Providence Newspaper Guild - Guild Leader January 8, 2004

Guild members to get 3% raise for 2004
NLRB action moving forward smoothly;
Guild leaders plan strategies for future

The Journal has announced that the wage increase for 2004 will be 3 percent, for Guild members as well as other employees. Guild members will not see the raise in their paychecks until the contract is finalized, but it will be retroactive to Jan. 1. With the retroactive raises back to 2000 and compounding, Guild members will get a total pay increase of 12.46 percent.

The pending agreement requires that wage increases be no less than 1.5 percent and no less than what other non-management employees get in each year of the contract, with a minimum of 8 percent in total raises for all four years. The 3 percent raise for 2004, which increases the base pay on which future raises will be calculated, gets Guild members off to a good start.

The contract is contingent on action by the National Labor Relations Board, which must accept it as a settlement of the company's 27 labor law convictions. Recent communication with the board indicates that NLRB is likely to approve it.

Scott F. Burson, NLRB supervisory attorney, wrote to lawyers for the Guild and the company to say that he had prepared a motion to the NLRB, which must "make an independent judgment into the fairness and adequacy of the settlement."

"That being said," Burson's letter continued, "I do not anticipate any problem with the board's approval of this motion, and the regional director's subsequent acceptance of the withdrawal of these charges as well as the associated complaints and answers. "

He added that "the General Counsel believes the settlement is a full and fair resolution of the underlying unfair labor practices…."

Meanwhile, the Guild Executive Committee met Monday to begin planning ways to keep the Guild strong over the next four years.

Suggestions included strengthening our ties to other unions, personal outreach to each new member upon hiring, a Guild-wide person-to-person communication network, and informal cafeteria meetings with members held every other month.

If you have any suggestions, or would like to work with any of the subcommittees the Executive Committee will form to carry out these projects, please call Guild President John Hill at 334-5900.

And yes, there will be a party! Guild Vice President Jeff Andrade is exploring potential sites and dates for a huge celebration.