Representatives of the 12 Digital First Media Guild bargaining units met jointly with DFM management in Denver this week in an effort to reach agreement on all DFM contracts.
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East Bay talks may help set stage for national joint bargaining
June 17, 2016 East Bay Guild Bargaining Bulletin PLEASANTON — In the first significant conversations since the consolidation of the Bay Area dailies, East Bay Guild representatives met Friday with Digital First Media management to renew contract talks. The discussion focused on key open issues including pay, expenses and scheduling issues. The Guild gave management […]
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Hilo unit seeks Aloha from OPI
Guild members at the Hawaii Tribune-Herald rallied outside the Big Island newspaper office Thursday morning to demand a fair contract. Two days of Hilo talks start later Thursday and Friday.
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Chronicle Shopnotes
For some reason, the Secret Service decided that the northeast men’s room on the third floor was a security risk during Bernie Sanders’ visit with the editorial board and declared it off limits for 2 1/2 hours.
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CANCELLED: Executive Committee meeting May 21, 2016
Local 39521’s executive committee meeting scheduled for May 21, 2016, has been cancelled. The next Guild meeting will be an Exec Comm/Rep Assembly meeting on June 18 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm. 2016 meeting schedule
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Guild declares national day of action in #NewsMatters campaign
One thousand NewsGuild workers at 13 newspapers nationwide stand united today as we begin a new, more public phase of the Guild’s #NewsMatters campaign for fair contracts with Digital First Media.
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Digital First Media workers revolt against cuts
Nearly 1,000 news workers at Digital First Media have launched a nationwide revolt against job cuts and profiteering they say are threatening local journalism at the nation’s second-largest newspaper company.
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April Chronicle Shop Notes
Send gossip, titillating trivia and scandal to: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Who says an ergonomics workshop is ho-hum? Not us. In fact, it’s practically X-rated. Consider these words of advice from the Chronicle’s amazing ergonomist, Anna Brock: “Some employees really want to be on top (of the desk)” and “You really have to wedge your butt into the […]
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Press Democrat seeks concessions while Guild holds out for modest pay increases
Press Democrat management continues to cite uncertainty in the news industry, rising health care costs and other factors as limits on what it can offer employees. Guild negotiators, also cognizant of these realities, sought reasonable pay increases in the 3 to 5 percent range and to limit increases in escalating health care costs for employees. But management balked at the offer.
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Talks to combine East Bay and Merc units suspended until company offers pay increase
Guild members and staff met for a third time with DFM management today to discuss the company’s proposal to merge the BANG and Mercury News contracts. We opted to suspend these talks and return to bargaining each contract separately. Once again, the Company had no pay proposal for workers who would be covered by the merged contract, and the Company also continued to propose that advertising employees would lose union protection.
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Press Democrat offers anemic pay increase while demanding more for health care
Management is now proposing a 1 percent annual pay increase for employees who meet acceptable performance standards. Health care costs would remain the same for 2016, but by 2017, more of the financial burden would shift to employees and eventually there would be no cap on the employee share at all.
Read MoreWhy #newsmatters
Quality journalism is one of the pillars of democracy. But the profit-driven ownership of Digital First Media, the second-largest chain of print and online news organizations in the United States, threatens to undermine our ability to fulfill our mission. Guild members at a dozen union publications throughout the DFM empire have united in common cause, […]
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Hedge fund milking DFM papers dry, but workers won’t quit
Nearly 1,000 employees at a dozen DFM papers have gone years without raises — in some cases, a decade — while many have had to live with actual cuts in earnings and benefits.
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Merc and East Bay members hold second combined session with DFM
Guild negotiators from the BANG-East Bay and San Jose Mercury News met with Digital First Media management in a joint session to discuss the company’s proposed consolidation of the two bargaining units.
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Press Democrat talks result in increased parenting and cell phone benes
The two sides agreed to a substantial increase in cell phone stipends from $50 to $65 per month. In addition, new rules will allow parents returning to work to seek a part-time schedule for up to one year so long as the scheduling needs can be worked out with a supervisor.
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