Newsletter of the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild

Membership meeting

WHEN: Noon Wednesday, March 7
WHERE: Turner Hall
AGENDA: Bargaining and mobilizing updates. Lunch will be served.

United we bargain. Divided we beg

It’s your union. Join us!

Now more than ever, the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild needs your membership and participation. To find out more, talk to a Guild representative.

Execs’ severance cited in bargaining

Are three top executives worth more than 100 journalists?

If you go by severance pay, it appears that Journal Communications Inc. believes the answer is “yes.”

An analysis by the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild shows the combined cost of the cash components of the “golden parachutes” for Chief Executive Officer Steve Smith, President Andre Fernandez and Journal Sentinel Publisher Betsy Brenner would be almost $5.2 million.

That would exceed the cost of severance and notice pay for downsizing three-quarters of our bargaining unit, under our current contract.

And if that disparity isn’t big enough already, consider this: In negotiations with the Guild, Journal Sentinel management is proposing to eliminate all severance and notice pay guarantees in the next contract. If we agreed to that, they could get rid of every single one of us without paying a penny, even though seven-figure severance packages would remain in place for the big bosses.

The Guild’s bargaining committee wants to keep our severance and notice package in place. We believe these figures are just one example of why that’s a reasonable proposal.

Let’s take a closer look at those numbers.

During an economic reduction in force, our contract guarantees us two weeks of severance pay for each year of service, plus 60 days’ notice or 60 days’ pay.

Based on the latest wage data supplied to the Guild, when our bargaining unit numbered 132, the combined cost of severance and notice pay for the entire unit would be more than $6.5 million.

We are not guaranteed any company- paid health care after termination, although sometimes that has been part of buyout packages, and the contract requires the company to offer us buyouts before it turns to involuntary cuts.

Top executives don’t get laid off, of course, so the closest comparison would be the payments they get in case they lose their jobs as a result of a “change in control,” such as a sale of the company.

Under those circumstances, Smith would get three years of salary, three years of his target bonus and three years of the company paying all premiums for his medical and dental care, for a total of more than $3 million, according to the spring 2011 proxy, the latest information available.

Fernandez and Brenner would each get two years of salary, two years of bonuses and two years of medical and dental care, which came out to $964,638 for Fernandez (when he was only chief financial officer, before his recent promotion to president) and $1.2 million for Brenner.

That doesn’t even include their stock options and extra-sweet executive pensions. If those items are included, the proxy valued Smith’s total payout at nearly $7.7 million, or $1.2 million more than the entire bargaining unit.

Now some might argue that this is not a fair comparison. After all, executive pay is much higher than ours to begin with. In 2010, the proxy says, Smith was paid $1.24 million in salary and cash bonuses, or more than 19 times average newsroom pay.

So let’s look at it on a proportional basis. Three years of pay is 156 weeks. Smith’s target bonus is 65% of salary, so three years of that is 101.4 weeks, for a total of 257.4 weeks of pay.

Factoring in our 8.5 weeks of notice pay, we would have to work here almost 125 years to get proportionally the same severance as the CEO.

Similarly, for Fernandez and Brenner, two years of pay is 104 weeks. Their target bonuses are 55% of salary, meaning two years of bonuses would be 57.2 weeks, for a total of 161.2 weeks of pay.

Again, factoring in our 8.5 weeks of notice pay, we would have to work here more than 76 years to get proportionally the same severance as either of those two executives.

But management negotiators dismissed these comparisons, claiming top executives need hefty severance packages because they would have a hard time finding similar jobs.

Besides job security, numerous topics were discussed at bargaining sessions Nov. 16, Dec. 15 and Feb. 14, but we reached only one tentative agreement, a technical change in posting language. Scheduling conflicts prevented a meeting in January. Future bargaining sessions are set for Feb. 27, March 5-6 and March 28.

Our contract was scheduled to expire Dec. 31, but it remains in force during negotiations, under the automatic extension or “evergreen” clause.

Schumacher, Amur take new posts

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild’s Executive Board has named John Schumacher as treasurer and Jenn Amur as an at-large board member.

Both appointments are good only until the March 7 membership meeting, when Guild members will vote on who should fill those seats through the Sept. 30 end of the term.

Both vacancies result from Bob Helbig’s Feb. 1 departure from the treasurer’s post. Helbig, a former Journal Sentinel deputy business editor, took a buyout last fall but remained a Guild member and agreed to continue in office during the transition to a new treasurer.

Schumacher, a copy editor, was picked to be that new treasurer. He was elected as an at-large board member in September and later was appointed as health and safety coordinator. He previously served as a steward.

Amur, a JSOnline producer, was chosen to fill Schumacher’s board seat. She has served as the Guild’s human rights coordinator since October.

Helbig is a former local president who was our longest-serving treasurer, racking up nearly eight years in three non-consecutive stints. His most recent tour of duty started in May, when he traded his at-large board seat with then-Treasurer Amy Hetzner, a former metro reporter who later took a buyout.

In addition to his time as treasurer, Helbig served four terms as president, one term as vice president, one term as a steward leader and two full terms and one partial term as an at-large board member. He also helped bargain several contracts and served as our wage data coordinator.

Separately, the board has named investigative reporter Gina Barton as Good & Welfare Committee chair.

Barton, who had been a committee member, replaced Amy Rabideau Silvers, a metro reporter who left the newspaper to take another job. Silvers, a former board member, was the first person to chair the committee, created last spring.

