•1-25-11

Bargaining Bulletin #11

Negotiators for the Guild and the company met for about an hour Tuesday, with the Guild offering a new and significantly changed health insurance proposal.

In an attempt to move the talks forward, the Guild dropped its fixed co-pay system and adopted the company’s request that health costs be shared on a percentage basis.

The Guild crafted its proposal to accommodate the company’s stated desire of having employees share a portion of the cost while at the same time capping the maximum out of pocket expenses (what the company has called ‘coinsurance’) that members might face for major illnesses or chronic conditions.

The proposal was drafted with the help of the Guild’s health insurance consultant. Based on her recommendations, the Guild suggested a two-step plan, with the first stage taking effect  April 1, 2011 and running through the end of 2012  and then the second phase running for calendar year 2013.

The Guild’s plan (see details) calls for $250 per person and $500 per family out of pocket maximums in 2011-12, going to $500 per person and $1,000 per family in 2013. The Guild proposed members pay 10 percent of their medical bills for both periods until they reach those maximums, after which expenses would be covered 100 percent.

The 10 percent pertains to those medical services not covered by a set price co-pay, such as office visits and prescriptions. The Guild proposed primary care and specialist visits cost the same $10 per visit in the 2011-12 ‘year’ and $15 per visit for both in 2013.
 
The company’s last offer called for out-of-pocket maximums of $1,000 for single coverage and $2,000 for a family in 2011, going to $1,500 for single coverage and $3,000 for a family in 2012.  The company has also proposed office visit copays of $20 for a primary care visit and $30 for a specialist after April 1, 2011. Those costs would go to $30 for a primary care visit and $50 for a specialist in 2012.

The Guild Bargaining Committee emphasized that its change in coverage philosophy was major concession that will significantly affect our members’ finances and expressed the wish that the company would respond to in kind.

Company negotiators asked for a day to review the proposal and the next bargaining session was set for Thursday.
In light of our decision to, in the words of administrator Betsy Regan, “go over to the dark side” of percentage co-pays, members are being  asked to wear black on Thursday to show support for the Bargaining Committee.

Previous Bargaining Sessions

•1-11-11
Bargaining Bulletin #10

Company negotiators presented changes in their proposed health benefits plan for 2011-12 at a bargaining meeting Tuesday.

The changes were in the second year, 2012, of its two-year proposal. The Company reduced its previously proposed $3,500 out-of-pocket maximum for family coverage co-pays to $3,000 and proposed the company would pay 85 percent of the cost for emergency room, hospitalizations and out-patient lab and x-ray costs, after deductibles. The company’s previous offer was for the company to pay 80 percent of those expenses, after Guild member deductibles are paid.

The drop to $3,000 for a family plan out-of-pocket maximum in 2012 was the second time the company had reduced that number. When negotiations started the company was seeking $4,000. The company also announced its health care actuaries and the Guild’s benefits consultant would be exchanging information about the company’s health care plans and past usage by Guild members.

The Guild bargaining committee was particularly pleased with this development. Hopes are it will lead to both sides working from the same set of numbers in the talks, rather than working with estimates derived from incomplete information. At Tuesday’s session and at one last week, the company also offered clarifications on some specifics of its plans.

For billing purposes, mental health care providers will be considered primary care providers and not specialists. That means for visits to psychiatrists and psychologists, the company’s proposed regular office co-pay rate of $20 per visit after April 1, 2011 and $30 in 2012 would apply. The company’s proposed per visit rates for specialists are $30 after April 1, 2011 and $50 in 2012. The Guild had raised concerns about the company’s percentage co-pay plan for medical services, questioning what would happen if a provider tried to claim the procedure cost more than Blue Cross paid and sought the extra money from the employee.

Company negotiators provided the Guild with plan language on page 8 of the EPO benefit plan documents, which states for in-network providers, Blue Cross will pay the bills, not the employee. The charge will be the least of either the provider’s bill; Blue Cross’s set amount or some other contractually agreed to amount.

