demanding huge concessions on seniority.

We are now meeting twice a week with the company and a federal mediator is sitting in on negotiations. Things have gotten more serious.

Despite numerous tentative agreements, roughly a dozen on various individual items in the contract, we are concerned that the company may soon move to declare impasse. This belief is based on a number of thinly-veiled threats the company has issued across the bargaining table.

Under federal law, if impasse is reached, the company could break off negotiations and make their “last, best and final” offer. The Guild would bring that offer, bad as it might be, to our members for a vote. This could happen quickly, within weeks if the company moves aggressively.

It would be fair to assume the company’s final offer would include many of the above poisonous provisions but would also include freezing the pension plan, eliminating the 401K contributions, and other bad deals for the members. Obviously, the Guild would not endorse the offer and it would likely be voted down by the members.

If their final offer is voted down, the company has two choices; return to the bargaining table and continue bargaining or impose the terms and conditions of their last, best and final offer.

If the company declares impasse, the Guild will file an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The Guild believes we are far from impasse. We have made steady progress through negotiations. The Guild has stated time and again at the bargaining table that we want to reach an agreement. And we do.

While we do not believe the company has a case for impasse, we could all end up working under imposed working conditions until the NLRB comes to a decision on our unfair labor practice charge.

A declaration of impasse by the company would allow the Guild to pursue a number of options to force the company back to the table. Those options include all forms of economic actions against the company. The Guild has laid the ground for a corporate campaign intended to broadly publicize the nature of our labor dispute and seek to enlist public support (advertisers, subscribers and the public at large).  Such a campaign would not be limited to just the Post-Dispatch but could include Lee Enterprises and other publications as well.  For strategic reasons we’d prefer not to reveal the details of the plan at this time.

The Guild continues to work diligently towards an agreement.

We want to paint a realistic picture of where we stand and what the stakes are. Now is the time to pay attention and get involved. This affects the future of all of us. More information will be released in a Ruffled Feather next week. We are also planning a unit meeting for later in February.

Great article on this at The Nation:

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/521020/unions_can_t_compete_with_corporate_campaign_cash

There’s an interesting thing occurring in quite a few papers around the country:  They are all printing the same LTE.  Read a report of it on a Gannett blog site:

http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/downside-of-eliminating-newsroom-jobs.html

Sмасиeems there are rumors circulating at the Post-Dispatch concerning negotiations.  Let me state plainly that, as of right now, Lee has not changed one iota from its initial wage proposal of a 15% cut in the first year, an additional 5% cut in the second year and another 5% cut in the third year.  They also have not changed any of their proposals regarding retiree health care (eliminate it), employee premiums percentages (raise them from 25% to 30%), pension (freeze it) and 401-K (eliminate the employer contribution).  So please disregard any rumors you may hear about economics; there’s nothing new to report right now.

Now, we DO have several tentative agreements on some issues – all of which were relatively minor and already announced (extra sick leave for newer members, more funeral leave, etc).  These rumors may be swirling because we are coming into economics; the most crucial – and difficult – part of the process.  Please understand that rumors are a common and unfortunate part of this process and be assured that we will report on changes as they occur.

Negotiations continue every Wednesday in the Guild’s office building.  In the meantime, keep in mind that our greatest strength is our solidarity.  Stay united and stay strong!

This afternoon I spoke with Astrid Garcia, VP of Human Resources at the Post-Dispatch, who confirmed that an error had occurred when processing the pension checks of current contract retirees and stated that, on Monday morning, those errors would be rectified.  According to Garcia, Lee Corporate was unsure of just how the error was made but was doing all they could to straighten it out as soon as possible.

Those whose pension checks were direct deposited will have the erroneously deducted amount deposited into their accounts on Tuesday.  And as for those who receive their checks by mail, there should be no glitch or interruption – since their checks had not yet been mailed and were due to go out on Monday.

Kudos to everyone for their quick action in contacting the Guild and a shout out to Bruce Benson and Astrid Garcia, both of P-D management, for giving up parts of their weekend as well and getting this thing straightened out.

The Guild office has been receiving reports from retirees who left under our current contract stating that their pension checks – like the pension checks of those who retired under our previous contract which expired in 2004 – have had their full medical premium amounts taken out.

This is not only a violation of our current agreement, but the fact that this action was taken without even a letter of notification to those affected retirees – and that nobody at the Post-Dispatch knew it was to occur or can give a plausible reason why it did – seems to suggest that it might be a giant mistake on the part of Lee Enterprises.  It wouldn’t be the first time that Lee Corporate screwed up and accidentally canceled benefits.  This office received many frantic calls from drugstore prescription counters when Lee first transitioned benefit administration from St. Louis to Davenport.  Until we know what’s happening for certain, let’s hope that’s the case again and try to not get too worked up.  If it’s not a mistake and it’s yet another assault by Lee on the long-held rights of our members, then I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that even more legal action will ensue.

In the meantime, I have been notified that P-D management will not be able to get to the bottom of this until Monday.  When that occurs, we will immediately post what we learn on this website and begin getting the information out to our retirees and disseminating it through our stewards network.  I’m sorry that I can’t give you any more information right now.    See you Monday.

