Newsletter of the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild

Company shares quarterly data, updates

The first quarter’s state of the company meeting on April 2 came just a few days after the latest voluntary separation program for employees was announced. We learned that Journal Sentinel Inc. isn’t necessarily in trouble, but after a difficult winter with lower sales, the company wanted to preempt financial issues by offering buyouts.

Management also touted the company’s latest rebranding and new logo, which was released with a relaunch of Journal Communications’ website.

An employee-driven task force was in charge of organizing this quarter’s meeting after feedback from a companywide survey indicated that employees would like more involvement.

The newsroom’s representation featured sports reporter Gary D’Amato presenting “A Day in the Life of a Reporter.” D’Amato talked about his trip to Russia to cover the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and why such coverage is important to Journal Sentinel readers.

Assistant entertainment editor Chris Foran was named the newsroom’s All- Star.

Advertising director Pam Henson reiterated how the paper has the highest Sunday market penetration nationally, and we heard over and over that “print isn’t dead.”

According to a May 9 email from Steve Smith highlighting first-quarter results, overall revenue for the quarter was $97 million, up 4% year over year. Publishing revenue, however, was down about 3%. At the state of the company meeting, this was attributed to challenges in circulation and the loss of major advertisers such as American TV and Appliance, which went out of business.

Retail revenue was up for the sixth consecutive quarter, attributed to an agency model that marketing has implemented. Tom Baylerian announced that we “no longer have a marketing department,” but rather a marketing agency, which attracts outside business and creates fully tailored marketing campaigns for them. The team previewed a “very exciting” campaign featuring a “Big League Wedding” at Miller Park.

Other highlights were that JS Everywhere digital-only subscriptions were up 20% year over year, and Land the Big Gig sponsorship totals have already exceeded last year’s.

Classified advertising was down 5% in the first quarter, but automotive was up 25% and the total print, digital, retail and classified auto advertising was up 16% for the quarter.

Digital revenue was up 2% for the quarter and now makes up about 19% of total advertising revenue.

Finally on the digital front, we learned that starting in May, all subscribers can get free access to the Washington Post online. The Journal Sentinel and five other major newspapers are a part of this pilot program with the Post.

3 Leave newsroom in latest buyout

Eight newsroom employees have left the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2014 or will soon leave, including three in the latest round of voluntary buyouts.

The company has filled four of the positions, which include three part-time jobs, and has posted job openings for two other full-time positions.

The staffing cut follows a buyout last year in which four newsroom employees departed.

Six of the seven workers who left in buyouts were represented by the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild.

The buyout was available to workers throughout Journal Sentinel Inc. The Guild has not received any definitive information on how many workers from other parts of the company took either buyout.

No newsroom layoffs followed the buyout.

Contract bargaining set to begin this summer

It doesn’t seem that long ago that the Guild reached an agreement with Journal Sentinel Inc. on a new collective bargaining agreement, but it is time to start working on the next one.

The current deal doesn’t expire until Dec. 31, but negotiations on the next contract are set to begin this summer.

Local 51 First Vice President Jenn Amur will be the negotiating committee chair and will be assisted by President Tom Silverstein as well as other committee members, including Don Walker, Karen Samelson and Tom Content, all of whom were on the bargaining team the last time around.

For the third straight time, the company has employed an outside attorney and not one of its own management team to lead its side in negotiations. Jonathan O. Levine of Littler Mendelson P.C. in Milwaukee will be the chief negotiator for management and will be joined by Marilyn Krause, assistant managing editor — administration. Local 51 will use sector representative Jay Schmitz as lead negotiator during bargaining sessions, but members of the negotiating committee will be at the table and involved in every aspect of the decision-making process.

The Guild will be contacting members by department before the start of negotiations in order to identify those items that should be addressed in our proposal. The committee’s final proposal will be based on feedback during those discussions.

Regular updates will be provided to members as negotiations proceed and, as is always the case, any member who would like to attend the sessions is welcome to do so. Only those who are in good standing with the union will be allowed to view negotiations, however.

Likewise, when a contract agreement is made, only Guild members are eligible to vote on ratification.

Guild moves out of Germania office building

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild has vacated its office in the Germania building, at 135 W. Wells St.

The decision to move all files and documents into a storage facility had been approved by the Guild board in 2012 to save money. Rent at the Germania building was $315 a month.

The Guild started renting a storage locker at East Bank Storage in June 2012 for $103 a month, but the move was not completed until February. The board’s decision to end the Germania building lease saves the Guild $2,544 per year.

Most of the furniture — a conference table, chairs and a mini fridge — as well as smaller items — a printer, a boombox and a Xerox copier — were donated to Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore after the Guild offered the membership first dibs.

Newsroom gets in the holiday spirit

Newsroom employees rang in the holidays Dec. 13 at Turner Hall.

[nggallery id=8]

It’s not ‘the union’ it’s ‘our union’

Tom Silverstein
Tom Silverstein

From the president

Whenever there has been discussion around the newsroom pertaining to Local 51 of The Newspaper Guild, you’ve likely heard co-workers reference us as “the Guild” or “the union” or “the local.”

Whichever of those names are used, people know who you’re talking about.

At a recent Guild multisector conference, however, I was reminded of a distinction that seems to have been lost here and many other places where unions thrive. It is the use of a possessive.

This isn’t a union; it’s your union. It’s your local. It’s your Guild. I bring this up for a reason. We are nearing the start of another round of contract negotiations with the company, and we need to make sure we are in tune with your wishes for making our newsroom a more comfortable, equitable and rewarding place to work.

I have been part of the Guild negotiating team for two collective bargaining agreements with the Journal Sentinel, serving on a part-time basis for the first and a full-time basis on the second. In both cases, I’ve felt the two-way communication with our members has been solid, particularly in the face of the company’s desire to strip us of everything but our most basic rights.

But we could do better.

And we will do better this time around because this is your union and you have a stake in these negotiations. You set the agenda. You decide what needs to be on the table when it comes to us sitting face-to-face with the company’s hired gun (negotiations used to be done with someone who actually worked at the company and knew the people with whom he or she was bargaining).

You have the ability to tell the company to do the right thing in a way you never would if you didn’t have dozens of people standing with you. This is a chance to be an active part of your union, to be heard.

We have already had some healthy discussions about the direction we’d like to go in negotiations. If you weren’t at the last membership meeting then you missed an open forum on how we can improve working conditions, achieve equity and improve the product that carries many of our names on its pages. But don’t sweat it if you did miss it. Members of the bargaining committee will be going department to department to hear what you have to say, and if you can’t make that meeting, we will make sure to contact you individually.

We’re only as strong as our members, and the fact that we continue to improve membership numbers despite losing people through buyouts and layoffs is the ultimate show of strength.

You have a healthy union. Now is the time to come forward and have a voice. We will always be committed to bettering the work life of our members and striving for the highest journalistic standards. But we can’t do it without you.

My union works best when everyone is heard.