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December 14, 2006
Hard Day's Night
Wednesday night's informational session dragged on for more than three hours, during which the Newspaper Guild's negotiators suffered through the sorry task of explaining a deal they clearly found difficult to accept.
For now, here is Guild spokesman Stu Bykofsky's recap. We'll have more details later.
GUILD EXPLAINS CONTRACT TO MEMBERS IN MARATHON MEETING
The fireworks that some expected never materialized last night at a Guild meeting that lasted from 7 p.m. until 10:20 p.m. The meeting was somber as a funeral, as some hard-won benefits won over decades were given the last rites as a dozen members of the Guild negotiating team, and leadership, expressed bitterness about a contract they are forced to recommend to members.
More than 200 members attended. The Guild has some 900 members.
Guild leaders patiently answered questions about editorial and advertising rules, seniority, the pension, sick leave and other issues. Members were more mournful than mad, and they applauded the efforts of negotiators who have put in endless hours over the course of many days to come up with a contract that they themselves termed a "bitter pill." A few shed tears last night by the end of the meeting.
Several Guild members strongly questioned aspects of the contract and asked about the ramifications of rejecting it at a ratification meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at Temple Rodeph Shalom, 615 N. Broad St.
"This is not 1985," said Inquirer-Daily News Unit Chair Diane Mastrull, in reference to a 46-day strike, the longest in the papers' history. There is no guarantee of jobs "when we put down those picket signs."
The contract's only improvements, which Mastrull termed "minor," came for the Suburban Writers and Photographers unit. Members in that unit are paid less for the same work as members in the main unit.
Addressing the members, Mastrull said, "you can be angry" and cited a "sense of betrayal" the Guild feels about the publisher, but the Guild's bottom line was "to save jobs."
"Be angry, be disgusted, but direct it at people who overpaid for these papers so we have to bail them out."
Local President Henry Holcomb said the recommended, disagreeable contract, provides a foundation on which the Guild can build when business improves in the newspaper industry.
Posted by steve at December 14, 2006 01:08 AM
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