From Dee Depass:
Hi All,
Just a reminder that the company has a confidential Employee Assistance Program that is a resource available to you, should you or a family member need someone to talk to during this difficult time. Lifeworks offers counselors, financial guidance, legal advice and other services that may be of help, right now. The Star Tribune’s contract with LifeWorks allows for a set number of one-on-one sessions for any employee. There is no charges for this service and it is available to all, as long as you are still an employee. The website www.lifeworks.com username=star password=5466
Hope this is helpful.
Jenna Ross Bankruptcy
When: Noon Wednesday, Jan. 13
Where: Assembly rooms A/B
What: Buyouts, questions, pop and pizza
Who: All members are welcome at stewards meetings.
Jenna Ross Stewards
We’d like to introduce the new leadership slate as of Jan. 1:
David Chanen and Janet Moore are co-chairs of your Guild.
Vice chairs on our team include: Kathe Connair, Myron Medcalf, Graydon Royce, Jackie Crosby and Pam Miller, who is chief of stewards.
Jenna Ross Officers
Guild members,
Co-chair candidates Chris Serres and Randy Furst wanted to pass along the following statement:
“Chris Serres and Randy Furst have announced they are withdrawing as candidates for co-chair because they have decided to endorse their opponents.”
As there are no challengers for the position, Janet Moore and David Chanen have been elected co-chairs by acclamation.
Your election committee,
Kathe Connair
Martha Buns
Sharon Kessler
Jenna Ross Officers
This is the official notification of an election for offices of the Executive Committee of local 37002:
Five of the eight offices were uncontested, which means the individual nominees for those offices are elected without opposition for the 2-year terms that begin in January 2010. Those officers are:
President - Ann Wilhelmy
Commercial Vice President - Gayle Grundtner
Print Sector President - Michael Goblirsch
At Large Representative - Michael Moore
At Large Representative - Candace Lund
Three offices are contested. The offices and candidates are:
Editorial Vice President - Cheryl Burch-Schoff (Pioneer Press); Warren Wolfe (Star Tribune)
Secretary - Carol Kusnierek, incumbent (Pioneer Press); Steve Brandt (Star Tribune)
Treasurer - Kelly Blaiser, incumbent (Pioneer Press); Chris Serres (Star Tribune)
Read more…
Jenna Ross Bankruptcy
A Note from Guild member Janet Moore:
Recently, the Twin Cities Newspaper Guild and the Minnesota Journalism Center of the University of Minnesota sponsored a day-long conference called New Economic Models for News.
The conference featured speakers from all over the country discussing new ownership and revenue models for newspapers, as well as the industry’s changing regulatory environment.
David Shribman, editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, gave a rather inspiring speech at lunch about Why We Still Matter. Brian Leehan and I took notes from the conference:
Read more…
Jenna Ross Meetings, Save the Strib
If you were unable to make yesterday’s meeting, you can still vote today:
What: Vote on tenative deal.
When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: Kathe Connair’s desk
Jenna Ross Contract
The Guild bargaining committee early this morning reached a tentative agreement with the company on concessions that would prevent a filing to terminate our contract in bankruptcy court.
We recognize these provisions are painful and distasteful. As a committee - and with counsel from our attorney - we believe that we would put members at greater exposure had we not reached an agreement and the company brought the matter to the court.
The principal elements of the tentative agreement are these:
- A 3 percent cut across the wage scales.
- A 30 percent cut across-the-board in overscale, with a portion to be redistributed at the discretion of management.
- A wage freeze that extends to the end of the current contract, July 31, 2011.
- A phase-out of night differential in three steps through the end of the contract.
- A freeze in Pension Plan G, after Aug. 1. This would allow for one more contribution to the cash-balance plan.
- A PTO plan that would include vacation, sick leave and holidays, at a maximum of 33 days per year, plus a bank of 240 hours to use to offset the short-term disability plan.
- A two-day furlough in each of the next two years.
- Expanded freelance.
- A limited right for management to depart from strict seniority and exempt a small number of employees from layoff.
- A reduction in severance to a cap of 30 weeks for the duration of the contract, and to 26 weeks thereafter.
There are other provisions in the agreement. In terms of dollar figures, the concession is approximately $1.68 million (excluding pension).
Full details will be released in the next few days. Bargaining took place around the clock and we cannot provide every detail until the tentative agreement is reviewed by The Newspaper Guild in Washington, D.C.
There will be a unit meeting next week, with a secret ballot.
Graydon Royce
David Chanen
Pat Doyle
Janet Moore
Paul Joppa
Ann Wilhelmy
Executive Officer Mike Bucsko
Jenna Ross Bankruptcy
To see more photos, including those Jackie Crosby took with her “old-fashioned” camera, visit our Flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/savethestrib.
Thanks to everyone who helped us create hundreds of hats for the Twins opener! They were a hit.
Jenna Ross Save the Strib
Attention all of you who have Facebook friends and/or Twitter followers:
We are rolling out the new SaveTheStrib.com today. We can get a ton of free publicity for it through a simple act of concerted social-networking.
At precisely 12:30 p.m., everyone who has a Facebook and/or Twitter profile, display this status (in the box labeled “What’s on your mind?” or “What are you doing?”):
Check out the new website for people interested in the future of the Star Tribune. See stories, videos, links, updates and more. And it’s interactive, so add your own thoughts about the Strib’s future.
Or whatever you want. And then simply copy or type in the link to www.SaveTheStrib.com and hit “SHARE.”
(Twitter folks will need a shorter version. May we suggest using the first line, then the link.)
Remember to do this right at 12:30 p.m. today.
And check out our many sites: website, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube
Jenna Ross Save the Strib
