Ratification vote/membership meeting
Dear Guild member,
A ratification vote/membership meeting will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, August 24 at the Guild Hall (1329 Buttonwood Street).
The Guild Bargaining Committee recommends voting in favor of the agreement.
Guild leadership was not happy to deliver a tentative agreement that includes wage cuts and furloughs totaling a 6 percent reduction in pay, but we were glad to ensure no layoffs for at least one year, to establish a 401(k) match program, to keep vacation and sick time schedules intact, and eliminate core beats in the newsrooms which strengthens seniority.
The wage reduction and furloughs proposed at Philadelphia Newspapers are below what many of our Guild brothers and sisters have faced at newspapers across the country.
While painful, these concessions will give the new owner, PN Purchaser Co., L.L.C, the cost-savings and flexibility it needs to move the company forward and transition us into a 24-hour media company of the future. We will demand that the new management team be a true partner in the years ahead – working with us and not against us.
All new language to the collective bargaining agreement has been posted on the Guild’s web site www.local-10.com for your review. It will also be available in printed form at Tuesday’s ratification meeting. Except as modified in the tentative agreements, all terms and conditions of our current contract will carry into the next contract.
Please be sure to read the contract language at www.local-10.com prior to attending Tuesday’s meeting. Guild leadership will answer any member questions from the floor at the meeting so that members are completely informed prior to casting their ballots.
We encourage all members to attend Tuesday. If you cannot attend you may vote by e-mail. Members who attend the meeting will sign in upon entering and then vote by secret ballot, but those who vote by e-mail will be required to identify themselves by full name and explain their reason for not attending the meeting.
You may vote by e-mail in a note to Election Chair Rita Dooling at RDooling@local-10.com. Those who vote by e-mail should write either “I vote to ratify the contract,” or “I vote to reject the contract,” somewhere in their e-mail so that there is no chance of confusion of their vote.
If you have any questions in advance please contact Guild Executive Director Bill Ross by e-mail at BRoss@local-10.com or by calling 267-240-8540.
In solidarity,
Dan Gross, President
The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia/Communications Workers of America Local 38010
