Buy-Outs/Layoffs in the GCC/IBT Represented Los Angeles Times Pressrooms?
By Ronnie Pineda
I spoke with GCC/IBT Organizer, Marty Keegan this morning regarding the announced "CUTS" at our Newspaper, The Los Angeles Times, and he informed me that as soon as he was aware of the proposed cut's here, he contacted GCC/IBT Lawyers in Washington D.C.
According to Marty and the GCC/IBT Attorneys, "we are safe from any cut's and or lay-offs" for the simple fact that we won our Election for Union Representation, and any buyouts or layoffs are subject to collective bargaining. If management wishes to offer buy-out's in our shops, they must negotiate the terms of the buy-out first. Any arbitrary actions taken by the Company without Union Representation for any involved Pressroom Employees will be grounds for unfair labor practice charges to be filed against the company. A "Buy-Out" is nothing more than a "Layoff" which results in staffing reductions. Staffing levels are a main bargaining issue and are subject to collective bargaining.
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Monday, April 23, 2007
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4 comments:
Don’t you get it??? You don’t have anything at this point in time!
You don’t have a contract, your not part of the “Employee Voluntary Separation Program” that was offered to the people that you work with, you have nothing in writing, you have “negotiated” nothing, you have no “collective bargaining agreement”, your wages and benefits are frozen, you have not “negotiated” to be part of the new ESOP program, and by the end of the year you will have a new owner that just may be tougher than your current company owners when it come to negotiations, and you are at the mercy of a bunch of lawyers on both sides of the table.
Do you really think that with what is going down that you have more protection than your fellow workers outside the pressroom unit?
The reality is that the “your” union is nothing more “than a bump in the road” for what Sam wants to accomplish!
And one last question....what happens if it is decided to outsource the printing of the paper?
Good job Ronnie in getting that information out. Apparently the last person to comment didnt read where you said the terms of the buyout have to be negotiated. The company does have the right to determine the size of their work force.
Sam Zell may be an intelligent person and I sincerely hope for all the Tribune workers, that his plans work out, but he is not above the law and I believe he will respect the negotiation process.
Anonymous 1, I believe David Hiller's letter to all the employees supported exactly what I wrote on our blog.
To answer your final question, and I'm not being smug, because anyone who really knows me can tell you that I don't get caught up in hypothetical questions, but I will say that I personally don't think that outsourcing our product is a consideration before this company at this time or will be in the near future.
Ronnie maybe you should look at this article and learn a little bit about your business and what’s going on in the real world. And by the way watch out for Singleton!
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003577579
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