Guild reaches conceptual agreement on pension merger

Guild pension trustees reached a conceptual agreement Wednesday with the Company to merge the union pension plan with a company one.

The decision was not an easy one to make. With the fund likely to face shortfalls of $1 million or more a year starting in 2011, the trustees had a choice between facing making cuts to the benefits or hoping that the move to the more solidly financed company plan would help retain benefits into the future.

The decision won’t be final into an agreement is reached on the exact language. The Guild has scheduled an informational meeting at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, at the Colonie Town Library to discuss the decision with members.

The Company was willing to guarantee pension benefits only for the next two years, through Dec. 31, 2011.

“This was a difficult decision for the trustees to reach. We did it after much debate and consultation with Guild Local President Tim O’Brien and International officers and staff,” trustee Ken Crowe said. “Our goal has always been to preserve our pension benefits going forward.”

Under federal law, pension benefits earned to date, and under the agreement over the next two years, are protected and cannot be reduced.

“I want to thank the trustees for all their efforts,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “It is not easy to have to decide what  to do to best secure your colleagues’ pensions for as long as you can.”

Besides Crowe, the other trustees are Mark Corelli, Christine Wright and John Runfola. They were joined Wednesday by O’Brien, Chief Steward Ray Pitlyk and Melissa Nelson, collective bargaining director for the Guild International and a past Albany president and pension trustee.

Employees to take 40 percent hit on health care

Employees will pay 43 percent more each week for health insurance next year.

According to numbers given to the Guild Thursday, the weekly cost for the MVP plan will rise about $10 a week. Employees now pay $23.72. The giant leap in health care costs to employees  is largely due to the whopping 5 percent rise in the employee’s share imposed by the Company.

“The insurance brokers, Rowlands and Barranca, did an excellent job keeping the year to year costs of health insurance down,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. The firm contained the premium increase to 8.9 percent.

Under the contract imposed by the Company, however, employees’ share of health-care costs will increase from 16 percent to 21 percent. Had the employee share stayed the same, our members would be paying only $2 more next year.

“At a time when our members are getting no raise, this is a very difficult hit to take,” O’Brien said. “It is especially upsetting after Publisher George Hearst broke his promise to employees and eliminated the $500 bonus after his contract proposal was defeated. That bonus would not have even covered the increased cost of health care.”

The Company said the health-care share for workers is about $2 less than it was in 2008, but that figure leaves out the fact that employees were not paying a $750 upfront deductible that year. If all used by an employee, that adds $14.43 to the weekly cost.

The deductible will remain at $750 for 2010.

One other worrisome aspect of what MVP had planned has been eliminated for now. The health care firm had said it would force employees who get name-brand drugs when a generic is available to pay both the generic co-pay and the cost difference between the generic and name-brand drugs. That would have cost some employees hundreds of dollars per perscription and potentially thousands of dollars a year.

MVP retreated from that position, and we’re grateful to Rowlands and Barranca for that, although the Guild was told MVP expects to push that issue again in 2011. MVP also retreated on a proposal to increase the co-pay for mail-order drugs.

The Guild is awaiting final confirmation of all the health-care numbers, and it will release a bulletin on this issue early next week.

Hearst sits on $1 billion war chest, NY Post says

The New York Post writes that the Hearst Corp. is sitting on a $1 billion war chest.

Read it and weep as you pay 5 percent more for your health costs come January 1.

(We will meet with the Company at 3:30 p.m. Thursday to discuss health care costs.)

Ad art, marketing and refusing to bargain over parking

The Guild met Friday with the Company to discuss two issues: the merger of advertising art and marketing operations and the Company’s illegally imposed parking rule changes.

The Guild had questions about the recent merger of the two subdepartments, especially since advertising artists are paid in Class C while marketing media specialists are paid in Class B. The Guild has written a letter which will go out to these workers Wednesday. You can read it here.

As for the parking issue, Publisher George Hearst angrily said the matter is not a mandatory subject of bargaining. If given a proposal by the Guild, he said he’d be under no obligation to consider it or to negotiate. While we had discussed making a proposal, we will not do so unless and until the Company acknowledges it has a legal obligation to negotiate.

It’s not legal, of course, for the Company to impose new rules that could result in your car being towed or you being hit up for a replacement fee without negotiation. We were willing to bargain what should be a simple issue. It’s unfortunate, but the issue will have to go to the National Labor Relations Board.

In the meantime, we recommend putting your tag on the rearview mirror while the case is heard. That does not mean the Guild has agreed to the policy. And if any employee has his or her car towed in the interim, we will argue the Company should pay for it and for any damages to the vehicle.

Company proposes pension plan merger

The Hearst Corp. has proposed a merger of the existing Guild pension fund with another company fund. Union trustees are weighing whether to begin talks about merging the two funds.

On the upside, the merger could potentially strengthen the fund financially and secure benefits for a longer time frame. The downside is that Guild trustees would no longer have any say in how the funds are invested or what benefit changes are made.

The plan’s actuary, who is now independent, says our fund is sound through 2010 but could see a shortfall in 2011 and beyond. What happens is dependent on circumstances that cannot be predicted: how the stock market fares and whether Congress passes legislation, now proposed, that would aid pension funds like ours.

If there was a shortfall and a major contribution increase was needed to sustain the fund, the Company says it would look to layoffs to pay for it. This comes despite the fact that the Company has refused for more than 20 years to increase the contribution despite a steadily shrinking workforce.

The Company also won’t guarantee that it would not lay anyone off even if we merged the plans, which would result in considerable savings for the Hearst Corp.

