Newsday union meets with management to discuss contract rejection

Press release

Newsday union meets with management to explain 473-10 vote against proposed contract

January 26, 2010, Melville, NY – Local 406 executive board members met with Newsday management today to discuss the results of the Sunday's contract vote in which union members rejected a proposed contract 473 to 10 with 90 percent of the eligible members voting.

The union acknowledges that the newspaper industry is facing unprecedented challenges. Newsday executives say the company is hurting financially, and Local 406 stands ready to help.

"We are willing as in the past to assist Newsday in obtaining a stable financial footing," union officials said in a statement released today. "But in doing so, it should be a true partnership between the company and its workers, one that recognizes the hard work of the company's truck drivers, press operators, electronic pre-press workers, platemakers, maintenance workers, reporters, editors and photographers."

As Local 406 heads back into talks with the company, it will have help from its parent Graphic Communications Conference / International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

GCC / IBT president George Tedeschi, based in Washington, D.C., has said he will be present to assist Local 406 in all future discussions. Newsday and the union have tentatively agreed to meet again early next month. "If Newsday is serious about resolving its financial problems, it should be willing to work in partnership with the union and not dictate company edicts," Tedeschi said.

As Sunday's overwhelming vote demonstrates, Local 406 of the GCC/IBT believes Newsday's initial proposal fell far short of achieving that balance for the following reasons:

- Changes in language governing seniority and buyout provisions appeared to make it easier for Newsday to cut jobs – not preserve them, as a Newsday spokeswoman suggested.
* It lowered salaries by 10 percent to 15 percent.
* It lengthened the work week from 35 to 40 hours with no additional pay.
* It reduced paid vacation time by up to one week.
* It cut by 20 percent the mileage reimbursement for driving to assignments.

These, along with numerous other items, added up to nearly a 25-percent cut in the hourly wage for some employees.

Union officials pointed out that while it is true that other unions have made concessions recently at financially troubled papers, Newsday is located in the New York City metropolitan area where no newspaper has made such cuts.

"Newsday workers will not give up everything in exchange for nothing," union officials said. "Local 406 is not blind to the problems of the company and the industry, but Newsday's response was disproportionate to those challenges. We look forward to seeking an amicable resolution to this situation."

SOURCE: Poynter Online