Top executives at the hedge fund that owns Digital First Media must have felt terrible that employees at the newspaper company weren’t getting any raises in 2017. So they did something about it. They gave themselves a raise.
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Tentative agreement on new contract at Chronicle
After 14 months of negotiations, the Chronicle and the Pacific Media Workers Guild on Wednesday reached tentative agreement on a four-year labor contract that offers an average annual merit-based pay raise of 2 percent and – for the first time – a 401(k) employer contribution and match of up to 2.5 percent of annual salary.
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Highly profitable DFM again refuses to offer pay increase
DFM management came to a bargaining session empty-handed, telling a national coalition of NewsGuild representatives that the company’s hedge fund ownership intends to keep employee pay frozen companywide to help maintain its profits. Alden Global Capital, principal owner of Digital First Media, has earned worldwide notoriety for its ruthless staff cuts and double-digit profit margins. The ongoing damage to newsrooms across the country has triggered protests from New York to Denver to the Bay Area.
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Honolulu Star-Advertiser Workers Ratify Contract
An overwhelming majority of the 63 unionized workers in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser newsroom voted on April 25 to ratify a five-year contract with owner Oahu Publications Inc.
Read MoreMaui News Workers Ratify Two-Year Contract
In a near-unanimous vote, workers at The Maui News on Monday voted to ratify a two-year contract with newspaper ownership that runs to April of 2020. The vote was verified Tuesday. With more than three-quarters of eligible members submitting a ballot, 32 votes were cast for the new agreement, which calls for maintaining wages and […]
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McClatchy and Guild working on money, metrics and marijuana
Bargaining continued in late January, early February at all four McClatchy California units (The Modesto Bee, The Fresno Bee, The Sacramento Bee and News Desk West). Full contracts are up at Modesto, Fresno and News Desk West while Sacramento has a reopener. The guild and company were able to narrow bargaining to a few core issues during each of the sessions. They include the new metrics for page view goals, seniority language in the case of layoffs, minimum salary levels and merit pay scales, equipment reimbursement, and drug policy.
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Job losses hammer Bay Area News Group
Twenty-one Guild members are being bought out and layoffs are next. How many more people will be let go is not known.
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Company seeks union security concessions from video sign language interpreters
Contract negotiations resumed in San Francisco on Tuesday and Wednesday with a focus on community interpreting and two bedrocks of any labor contract: just cause discipline and the right to arbitrate.
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Campaign escalates as DFM cuts staff
Negotiations for a 2018 wage re-opener covering 13 bargaining units will open soon as Digital First Media ordered a new wave of staff cuts throughout California and in suburban Philadelphia in January. In response, DFM workers are escalating their contract campaign against Alden Global Capital, the New York hedge fund that owns DFM and that has been systematically stripping newspaper assets since 2012.
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Honolulu talks hinge on economics
Guild and management negotiators significantly narrowed the issues blocking agreement on a new labor contract during two days of talks in Honolulu. Our committee managed to elicit a package proposal from the company that would drop many of the onerous proposals it made last year, such as reducing holidays and sick leave, absurd absenteeism terms, restrictions on shop stewards and a weaker grievance procedure. But the company still demands the right to conduct random drug testing.
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Local Election Committee announces results – Anderson wins for local Secretary
The following statement was issued today by the Local 39521 Elections Committee: Dear Candidates: The Local Elections Committee of the Pacific Media Workers Guild met December 21, 2017 at 10 a.m. at the Guild office to count ballots for the union’s election. Following are the results, certified by the LEC: Local Secretary Kat Anderson was elected […]
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Denver ASL interpreters study scheduling as talks resume
ASL Interpreters United TNG-CWA Local 39521 Negotiations Update #2 Dec. 7, 2017 Contract negotiations resumed in San Francisco this week with a closer look at proposed changes in the scheduling routine and some preliminary meetings with a federal mediator. Both the union and management put in some effort as we took turns clarifying our […]
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Bargaining starts at McClatchy, but Company demurs on pay
Bargaining has begun at all four McClatchy California units (The Modesto Bee, The Fresno Bee, The Sacramento Bee and News Desk West). Negotiations took place in all three cities last week. The Guild is emphasizing coordination on the behalf of all the McClatchy units.
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Protected: Setting the record straight for SF Chronicle members
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
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Hearst relents at 11th hour, settling NLRB complaint with Guild
After a year of stonewalling, Hearst Corp. finally agreed at the outset of a hearing before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Tuesday to provide the Guild access to documents needed to investigate a suspected pattern of discriminatory pay practices skewed against women, people of color and older workers. The Chronicle is one of many newspapers where employees suspect inequities in compensation.
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