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51: January 2007
Salaries increase with start of new year Salaries increase with start of new yearMost of you started 2007 with a bit more cash in your paycheck, thanks to the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild contract. Effective Dec. 31, wages rose 1.5% for every bargaining-unit member who had been on the payroll at least three months. Those raises should have shown up on the second paycheck in January. At the same time, minimum wage scales rose by 2.5% in most pay classifications and by slightly more in a few classifications. (That's up from a 2% boost in most minimums in each of the first two years of the 2005-’08 contract.) Each worker received either the across-the-board raise or an increase to the new minimum, whichever is greater. For full-time journalists, the new minimums are $800 a week at the first step (less than three years in the business); $922 a week at the second step (at least three years' experience); $1,027 a week at the third step (at least four years at the second step or six years at the Journal Sentinel); and $1,187 a week for senior journalists. For part-time editorial assistants, the new minimums are $12.54 an hour at the first step (less than two years’ experience) and $14.04 an hour at the second step (at least two years’ experience). Also up are night differential, to 75 cents an hour (or $6 for an eight-hour shift), and weekend differential, to 80 cents an hour (or $6.40 for an eight-hour shift). Retiree benefits grievance filed; pension case continuesThe Guild continues to meet with the company over two grievances filed in the last few months of 2006 that involve changes in the pension plan and retiree health benefits. In both cases, the Guild is arguing that changes were made without negotiations with us. Also, in both cases, benefits were taken away from at least some members of our bargaining unit. In the case of the retiree health benefits, the company’s changes sent out so tastefully on the day before Thanksgiving dropped retiree health benefits for employees who were under 50 as of Dec. 31, 2006. The Guild has grieved, and talks are pending. In the case of the pension, new employees those hired after May 1, 2006 and non-vested part-timers those who have been here less than five years were not given a choice of whether to stay in the old plan or shift into the new plan. They were automatically switched into the new, 401(k)-like plan. Some members might have wanted to change anyway, but the Guild wants everyone to have a chance to decide. We have asked for information from the company to find out how many people switched to the new pension offering. Don’t forget to use TVA, vacationAh, a warm breeze, soft sand, an ocean of waves splashing over your toes. Let’s talk vacation, both the regular kind and those pesky TVAs. Here’s some advice on your regular allotment of days off. Don’t forget to take your vacation all of it. As often happens, the end of the year can be crammed with folks trying to squeeze in their last vacation days before Jan. 1 arrives. As you probably know, we operate under a policy of “use them or lose them” on vacations. Days not used by the end of the year are not usually rolled over into the new year. This year seemed to find more people than normal who were in a position of possibly losing days. If you have unused vacation, let your boss know earlier, rather than later, about the situation. Supervisors should let employees know if they have a pile of vacation left, but as we all know, some bosses are better than others at the organizational part of the job. The contract also allows bosses to start assigning days off for unused vacation as of Nov. 1. Nobody wants to see that happen. Make sure you’re keeping close count of your vacation days so you don't lose out when Dec. 31 rolls around. The Transitional Vacation Accounts are available to anyone hired after the merger folks who are now under an earn-as-you-go vacation policy. To make up for the switch to that system, the contract established the TVAs, which are extra vacation weeks to be taken by 2011. We urge everyone to keep close tabs on their TVA weeks both how many you've used and how many you have left. The total of TVA weeks you received at the start of the program was equal to the number of vacation weeks you had in 2006. (Someone with three weeks of vacation in 2006 would have received three weeks of TVA.) Again, supervisors should let employees know how much TVA they have left. But it's a good idea to keep track of this as well. Confused? Unsure of how this affects you? Wondering what in the world a TVA is? Talk to your steward, a steward leader or a Guild board member. Help save the Star, preserve civic identity
The people of Peoria are rising up to say: Don't let that happen here! The Journal Star has been an important part of the Peoria community for more than 150 years. It is owned by David Copley. Admittedly, I've been envious over the years when I would hear former Peoria Guild President Dayna Brown talk about what a great working relationship the Guild had with the company's management. Contract talks at the Journal Star took three days. Seriously three days. Brown would say the actual talks would take only one day, and the rest was friendly chit-chat. By comparison, our most recent negotiations took 18 months. Please take a few minutes to visit the Web site, www.savethejournalstar.com. You will see the appeal from people in the community, saying that the newspaper is important to the civic identity. I strongly encourage you to sign the online petition and send a letter. I already have signed the petition, and I plan to write a letter. On the Web site, there is a plea to Journal Star owner David Copley: “Continue to be a steward of first-rate journalism and civic responsibility. Sell only to a buyer who recognizes the common good that journalistic excellence represents.” So the message to potential buyers is: If you're interested in taking over the Journal Star for profit and not to continue the strong journalistic ethics, it isn’t going play in Peoria. |