The passage can be found by using the Belo employees website and going to www.ahbelobenefits.com and choosing ‘Providence Journal Company’ in the ‘please choose your group’ window. Drop down the ‘health’ menu, then click ‘medical’ and look for ‘EPO Plan Details’ on the left. It’s on the page labeled ‘Introduction.’

•12-23-10
Bargaining Bulletin #9

Negotiators for the Guild and the company met for about an hour Tuesday, December 21.

Health Insurance and sick leave policy were discussed, but no agreements were reached. The company reiterated its position that any agreement had to include a health plan that was as close as possible to the one that covers the rest of A.H. Belo.

“We’re going to go to that plan one way or another,” company Vice President for Human Resources and Labor Relations Thomas J. McDonough said.

The Guild pointed out that they have a proposal on the table that would save the Company nearly a quarter of a million dollars a year off its current health insurance costs. The Guild made a formal information request for the company’s target for savings on health care, so that it could amend its proposal in ways that would be responsive to that goal.

The Guild has been working to present options that will produce significant savings for the company on health insurance, making Belo more profitable and better position it for the future. The company has been fixed on its desire for single, corporate-wide approach.

McDonough said the plan that Belo is offering, requiring Guild members pay 20 percent of their health care costs up to a family maximum of $3,500 out of pocket in 2012, compared favorably with other major employers in Rhode Island.

The Guild pointed out that the relevant starting point was what Guild members are currently paying for health care, not what GTECH workers are paying and while we are willing to pay our fair share, going to $3,500 a year for a family plan in just over 12 months is too far, too fast.

•12-17-10
Bargaining Bulletin #8

The executive board unanimously voted Wednesday to settle the pension transition supplement grievance/arbitration.

Under the terms of the settlement, the company agrees to make pension supplement payments to seven employees who retired or left the paper in 2010. The affected group will be grossed up, meaning that after taxes are taken out of their payments they will still end up with what they would have gotten had the payments been made on schedule into their 401K accounts.

Without the agreement, the seven who retired or left the paper in 2010 would have lost out any payments that will be made in 2011. The total amount for the group is about $61,000. The company also agrees that the supplement payments to Guild members, suspended in 2009, will resume sometime in 2011, no later than Oct. 1, 2011.

The new schedule now calls for the last payment to be made by October 2013. The board voted for the settlement after consulting with the Guild’s lawyers

. “The settlement is not what we wanted,” Guild President John Hill said. “But our lawyers, who have won many of these cases for us over the years, advised us that it makes sense to settle. It will mean that seven former members who that were in jeopardy of losing their payment will be made whole.”

The payments were six months late in 2009 and suspended for all of 2010, following the downturn in the newspaper industry. The Guild had filed an arbitration complaint in response to the company’s action, claiming it violated the terms of the contract, which required the payments be made by April 1 of each year of the program.

The company argued that the contract language was trumped by the legal language that governed the 401K plan, and which gave the company the ability to modify or shut down the plan. The Guild’s arbitration sought restoration of the payments and lost interest income caused by the suspension.

The union and the company had sought to settle the dispute as part of the current contract negotiations, but the Executive Board, concerned that talks may go beyond Jan.1, wanted to make sure deal was closed by that time.

The payments were part of an agreement reached in 2007 when the company shut down the old fixed payment pension program and replaced it with the matching 401K program. In an effort to replace some of the income that was expected to be lost in the switch, the Guild negotiated payments to be made into a member’s 401K account.

This amounted to an average of $5,000 per member and was intended to bring them up to a level that would replace the income at retirement that the fixed pension plan would have generated. The first payment in 2008 was for the last eight months of 2007. The plan was for there to be four annual full payments after that and then a sixth payment covering four months of the last year.

•12-9-10
Bargaining Bulletin #7

Guild and company negotiators met Wednesday and exchanged health insurance proposals. While both sides agreed that some changes would be necessary, the proposals seek to implement those changes in different ways. (See comparison)The company said it needs to have Journal employees’ benefits more in line with those of the rest of A.H. Belo, while the Guild’s bargaining committee said any changes in rates had to be phased in, given the current difficult economic times.

