Contract signed

Milwaukee Newspaper Guild and Journal Sentinel Inc. representatives signed a new contract last week, covering our bargaining unit through 2011. A small number of newsroom workers will receive raises as a result of the contract. That’s the group who were due to move up on the pay scale, but who were frozen at their previous […]

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Contract ratified, 54-10

Milwaukee Newspaper Guild members ratified a new contract with Journal Sentinel Inc. by a vote of 54-10 on Thursday. The pact, which runs through 2011, preserves several key protections from previous contracts, including our severance and notice pay in case of downsizings and our cap on the percentage of health care costs we must pay, […]

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Layoff grievance settlements reach 16

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild has now reached settlements for all but three of the 19 employees who filed grievances over last year’s downsizing. In late March, JSOnline producer Emmett Prosser returned to the newsroom, the only one of the group to date who has won back his job. Earlier this week, another employee reached a […]

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Guild sets membership meeting, contract vote

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild has set Thursday as the date to vote on a tentative agreement for our 2009-2011 contract with Journal Sentinel Inc. But first, we will hold our regular quarterly membership meeting at noon Wednesday at Turner Hall. International Representative Darren Carroll and Bargaining Committee members will be present to answer any questions […]

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More contract discussions set

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild has scheduled two more meetings for members to discuss the tentative agreement reached on our next contract with Journal Sentinel Inc. Those sessions have been set from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, and again from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. the same day. Both will be in the Journal Sentinel’s Abert […]

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Guild reaches tentative contract deal with Journal Sentinel

Negotiators for the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild and Journal Sentinel Inc. reached tentative agreement Thursday on a new contract that would last through 2011. Reflecting our membership’s priorities, the deal would keep our current two weeks of severance pay per year of service in layoffs; require the company to offer buyouts before layoffs; call for the […]

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Newsroom avoids latest downsizing; arbitration sought on previous cuts

None of the 39 Journal Sentinel Inc. employees laid off Monday came from the newsroom staff represented by the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild. In a letter to employees, Publisher Betsy Brenner said the affected workers were taken from circulation, advertising and other business departments. She characterized the layoffs as the final staff cuts of 2009, a […]

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Held, Schumacher named steward leaders

Tom Held and Mary Louise Schumacher are the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild’s newest steward leaders. Our local’s Executive Board named Held, a Journal Sentinel metro reporter, and Schumacher, the newspaper’s art and architecture critic, to the posts for terms that started in October. Both had been stewards. Held now oversees contract enforcement, membership, mobilizing and stewards […]

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Kissinger elected Guild’s 1st VP

Milwaukee Newspaper Guild members have selected Meg Kissinger as our local’s second-in-command. Kissinger, a Journal Sentinel metro reporter, was elected 1st vice president, in charge of contract enforcement. She fills a position that had been vacant since letters editor Sonya Jongsma Knauss left the paper to become editor and general manager of MilwaukeeMoms.com. Over the […]

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Guild challenges layoffs

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild has filed multiple grievances challenging the involuntary downsizing of 35 employees of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newsroom. All of those workers were notified Aug. 4 that they would lose their jobs in early October. They are receiving full pay and benefits during the 60-day notice period required by our contract. One […]

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