Newsletter of the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild
Spring social
Whether you’re a Wayne or a Garth, now is the time to party on.
Join the Guild during its next social on thirsty Thursday, April 21. We’ll eat and imbibe at Ale Asylum, 1110 N. Old World 3rd St. Depending on the weather, we can camp out on the north deck and enjoy some sun.
The party starts at 5:30 and runs to 7:30. Members and nonmembers alike are welcome to attend.
If you have any questions, see social chair Katie O’Connell.
Journal Sentinel now part of Gannett
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is under new ownership for the second time in a year, and is now owned for the first time by a company based outsideMilwaukee and Wisconsin.
Gannett on April 8 finalized the purchase of Journal Media Group Inc. after antitrust regulators completed their review of the deal on April 7.
The $297 million deal combines the Journal Sentinel and 14 other dailies in JMG with Gannett, owner of USA Today and 92 other dailies — including 10 in Wisconsin.
The acquisition is part of the transformation of the newspaper industry,which has been losing historically important print advertising revenue as consumers and advertisers migrate to the internet. A key focus for Gannett is to offer digital news and advertising formats across a national USA Today Network.
The acquisition of the Journal Sentinel by Gannett, based in McLean, Va., marks the first time the news organization and its leading predecessor, The Milwaukee Journal, won’t have its corporate headquarters in Milwaukee. TheMilwaukee Sentinel was founded in 1837 and later was owned by the Hearst Corp. The Journal was started in 1882. The Journal bought the Sentinel from Hearst Corp. in 1962 and the newsrooms merged to form the Journal Sentinel in 1995.
The deal brings with it plenty of uncertainty, particularly given Gannett’s operational focus to use regional design hubs to design pages for its print editions. At meetings on April 11, Gannett news executives said no decisions have been made regarding a potential shift to regional design desks for Journal MediaGroup papers.
At the same time, for the newsroom two provisions of the merger agreement should be noted:
Collective bargaining: Gannett agreed to honor contracts for Milwaukee News•paper Guild Local 51 and other unions at the Journal Sentinel, as well as JMG papers in Tennessee. The Guild’s contract with theJournal Sentinel expires at the end of this year.
Newsroom staffing levels: Under a separate provision, Gannett committed not to cut newsroom staffing levels at JMG papers for one year — beginning at the time the deal closed, or April 8, 2016. The specific language commits to “maintain the editorial staffing levels” in place at the time of the merger “in all newsrooms of Journal MediaGroup and its subsidiaries.”
The Journal Sentinel is part of the West division of Gannett, with Publisher Betsy Brenner reporting to Indianapolis-based West President Karen Ferguson Fuson. Fuson referenced the commitment on newsroom jobs, saying staffing levels would remain in place for “at least a year.”
A “Milwaukee team” created by Gannett will be visiting the Journal Sentinel in the weeks ahead. Team members include the editors in Cincinnati and Asbury Park, N.J., as well as the VP of GannettWisconsin’s 10 newspapers.
Gannett news executives talked about focusing on top-notch journalism as well as innovation. Joanne Lipman, chief content officer, highlighted their “relentless focus on video, social and mobile.” They also cited the planned introduction by Gannett of the first “virtual reality” news program, now in the works.
Guild to provide training courses
The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild will offer professional development training for members in the coming months.
The Guild intends to offer this training at no cost with the help of a national service provided by Communication Workers of America. The training likely will be a mix of in-person and online tutorials.
The Guild started by surveying members who work in print design, graphics and copy editing. Survey results indicated these employees are most interested in learning best practices of online production, social media, search engine optimization and digital content creation.
That information was turned over to a CWA representative who is working to identify qualified instructors and relevant course materials. This process may take more than a month.
Opportunities for other parts of the newsroom are in development.
Make sure Dayforce is working for you
Dayforce, our new payroll system, rolled out with a few bumps and surprises in December. And though newsroom management and human resources staff members have been responsive to problems we’ve reported, not all of the issues have been worked out.
Here’s a rundown of problems and what you need to do to make sure you’re getting what you’re owed:
Differentials: Nearly all bargaining unit members are receiving their night ($.80/hour) and weekend ($.85/hour) differentials automatically as promised.
To get these differentials, your timesheet must reflect hours that fall within that time frame. If your manager is preloading a Monday through Friday daytime schedule for you, you must make edits so your timesheet reflects the actual hours you worked to get the money you’re owed.
Production differentials ($.70/hour) have been an especially tricky fix for certain job titles, and it seems to have become a long-term solution for some to calculate them manually.
If you worked a shift that qualifies for production differentials and that is not reflected in Dayforce when you preview your pay, email your manager a reminder of the shifts that qualify and the total amount you’re owed.
Substitution pay: All substitution pay must be reported to your manager, and s/he will have to manually enter it. It doesn’t appear there will be efforts to automate this, so please keep track of what you’re owed and check it against what you’re paid.
Vacations: Requests for time off need to be entered in Dayforce. The projected annual vacation totals should now be up to date. If your total does not jibe with what you’re owed, contact HR.
If you (or your manager) have questions about Dayforce, please contact Nicole Simmons in HR.
If you have questions on differentials and substitution pay, you can find more information in our contract or by speaking to a Guild board member.
Guild offers lifetime status for former members
The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild has established a Lifetime Membership category.
The main purpose behind this is simply to reconnect with former members. The Journal Sentinel has seen scores of departures over the last eight years. So many longtime colleagues in theGuild have become disconnected from each other, and from those still in the Guild.
We’ve made a lot of history together, and the dwindling employment numbers at the JournalSentinel have left a void in the ability to share all those experiences. We want to restore that personal connection.