The company is seeking to increase the amount of money Guild members pay for health care in three ways. The first is to charge members a percentage of the cost of medical services. The second is to set what the company calls co-insurance maximums, which is the amount of money a Guild member will have to pay, after deductibles, out of their pockets before 100 percent coverage kicks in. The third is to raise the weekly contributions Guild members pay for overall coverage, from 15 percent of premium costs to 20 percent.

The company wants the changes to take effect on April 1, with most medical service copays going to 10 percent and then rising to 20 percent on Jan. 1, 2012. The out-of-pocket maximums would also double, so that a Guild member with single coverage would need to pay $2,000 in copays before 100 percent coverage started and a member with family coverage would need to pay $3,500 before full coverage began.
               
Journal Vice President for Human Resources and Labor Relations Thomas McDonough said while the plan was an increase over the current  EPO plan, Guild members would still be paying less than other A.H Belo workers, who have $4,500 family coverage co-insurance maximums. He said the company proposal, particularly with the $2,000 and $3,500 co-insurance maximums in the second year, was in line with what other companies the Journal’s size offer.

It’s still a more lucrative plan than the rest of Belo,” he said.

The Guild’s proposal sought to respond to the company’s concerns about health care while balancing the extra costs to members. The Guild proposal would increase copays for specific medical services by set amounts, not on a percentage basis.

It would also limit Guild members’ maximum annual out-of-pocket expenses to $1000 per year for single coverage and $2000 per year for families. The Guild’s plan would run from April 1, 2011 to December 31, 2012.

The Guild proposed increasing hospital copays from the current zero to $250 per hospitalization, to double emergency room copays from $50 to $100, and to increase office visit copays from $10 to $15, as well as bumping prescription drug copays $5 for each of the three categories. The weekly premium contribution would stay at 15 percent.

The consultant the Guild has hired to advise it on health care bargaining estimated the Guild’s proposed plan changes would cut about $230,000 from the company’s current-year health insurance costs, around 9 percent.

•11-29-10
Bargaining Bulletin #6


The Bargaining Committee (John Hill, Elaine Boyd-Williamson, Jon Baker, Kate Leveque, Paul Davis, and Betsy Regan) met with company representatives Monday for about an hour. There was some discussion regarding wages, health insurance and possible amendments to the agreement on the PTS.  The Guild needs additional information from the Company before it can have further discussions regarding health care and wages.

Both sides agreed to cancel the session scheduled for December 1 because both sides have information to gather. The next session will be on December 8th. Earlier in the day, the Bargaining Committee met with the Guild’s insurance consultant. The Committee is working diligently to craft a proposal that will be beneficial to the Company, but will protect our benefits.


•11-24-10
Bargaining Bulletin #5

The Bargaining Committee met with company representatives Tuesday and reached agreements on lesser issues in the talks.

The company agreed to add the members of the Breaking News Team to the list of employees who get free parking regardless of the status of the Eddy Street and Fountain Street parking lots.

The Company withdrew its proposal that a position in the finance department current covered by the Guild be made non-union.
Both sides agreed to a change in language that allows the summer intern program in the editorial department to be open to students, not just college juniors or seniors as it has in the past.

The Guild also agreed to a company proposal to drop the provision that allowed part time (22.5 hours) workers to purchase health insurance through the company policy. No one is currently in a 22.5 hour position and eligible for this benefit.
  
There was informal discussion regarding  health insurance and wage issues, but no agreements were reached.


•11-17-10
Bargaining Bulletin #4

The Guild and Company negotiators met Wednesday afternoon, November 17,  and reached tentative agreement on some minor/housekeeping issues.

The Company and the Guild agreed to delete a provision that called for a five dollars a week supplement for employees assigned to work in Massachusetts; to drop language that covered how much of a car allowance that was paid to state staffers who were on loan to the city staff and the deletion of some outdated memoranda of agreement left over from past contracts.

The Journal has closed its Massachusetts bureau, making the supplement language irrelevant and since the closing of the bureaus, there are no more state staffers to loan to the city staff.