Today, the Post-Dispatch withdrew it’s demand to eliminate the maternity/paternity leave that is currently provided in the Guild’s collective bargaining agreement; a proposal that would have meant that members get only the 12 unpaid weeks provided in the Family Medical Leave Act. The company’s reversal on this issue is a significant development and good news for our members and their families.  As we continue in our efforts to secure a fair and just contract, please remember that it is our solidarity as a local that is our source of strength and power and Local 47 wants to thank all those who attended our bargaining sessions earlier this year when such matters were discussed. Your commitment and solidarity made this possible. Happy New Year!

THE EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL

TERRY HUGHES

WRITING AWARD

SPONSORED BY THE ST. LOUIS NEWSPAPER GUILD

Terry Hughes was 36 when she died of breast cancer on July 22, 1991.  A columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, her writing was clear, witty and descriptive, with a flair for portraying society’s underdogs.  Some of her columns chronicled the bouts with cancer that she and others faced.  One column was credited with helping persuade the Missouri Legislature to approve a bill forcing insurers to pay for mammograms.

One of the many readers who wrote to the newspaper after her death described her work this way:  “Her columns were full of real life stories that touched us all and even changed our way of thinking or even our lives.”

The St. Louis Newspaper Guild has established a writing award in the name of Ms. Hughes.  The award is intended to honor a journalist whose writing shows the talent that she displayed.

Any journalist in the metropolitan St. Louis area who has written for a daily or weekly newspaper or for a magazine is eligible.  Online publications are eligible as well.

Single articles of extraordinary merit will be considered.  Preference will be given to entries of between three and ten articles that display the writer’s range of talent.

Articles must have been published in 2009.  There are no formal applications.  Anyone may submit a nomination by sending copies of articles to:

Terry Hughes Award Committee

St. Louis Newspaper Guild

1015 Locust Street

Suite 1040

St. Louis, MO  63101

The deadline for applications is January 15, 2010. The award will be presented at the Newspaper Guild’s annual dinner meeting on January 29, 2010.

Nearly 200 protesters showed up on a cold December morning to protest Lee Enterprise’s latest outrage: eliminating retiree health care.  Click on below to view some of the goings-on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuRKQgoi0mQ

To hear the following morning’s radio interview on the McGraw show, click on:

http://ktrs.com/mambots/content/wp_popup.php?playerID=1&soundFile=/images/media/audio/sduffy.mp3

KMOX published an article about the protest on their website:

http://www.kmox.com/pages/5900738.php?

And  finally…KSDK-TV led off their 6:00 p.m. news with it and their accompanying web story drew a couple dozen responses – almost all siding with the retirees.  Check out both at:

http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=191846

In an act of corporate greed, Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE), owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, is canceling company-paid health insurance for scores of retirees, the Newspaper Guild of St. Louis announced today.

Some couples will have to pay $1,574 per month to continue coverage under company plans.

The move affects about 100 retired Guild members, and dozens more management retirees. Many will lose their health coverage because they can’t afford the premiums.

The union expects Lee to cancel coverage for dozens of other retirees once the current union contract expires.

“Lee is trying to increase its profits on the backs of the sick and elderly. The greed and venality of this profitable corporation know no bounds,” said Shannon Duffy, business administrator for the union, which represents news and advertising employees at the paper.

While stiffing their retirees, executives of Lee continue to rake in cash for themselves. CEO Mary Junck received compensation worth $2.5 million in the 2008 fiscal year, according to the company proxy. Chief Financial Office Carl Schmidt was paid $1.2 million.

“For executives to enrich themselves while cutting health care for the elderly is morally repugnant,” said Duffy.

“Lee is reneging on a promise made to men and women who dedicated their working lives to the Post-Dispatch,” said Duffy. “That promise was explicit in union contracts.”

In many cases, company representatives repeated that promise personally to employees when they were considering retirement.

Guild members were promised company-paid health coverage for life. On the strength of that promise, many retired before becoming eligible for Medicare. They will now be forced to pay premiums as high as $1,161 a month for a husband and wife. In many cases, the premiums exceed their company pensions. Retirees on Medicare will lose their Lee supplementary health coverage completely.

The Newspaper Guild is already pursuing a law suit with the aim of forcing Lee to pay the full cost of retiree health coverage. That suit was filed months ago after Lee began requiring retirees to pay one third of coverage premiums.

“Lee Enterprises may abandon its retirees. Their union never will,” said Duffy.

Lee, based in Davenport, Iowa, owns 53 newspapers around the nation. The company reported a profit of $1.75 million in the September quarter, which marked the low point of the recession. The Post-Dispatch also makes a hefty profit in the form of positive cash flow for Lee.

The company notified retirees of its decision in letters dated Dec. 4. They will lose their health insurance subsidy on Jan. 1.

Retirees will demonstrate outside the Post-Dispatch building, 900 North Tucker Boulevard in downtown St. Louis, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 15.