Journal Sentinel Inc. is offering another round of buyouts to newsroom employees — the fourth in less than three years. And management negotiators have told the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild that the company could lay off an undetermined number of workers if not enough employees take the buyouts.
Managers declined to specify a target for job cuts, in either people or dollars, other than to say it would be substantially greater than either of the first two rounds of buyouts, which attracted more than 20 employees each. Guild leaders plan to continue pressing the company to tell us what the target is.
But if the buyouts fall short of whatever the target turns out to be, layoff notices could go out in late July or early August for downsizing to take effect Oct. 1. That’s the earliest anyone could be laid off, under the limited no-layoff guarantee we received in exchange for our 6.6% wage cut, and the earliest that notices could go out, under the 60-day notice provision of the current contract.
During negotiations last week, union and company representatives agreed on the following buyout terms:
- The buyout will be open to both full-timers and part-timers in our unit.
- Departing employees would be paid two weeks of severance for each year of service, with no cap.
- Full-timers with 15 or more years of service would receive an additional 10 weeks of severance pay. At the Guild’s urging, the company also agreed to provide an additional five weeks of pay to full-timers with less than 15 years of service and part-timers with more than 15 years in, and an additional three weeks of pay to part-timers who have worked here for less than 15 years.
- Severance will be payable in a lump sum.
- All full-timers who leave would be eligible for the COBRA health care extension authorized by the federal stimulus legislation, and all employees taking the buyout would get outplacement aid.
- Applications will be taken until 8 p.m. July 27. As in the past, the company can reject applications. In most cases, those accepted would leave by July 29, although some people could stay later.
By comparison, the current contract calls for two weeks of severance pay for each year of service, with no cap, plus 60 days’ notice or 60 days’ pay. (60 days would be 8.5 weeks of pay.) The federal COBRA extension is available to everyone who is either laid off or who takes a buyout to save their co-workers from being laid off. Outplacement aid is also guaranteed by contract.
Management is seeking to weaken our job security protections in the next contract. Their negotiators indicated that they will broaden their assault to include an unspecified reduction in our seniority provisions, in addition to seeking to reduce severance from two weeks per year to one week, and to provide the 60 days’ notice only when required by law.
But company representatives agreed that any layoffs this fall will be governed by the current rules regardless of whether we agree to something different in the next contract and regardless of whether we sign the next contract by then. That means everyone who gets laid off would get the two weeks per year of pay and 60 days’ notice, and the layoffs would be governed by the current seniority rules.
The Guild has distributed flyers with more information about the buyout and will hold two question-and-answer sessions next week to help employees trying to decide whether to take the buyout.
As in the past, anyone who is considering the buyout should keep in touch with Guild President Greg Pearson. Please let him know whether you are considering the buyout, whether you have actually applied, whether you were accepted and whether you were rejected. Your names will be kept confidential.
Also last week, management negotiators presented a comprehensive revised proposal that did not include wages. It did include their long-awaited vacation proposal, which seeks to force employees hired after 1995 to pay the company back if they leave after taking more vacation than they earned under the “earn-as-you-go” accrual system. Our current contract says nobody can be forced to pay back anything in a case like that.
The company team also indicated it will seek a new system for paying workers to be “on call” at certain times, and will press for the right to hire interns who are compensated in academic credit rather than pay. They did not present details on either proposal. We also discussed provisions dealing with union jurisdiction, job postings and interns.
The next bargaining sessions are set for Wednesday and Thursday.