The company has proposed editing the parking language in the contract to delete references to the Washington Street parking garage, which the company no longer controls and is not used for Guild member parking. The change would align the contract with what is happening now. 
The existing parking language calls for the company to guarantee 150 spaces for Guild members, with 85 of them in the Washington Street garage. That language allows those 85 garage spaces to be subtracted from the company’s obligation if it lost control of the facility, which happened. The existing language requires 40 spaces be reserved in the Fountain Street lot and 25 in the Eddy Street lot Besides those 65 spaces, the parking language also says that regardless of the status of those lots, the company will provide parking for outside sales reps in advertising and photographers in the new department. Currently there are about 25 sales reps and a dozen photographers. They won’t count against the 65 spaces in the two lots.

The Guild proposed adding the members of the news department breaking news team to that list.  Journal Vice President for Human Resources and Labor Relations Thomas J. McDonough said the company would consider it.

The Guild also asked the company to withdraw their proposal to eliminate a Guild position in the finance department and make it an exempt position.

The two sides also discussed health insurance and wages. McDonough reiterated the company’s position that the Guild’s 2-2-2-2 percent wage increase proposal was, in the company’s opinion, out of touch with the reality of the newspaper industry in New England and the United States.
McDonough noted that the Journal has proposed wage cuts of 2.5 percent here, while this week Metropolitan Council of Newspaper Unions at the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News agreed to a contract that calls for wage cuts of 4.5 to 6.5 percent, depending on pay level, as well as higher co-pays and deductibles on health insurance.

“We’re no different,” McDonough said, “but there seems to be a sense of entitlement that there is an unending stream of money here. We need to work together and understand the economics of our situation and the environment of our situation. We are not where we were five years ago or two years ago.”

•11-4-10
Bargaining Bulletin #3

Negotiators for the Guild and the company met Wednesday afternoon, and the union presented its opening salary offer as well as proposed changes in personal days and sick leave policy. The two sides reached agreements in principle on which employees will be eligible for health benefits and changes in bumping policy.

The Guild proposed a four-year agreement, with a wage increase of two percent in 2011 and two percent each in 2012, 2013 and 2014, or whatever raises other Journal unions get, whichever was greater.
The company, which has proposed a two-year deal with a 2.5 percent pay cut in the first year and a “me-too” (whatever the other unions get) clause in 2012, with the possibility of a cut then as well, balked at that proposal.

Vice President for Human Resources and Labor Relations Thomas McDonough said the company has continued to suffer revenue losses compared to last year, though this year’s drop was not as severe as
expected. He said circulation has been falling as well. Recent published reports said the Journal’s Monday through Friday circulation dropped below 100,000 for the first time in decades. McDonough said in 2009 the rest of the Journal workforce took cuts of 2.5 percent or more, depending on income level, to help the company get through a particularly difficult time.

This week’s announced bonus was intended as an expression of appreciation to those employees who took the cut, he said, and was also going to the Guild even though Guild members did not share that sacrifice. The company also noted that most other new England Guild contracts are calling for freezes or cuts; pay reductions have ranged from 5 percent to as much as 23 percent (Manchester N.H.).
“Frankly, we're disappointed, given the struggle we’re dealing with now,” McDonough said.

The Guild proposed adding a personal holiday to the ten already in the contract and giving those employees with 25 years with the company an additional day off each year. Those who reach 35 years would get yet another day off. The Guild also proposed going from five to ten sick days a year. To reward those who don’t use sick time, an employee who used three or fewer sick days in a given year would get an extra personal day
off for the next year.

The two sides agreed in principle that in the future, if bumping occurs, the bumping employee would get the highest pay level of their new job, not their previous salary, providing that anyone who bumped in the 2008 or 2009 layoffs will not be affected. The sides also agreed that in order to qualify for full health benefits, an employee will have to work at least 30 hours a week, up from the current 22.5 hours, also providing that any current 22.5 hour a week employees with health insurance will keep it. The company agreed that it would not use the higher threshold to hire three-day-a week employees to avoid paying benefits.

The next session is set for Nov. 17.