Guild members donate $2,000 to United Way

After years without a pay raise — and laboring under a wage cut that has yet to be fully restored — the Journal Sentinel newsroom staff has few illusions about the generosity of Journal Communications executives (except toward themselves in the form of ample bonuses).

Some Guild members saw contributing money to the company’s United Way campaign, an annual display of top executives’ fundraising prowess, as enabling their hypocrisy.

So Local 51 launched its own campaign — and raised more than $2,000 for United Way of Greater Milwaukee. The Guild made clear that it was not boycotting the United Way, just offering an alternative way of giving.

The Guild’s move did not go unnoticed. A day after Steward Leader Russ Maki picked up collection forms, he got a call from United Way CEO Mary Lou Young, who said she had notified board member and Journal Sentinel Vice President Hugh McGarry of our philanthropic plans.

Thanks to a few press releases, the Jan. 26 issue of the Milwaukee Labor Press included a section titled “Guild dumps JS as way to give” in its article on organized labor’s role in the successful United Way campaign. A brief item also appeared on Milwaukee Magazine’s Pressroom Buzz blog.

The campaign was more than a protest. For some contributors, it was the first time in years they had given to the Milwaukee United Way campaign. So the Guild not only made a statement, it helped out others in need.

Grievance filed over multimedia photographer job

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild has filed a grievance over the January posting of a multimedia photographer position.

We filed this grievance because the job was posted just a few months after a photographer who did multimedia work was laid off for economic reasons.

This action in no way reflects any opposition to the Journal Sentinel’s effort to expand its online and multimedia efforts. Taking such a step is important to all of our futures.

The Guild has no problem with any of the other multimedia positions that have been recently posted or filled. What the grievance does reflect is a company telling an employee it can no longer afford him, and then deciding that it has the money to create and fill a similar position.

Economic downsizings are supposed to be just that — cutting positions the company feels it can no longer afford. Those layoffs are not meant to be a convenient way to re-create similar positions while saying goodbye to longtime, dedicated employees.

Guild invites Santa, not Scrooge

Revelers enjoy the Guild’s holiday party at Buck Bradley’s.
Revelers enjoy the Guild’s holiday party at Buck Bradley’s.

The Guild wasn’t about to let the holidays go by unnoticed after a year full of Scrooges, so Local 51 threw a holiday bash Dec. 8 at Buck Bradley’s to put newsroom employees in a more festive mood.

Turnout was strong for the buffet dinner event, complete with dessert provided by two of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize winners, Mark Johnson and Kathleen Gallagher.

Party planner Jan Uebelherr upped the ante with door prizes this year, and Santa made a guest appearance, offering treats for young guests.

The Guild also bought appetizer platters for the people who were working shifts on Dec. 24 and 25.

Guild honors Cuprisin

In his remarks to holiday party-goers, President Tom Silverstein also paid tribute to the late Tim Cuprisin, a longtime member and Journal Sentinel reporter and columnist. The Executive Board has voted to contribute $200 toward a scholarship fund in Cuprisin’s name.

It’s time we make our frustration known

Tom Silverstein
Tom Silverstein

From the president

Many times, words cannot describe my astonishment at how easy it is for Journal Communications executives to write us off as though their contribution to the survival of the Journal Sentinel counts and ours doesn’t. 

How else do you explain the audacity of the company’s union-busting, hired gun attorney asking us to give up our guarantee of two weeks severance for every year served?

After all, CEO Steve Smith and Publisher Betsy Brenner have guaranteed severance packages ranging from $3 million to $7.7 million for Smith and $1.2 million to $1.8 million for Brenner. That doesn’t seem to follow the shared sacrifice ideal we continually hear about from management.

Severance is just one area where the company would prefer we give up everything Local 51 has fought for in more than 25 years of existence. They would like pay and benefits to be consistent throughout the company when it pays off for them and flexible when it doesn’t.

Again, this kind of treatment often leaves me speechless.

Even as the company rolls out a much-awaited online pay platform — with our people providing the thorough and constant material necessary to make JS Everywhere work — we rarely see any kind of letup in management’s disregard for newsroom morale.

Whether it’s laying off an employee for so-called economic reasons and then posting the same job three months later, or ensuring that the most recent downsizing didn’t include a single manager, it’s just a sign of no respect.

Sometimes you wonder if management is not listening or is just clueless.

That’s why I’m asking everyone to help us communicate the frustration and lack of appreciation bottling up inside as management tries to strip us of several long- held, collectively bargained provisions in our contract. Surely a company that can restore the compensation of its top executives well above what they earned when they took a 6% pay cut in 2009 can restore the full 6.6% we took back then.

Let’s get our message across loud and clear.

For those who aren’t aware, our 6.6% committee has started a slogan contest that I hope will help us find a voice inside the Journal Sentinel. You can submit your slogans through the Guild Facebook page or you can pass them on to me or other Guild leaders in person.

If your slogan is used during our campaign, you’ll win a $25 gift card.

If you don’t have a slogan to contribute, you can still help. Soon you will see desk tents, buttons, screen savers and posters around the newsroom that will spread our message.

Union members have every right to place such things on their desks and computers, and this won’t be the first time that we’ve done it. What matters most is that you participate. When asked to place these messages at your workstation, remember one thing: We can’t get the word out if we remain speechless.