December 18, 2006
No Confidence, No Faith, No Stomach
Guild members apparently couldn't stand the thought of just voting yes tonight on the contract agreement they reached with the papers' owners. They also passed another motion, declaring No Confidence in the owners' desire to publish great newspapers.
The Guild memo Stu Bykofsky just sent out has all the details.
NEWSPAPER GUILD RATIFIES CONTRACT BY A 498-69 VOTE
A new three-year contract was ratified by members of Local 10 of The Newspaper Guild, by a 498-69 vote.
The final vote was announced after 9 p.m., at the end of a meeting that started at 7 p.m.
At the start of the meeting, Diane Mastrull, chair of the Inquirer-Daily News unit, with some 900-plus members, recommended members accept the “unanimous vote of the bargaining committee” for approval.
There were some 200 members present at the peak of the meeting, held in Temple Rodeph Shalom on North Broad Street. Some 275 members, who were unable to attend the meeting, voted by absentee ballot. A total of 567 ballots were cast.
Speaking about the contract, Mastrull said, “it could have been far worse.”
After her recommendation the floor was open for comments and questions. Thirteen members spoke, a majority of them having questions about pension provisions in the contract. Only one speaker directly urged rejection of the contract
After the questions subsided and a motion was approved to start the vote, another motion was presented, and approved after some debate.
That motion “instructs the Local 10 Executive Board to discuss - and pass -- a resolution saying the following:
“1- Because of their tight-fisted, slash-and-burn, anti-labor tactics, we have NO CONFIDENCE in the new owners’ actual desire to publish great newspapers
“2- Because of the new owners’ recent record of poor business decisions, which includes hiring executives while promising layoffs of union workers, we have NO FAITH in their desire to treat employees with fairness and dignity
“3- Because of the yawning chasm between what the new owners promised and what they now are delivering, we have NO STOMACH to hear any more of their cheerful prattle.
“For the new owners we have
“No Confidence,
“No Faith,
“No Stomach.”
An amendment, which was accepted, asked that the new owners be mentioned by name.
Posted by steve at December 18, 2006 09:24 PM
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