•10-20-10
Bargaining Bulletin #2                                                                              

Company makes initial offer

            The Guild Bargaining Committee met for about two hours today with representatives of the company. The company presented its initial proposals for a two-year contract.
            No negotiations took place.
            A more detailed breakdown will be coming Thursday, but these are the highlights:

            WAGES: a 2.5 percent pay cut for 2011, with pay in 2012 at the company’s discretion. The current contract does not allow for pay cuts but the company is seeking new language that would permit them to do so.
HEALTH INSURANCE: The current 85-15 percent weekly premium co-pay would remain in place, but the company wants “sole discretion”: to change coverage or rates in the future. The current contract says any changes in the health plans must be substantially equivalent to the existing plans.
PENSION PAYMENTS: To settle the arbitration over the company not paying the pension transition supplement last year, the payments due in 2010 would be made in 2011 and the company would make payments to anyone who retired after 2009. 

The Guild Bargaining Committee will meet over the few weeks to develop response to the company’s proposals.

Besides the wage rates and health insurance language, the company’s initial offer also included:

Changes in the language concerning bumping. Under the proposal, any employee who is bumped into a lower classification would get paid at the top step of the new classification.  This would undo an arbitration we won after the October 2008 layoffs that said bumped employees kept their old pay rate.

• Changes in the number of hours an employee has to work to be eligible for health benefits. Currently anyone who works 22.5 hours, or three days, a week can get insurance. The company wants to change that to 30 hours, or four days, a week. Any current 22.5-hour-a-week employees would not lose their benefits.
• Merging the jobs of section editor and on-line producer into a single position. Current section editors who want on-line training would get it; those who don’t would not be forced to.
• Language stating that if the Fountain Street or Eddy Street parking lots are sold, taken by eminent domain or converted to non-parking use, the company would not be required to provide parking spaces. Loss of the Fountain Street lot would result in the loss of 40 spaces; the Eddy Street lot would lose 25. Free parking would continue to be offered to photographers and outside sales representatives.
• Discontinuation of the $1,500 retiree life insurance benefit as of Jan. 1, 2011. Anyone eligible for it on Dec. 31, 2010 will still get it.

The next bargaining session is set for Nov. 3, when the Guild Bargaining Committee will make its proposal.

The contract talks are about to begin. Bargaining teams for the Providence Newspaper Guild and the Providence Journal will meet Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the first negotiating session.

At a time of economic uncertainty for the newspaper industry and the nation, the Guild recognizes the challenges ahead – but, given the strength of our local, anticipates a positive outcome. Our three-year contract expires on Dec. 31.

“We have one of the best contracts, if not the best, in the newspaper industry,” said Guild President John Hill. “We intend to keep it that way.”
Joining our Administrator Betsy Regan on the Guild’s bargaining team will be Hill, Paul Davis, Elaine Boyd Williamson, Kate Levesque, Jon Baker and Lisa Buben (Baker and Buben are sharing a seat, depending on who is available). The company will be represented by Thomas McDonough, Vice President for Human Resources & Labor Relations and Barbara J. Farrand, Human Resources Manager.

The Guild will give priority to keeping the terms of our current contract while pressing for pay increases and retirement benefits.

Responses to the bargaining survey (which was filled out by 162 of the 230 members) revealed a strong desire to reinstate company contributions to the 401k, improve sick time and vacation time, limit employees’ share of medical premiums while maintaining the level of benefits, maintain our hard-won parking rights, and raise wages, which have fallen behind the cost of living.

We expect the Company will look for money-saving changes in the health-care plans, an issue we expect to be a focus of intense negotiations. The company will likely want to level the playing field after all employees except Guild members took a pay cut last year. Guild members instead kept their existing salaries and took no increases, the minimum required by the contract. At the time, the Guild offered to negotiate over a possible pay cut, but the company declined. 

 Guild members produce the advertising, pictures and stories that make the Providence Journal worth paying a dollar for every day,” Hill said. “Members should get a fair share of the fruits of their labor.”
As in the past, the Bargaining Bulletin, a brief summary of each bargaining session, will be distributed as quickly as possible after each session.

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