Those who sign up for the Lifetime Membership get access to the Guild newsletter and all member social functions.
The cost is a one-time fee of $100.
Beyond the social aspect of the reconnection, we in the Guild also may find it beneficial to tap the expertise and activism of former members as we face an increasingly difficult future. But mainly, we just want to provide an outlet where all of us can again swap stories, commiserate, laugh, share a beer — in other words, just have fun.
Anyone with questions about this new category should contact treasurer Bob Friday.
New leadership elected to executive board
The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild has filled some positions on its executive board.
Emily Ristow is the new second vice president, replacing Zeina Makky. Ristow previously served on the board.
Ben Steele and Katie O’Connell have been elected to at-large board positions, with O’Connell also taking over as social chair. Steele is also a steward leader.
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to approach any of these board members. And welcome them to their new positions.
UWM student to receive Don Walker Scholarship
A University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee journalism student has been selected to receive the inaugural Don Walker Memorial Scholarship.
Jakayla Phillips, a junior, was chosen by UWM officials based on criteria developed by the scholarship committee and the Walker family. She will receive a $1,000 scholarship for use during the2016-2017 academic year.
Phillips has a 3.6 GPA and has produced radio, print and online pieces for the UWM Post and Media Milwaukee.
She won a regional Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence award for a moving audio story on her brother, who was murdered in Milwaukee. In her scholarship essay, Phillips described how her brother’s death made her turn to writing to overcome her obstacles.
“For some people, journalistic writing may just be a hobby or a way to report current events,” she wrote. “However, for me, it is more than a hobby;writing is my life.”
The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild Local 51 is a leadership sponsor of the Don Walker Memorial Scholarship. Guild President Tom Silverstein said the union is “thrilled” with Phillips’ selection.
“Journalism was Don’s passion, and one of his strengths was a commitment to cover our entire community, no matter how difficult the subject,”Silverstein said. “Jakayla has already accepted that same responsibility and is clearly deserving of a scholarship bearing Don’s name.”
The Milwaukee Press Club Endowment, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation affiliated with theMilwaukee Press Club, is administering finances for the scholarship. The Press Club established a matching grant of up to$10,000 to help double donations to certain scholarships within in the endowment, including the Walker fund. Matching funds are still available.
“We’re delighted to have Jakayla Phillips as the first Don Walker Scholar and thank all who contributed to this effort to honor the legacy of this extraordinary journalist,” said Jim Nelson, president of the MPC Endowment Board. “The generosity and enthusiasm shown by so many people and groups — like Local 51 — will help young journalists for years to come.”
The scholarship also benefited from a leadership contribution from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where Walker worked for nearly four decades.
“After seeing what Jakayla Phillips has done, at the very start of her career, I can’t think of a better recipient for the first Don Walker Memorial Scholarship,” said editor George Stanley.
Sue Walker, Don’s wife, thanked all those who have donated to the scholarship fund.
“Jakayla Phillips is so deserving and clearly shares the passion Don had for writing and capturing the essence of the story,” she said. “It is wonderful to be able to help her pursue her goals asa writer and clearly there is a theme of triumph over tragedy.”
More than 100 people have made contributions to the scholarship fund, and more than $50,000 has been raised. For more information or to donate, visit donwalkerscholarship.org.
We can keep the Journal Sentinel strong
From the president
There are some things over which you and your union have no control.
We couldn’t prevent the formation of Journal Media Group and the disgusting financial heist chairman of the board Steve Smith and CEO Tim Stautberg were able to
pull off. And we couldn’t prevent Gannett’s subsequent purchase of JMG, the latter of which became official on April 8.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is no longer locally owned and, sadly, we and our readers have to accept it.
Nevertheless, the heart and soul of the Journal Sentinel — its reporters, copy editors, designers, photographers, producers, editors and graphic artists — are the same and will be for at least a year. Gannett has promised both in an SEC document and in meetings with Journal Sentinel employees that it will not reduce staffing levels for at least that long.
What also will remain is our obligation to influence the type of journalismJournal Sentinel readers have come to expect. Gannett’s leaders have said they will have open minds about how they view our operation and its integration into their company, so it is incumbent upon us to demand high journalistic standards.
It’s important we stress this in discussions with Gannett officials and not be afraid to express to them our vision of how the Journal Sentinel can succeed. Bargaining unit members don’t have the final say in editorial decisions, but we influence them with our work, our ideas and our commitment.
At the same time, it’s going to be vitally important that we grow as journalists and develop all the skills necessary to be in step with all the digitally related changes we’re seeing in the business. We have to evolve along with the business.
To that end, the Guild is doing everything it can to help.
As detailed in this newsletter, the Guild is preparing to offer locally held classes that will help you become more familiar with advancements in the digital landscape.These classes are aimed at making you more valuable in the newsroom at a time when there’s so much uncertainty about what Gannett intends to do.
Gannett is also going to offer training in some of these areas, and I highly recommend that we take advantage of both resources. We hope our classes will fill any voids in the education of our members and also allow us to discuss journalistic standards that should go hand-in-hand with digital advances.
We will keep you informed about what we’re offering and when it will be available.
The Guild also will be pressing management to give people opportunities to use the new skills they learn inside the newsroom. You should do the same thing. Let’s not wait for management to put us in a position for on-the-job training; let’s pressure them to do it right away.
As we go through this transition, remember that the Guild has worked extremely hard at unifying the newsroom so that when our membership speaks management can’t help but listen. We have to continue to uphold the standard of journalism we’ve created and make sure no position is considered disposable.
Those are things we can control.