52 in Guild Take the Buyout

The colleagues who left Below is a list of Guild-represented retirees who took the buyout, with their years of service at the Journal. Ann Agostini, advertising sales, 22.9 years Douglas Allan Jr., reporter, 37.8 years Brian April, field sales manager, 24.7 years Harold Barker, reporter, 36.8 years Thomas Bunn, inside telephone sales, 34.8 Kathleen Burdick, promotion assistant, 40.4 years Mary Cadoret, publications clerk, 9.4 years Beth Campbell, inside telephone sales, 35.3 years Ronald Cassinelli, reporter, 24.6 years S. Robert Chiappinelli, reporter, 37.3 years William K. Daby, photographer, 32.3 years James Dalton, pre-pub specialist, 37.3 years Robert B. Dick, reporter, 38.6 years Edwin R. Duckworth, special writer, 38.9 years Ruth Ferns, display counter sales, 8.8 years Maria Fresilli, porter, 20.2 years Ronald P. Furie, copy editor, 35.6 years William K. Gale, section editor, 30 years David T. Galloway, section editor, 28.7 years Don Gray, creative services specialist, 43.6 years Doane Hulick, special writer, 31.8 years John Johnson, pre-pub operator, 31.8 years Brian C. Jones, special writer, 35.4 years Michael J. Kelly, photographer, 39.2 years Alan Kerr, section editor, 22.3 years William Lafferty, pre-pub specialist, 20.2 years Armand LaRochelle, pre-pub specialist, 37.4 years Claire LaRue, department assistant, 13 years Patricia Lathrop, inside telephone sales, 27.5 years Robert Lavallee, copy layout manager, 39.9 years Robert Leddy, reporter, 35.4 years Donna Lee, section editor, 19.4 years Robert Lefebvre, pre-publishing specialist, 44.1 years Francis Mancini, editorial writer, 15.5 years Robert Maynard, porter, 34.6 years Eleanor McCarthy, state staff office asst., 34.9 years Gail McLellan, inside telephone sales, 27.6 years Jonell Mehr, state staff office asst., 14.7 years Robert Mello, reporter, 40 years Charles Miller, pre-pub specialist, 37.6 years Gerald Payette, pre-pub specialist, 43.4 years Maria Pimental, porter, 13.4 years Thomas Quigley, pre-pub specialist, 40.3 years John Quirk, pre-pub specialist, 37.4 years Randall Richard, section editor, 35.2 years Robert Saulnier, pre-pub supervisor, 35.2 years James Seavor, reporter, 41.6 years Bonnie Stevenson, advertising salesperson, 34.3 years Henriette Streker, research analyst, 24.3 years Mayli Waterbury, advertising salesperson, 14.8 years Joseph Williams, advertising salesperson, 38.1 years James Wilson Jr., pre-pub specialist, 41 years

This exodus of talent leaves few people older than 60 at the Journal and guts the newspaper's institutional memory and knowledge base.

Of those who took buyouts, 30 worked in advertising and 22 in editorial. The average early retiree was aged 61 and had 31 years' experience. Some had worked for the Journal for more than 44 years.

In October, the Journal offered an early-retirement package to all employees aged 55 and older, including 79 people in the Guild bargaining unit. (Photographer Jimmy Molloy, who retired before the buyout offer was made, was also provided the same package retroactively; if you count Molloy the buyout was offered to 80 and had 53 takers.)

The package provided one month's pay for each month's employment up to 18 months. It did not include health insurance, requiring retirees to either rely on spouses' coverage or pay for health insurance under COBRA.

Despite the package's limitations, two-thirds of those eligible in the Guild took the buyout. They were joined by 42 non-Guild employees, including members of management who also opted for early retirement.

Coming at a time when employees of all ages have been leaving for other jobs, the high participation in the early retirement program was seen by many as the starkest evidence yet of plummeting morale and deepening malaise as Guild workers head toward their third year without a contract.

The retirement packages for Guild members will cost the company $3.5 million.

The buyout accelerates a brain drain that continues among younger workers, with more than 60 departing over the past couple of years.

Membership meeting tomorrow Tuesday, Dec. 11, at noon Guild office, 270 Westminster St. Nominations will be taken December 11 to fill two vacancies on the Guild's executive committee caused by the early retirements of Thomas Bunn and Brian Jones. Two people, Thom Cahir and Anthony Caputo, have already been nominated. If more nominations are received, an election will be held.