The Hearst Broadcast Fund that the Company wants our plan to merge with is currently overfunded, but the Company is moving other plans into it in a way that could, over time, sharply diminish its surplus.

Our pension fund was not “a gift” from the Company. The Hearst Corp. was opposed to creating a pension fund, and Guild members went on strike to gain one in 1964. The result was not only a pension plan here in Albany, but other Hearst papers followed suit. Every penny that goes into our fund was diverted from wages.

If the Guild trustees decide to go ahead with negotiations over merging the two plans, a critical element will be language in the merger agreement that keeps our benefits intact for years to come. The Guild trustees are in the midst of getting input from our International and its attorney. We will keep you posted on any developments.

The Guild’s pension trustees are John Runfola, Mark Corelli, Christine Wright and Ken Crowe.

Join us at the membership meeting

We have lots to talk about at the membership meeting from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Colonie Public Library.

We’ll have nominations to fill a seat on the Executive Board. (If there is one nominee, the person will be elected there. If there is more than one, we’ll have a mail ballot.) We’ll have updates on ongoing discussions over a major change proposed for our pension plan. We’ll discuss the ongoing legal case stemming from our negotiations. We’ll talk about the parking issues and about the merging of the advertising art and marketing departments.

Best of all, we’ll hear from you as to what’s on your mind.

We hope to see you there!

New parking rules another legal violation

Imagine you’re an ad salesperson, about to drive to meet with a client and seal a deal that could earn the Times Union hundreds of thousands of dollars. You walk out into the parking lot, all excited about the great work you’ve done, only to discover….the Company has towed your car.

Or you’re a reporter assigned to a breaking news story. You’re working overtime, but no one told the security guard. You emerge after a long night after breaking an exclusive story for the newspaper that will be on Page One. Your reward is that your car is gone, and the Company expects you to pay for it.

Once again, the Times Union has violated the law. The new parking rules are a change in working conditions and a mandatory subject of bargaining. But no, as usual, the Company did not come to the union and seek to discuss it. A letter informing the Company to cease and desist has been sent. We’ve informed the Times Union that should anyone’s car be towed under this illegally imposed policy, the Times Union will be liable for the towing fees and any damages to your vehicle.

A charge is also being filed with the National Labor Relations Board over this latest failure to negotiate.

 

MVP seeks to hike drug charges

A letter sent to Guild members from MVP states that the insurance provider wants to significantly raise the costs for some drugs.

The letter states that MVP wants to change the rules for when an employee receives a brand-name drug when there is a generic version available. Rather than charge the $50 brand-name co-pay, MVP wants to charge you the generic co-pay AND the difference between the cost of the brand-name and generic drugs.

This would be a huge difference, potentially hundreds of dollars more. Often the generic drugs work fine, but many of us have discovered over the years that some do not work as well and getting the name brand is necessary.

MVP also wants to make other changes including ending coverage for any immunizations or vaccinations taken solely as a precaution if you travel inside or outside the United States. MVP also wants to raise the copayment for mail-order drugs.

The Guild will soon be sitting down with the Company and the insurance broker to discuss next year’s rates and any changes. The Company is still required to keep any plan comparable to what we already have. We will keep you posted as soon as we have information to share.

In a few days, we’ll be giving you a health-care survey (which will also be available online at the Guild Web site) to get your views on the MVP plan.

Why the Guild still matters

Why pay dues? Does the Guild still have any say? What can the union do next? Are we still going to party?

These are all good questions we’ve been getting from our members.

We’ve been a little focused elsewhere lately, as the National Labor Relations Board has been reviewing our legal case in response to the Times Union’s recent actions. We’ve spent our time giving sworn affidavits and getting documents to the board. We expect the Times Union to be charged shortly, frankly, with breaking the law repeatedly in its dealings with the Guild. We’ll advise you as soon as that becomes official.

We are also planning a membership meeting for early November, to be held at lunch time nearby, so that you can learn about what is happening and what it means to you. There will be a seat on the Executive Board to fill as well. We’ll provide you with information on how to run or to nominate someone as soon as we have a meeting date and place set.

As for the Guild, we continue to do what we’ve always done. We are preparing for the annual discussion with the Company of next year’s health insurance rates. We will be giving you a survey soon on your experiences with MVP (and letting you complete the survey online.)

And, yes, we are still planning to have our annual Holiday Party at the Pump Station. It’s scheduled for Friday, December 4. You can bring one date (spouses count as dates, you know) but you must be a member in good standing to attend, naturally.

If you’ve fallen behind on your dues, please do try to catch up because the amount owed will continue to increase. All of it will have to be paid at the time of a settlement. It’s unfair for some people to pay for the benefits they receive and others not to do so.

And let’s clear up any confusion: The Company cannot impose any other changes. It cannot suddenly decide to lay more people off without negotiation or without paying severance. It cannot decide to split people’s days off or to impose pay cuts. Your pension benefits are still in place, the rules for how much vacation time you get and how those weeks are assigned all still apply. Almost all of the provisions of the contract remain in effect.

 The Guild has been at the Times Union 75 years this year. We’re still here, proudly serving our members, and will be for a long time to come. If you have any questions, please call my cell phone at 466-8700. If I am working, I’ll return the call and we’ll find a mutually agreeable time to talk.

 Tim O’Brien

A familiar face, a new blog

John Piekarski, who you all remember as a page designer in sports, is keeping up his Internet skills with his new blog, SoSara.com. You can check it out here.

Drop him a line and let him know how you like it. I’m sure he’d appreciate it.