Times offers new proposal, but movement on key issues is scant

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nyguild.org/ny-times-news-details/items/times-offers-new-proposal-but-movement-on-key-issues-is-scant.html

Pension plan would still be frozen with more 401(k) contributions instead

With nearly three dozen Guild observers looking on, Times management took a slightly less offensive approach to contract talks today by presenting a new offer that eliminated eight of its initial proposals and revised several others, including its offers on wages, health care coverage, retirement plans and the length of the workweek.

NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

But most major proposals were unchanged: Management still wants to freeze Guild members’ pension accruals and eliminate Guild trustees from the plan; still wants to cut severance pay and buyout terms; and still wants overtime pay to be on a weekly rather than a daily basis.

Times negotiators presented their revised giveback demands just after New York Guild President Bill O’Meara scolded the management representatives for the regressive proposals they have kept on the table for the past year.

“Guild members are angry over huge executive severance packages, alleged secret bonus plans and secret pension plans for top managers,” O’Meara said. “That’s against a backdrop of recent news of more than 400,000 paid digital subscribers, and paying off Carlos Slim. The picture for The Times has gotten a lot brighter – yet the people who produce the product are being treated poorly. This is not a time to have a fight with the people you need the most.”

O’Meara added that “The Guild would like to reset the negotiations in hopes of making progress.”

FULL story at link.