Providence Newspaper Guild - Bargaining Bulletin

Contract 2000

Guild Bargaining Bulletin #3

The Company presented the Guild with its initial proposal Friday (Nov. 12). It is most notable for what is absent or deleted from the current contract:

* Medical cost caps -- The company proposed that employees pay a flat 15 percent of medical premiums. The current cap limits increases to half of the annual premium increase, capped at 15 percent of the prior year's premium

* 401k & Pension improvements -- The Company refused to offer the Belo programs, and instead proposed keeping the current plans.

* Parking -- The company proposed eliminating the guarantee of discounted downtown parking.

* IE benefits -- The company proposed eliminating the provision guaranteeing irregular extras credit for all time worked. Currently the contract requires the company to disregard breaks in service when calculating IE benefits.

The company proposed a series of new medical, dental and drug plans. However they were unable to provide any details of the plans or their costs. The company also proposed the right to substitute other providers for medical plans as long coverage was "substantially equivalent." It did not explain what this expression means.

This raised concerns from your negotiating committee. "We want to know what we are buying and how much we will pay," said Guild spokesman Tim Schick. Negotiating committee members said they were disappointed in the company's proposal.

The company did propose increasing wages 5 percent over the term of the contract, but was silent over the specific amount or timing of the increases. If applied on an annual basis, this would amount to increases of just under 1.7 percent a year.

Your negotiating committee told the company that it had carefully avoided "cherry picking" through the Belo benefit program in the interest of quickly resolving those issues. When the Guild added up the gains and losses under the company proposal, it appears that Guild members would see a net loss and that it was the company doing the "cherry picking."

The next negotiating session is Friday November 19.

The Guild's proposal is available on-line at the PNG web site:

Guild proposal

Company proposal

Tentative Agreements

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