This Agreement is made this 18th day of
January, 2004 between INDEPENDENT
NEWSPAPERS, INC., the Publisher of THE MACOMB DAILY AND THE DAILY TRIBUNE being
hereinafter known as the Publisher and the NEWSPAPER GUILD OF DETROIT, LOCAL
34022, a Local chartered by The Newspaper Guild/CWA, hereinafter known as the
Guild, for itself and on behalf of all employees of the Publisher described in
Article I.
ARTICLE I
- COVERAGE
1. This Agreement covers all non-mechanical
employees, including all employees on the editorial staff, the advertising
staff, the commercial staff, business office employees, inside circulation
employees, photographers, inside sales employees, and janitors employed by the
Publisher except as provided in Section 2 of this article, that are employed at
100 Macomb Daily Drive, Mt. Clemens Michigan, 35110 Garfield, Clinton Township,
Michigan and 210 East Third, Royal Oak Michigan.
Wherever in this Agreement employees or jobs are
referred to in the masculine gender, the parties understand such reference
pertains equally to male and female employees.
2. Performance of the following, whether by presently or normally used processes or equipment or by new or modified processes or equipment, shall be assigned to employees covered by this Agreement.
The jurisdiction of the Guild is:
(a)
The kind of work
either normally or presently performed within the unit covered by this
Agreement; and
(b)
Any other kind of
work assigned to be performed within the unit covered by this Agreement.
(c) The following are excluded from this
Agreement: Publisher, General Manager, Chief Financial Officer, Controller,
Assistant Controller, Accounting Manager, Billing Supervisor, Credit Manager,
Data Processing Manager, Systems Manager, General Ledger Supervisor, Accounts
Payable Supervisor, Executive Assistants to the Publisher, General Manager,
Controller, and Director of Sales and Marketing, Editorial Director, Editor In
Chief, Managing Editor, Assistant Managing Editor, Editor, Director of Sales
and Marketing, Assistant Retail Advertising Manager, Retail Advertising
Manager, Director of Sales and Promotion, Retail Telemarketing Manager,
Assistant Classified Manager, Classified Advertising Manager, Circulation
Director, Circulation Manager, Outside Circulation Sales Manager, Circulation
Office Manager, Single Copy Manager, Home Delivery Manager, Home Delivery Zone
Manager, Production Manager, Assistant Production Manager, Press Room
Superintendent, Mechanical Supervisor, Fleet Superintendent and Machinist,
Human Resources Director and Human Resources Generalist. Employees in positions
excluded may continue to perform the kind of work performed in the past by such
employees.
3. The
Employer shall have the right to enter cross-selling arrangements with other
Companies. If the Employer enters a cross-selling arrangement with another
Company, Guild employees shall have the right to sell advertising of any kind
into those publications and receive commissions for those sales pursuant to the
terms of their commission plan. Employees
of the contracting companies shall have the right to sell advertising of
any kind into any Independent Newspapers, Inc. publication and Guild employees
shall not be entitled to commission for advertising sold by the employees of
those companies. The Employer shall provide the Union with reasonable notice of
entering and dissolving any cross-selling arrangements with other companies. In
all cross-selling arrangements Independent Newspapers, Inc. will be solely
responsible for supervising and compensating Guild employees.
The above includes but is not limited to any
centralized call center.
Display advertising sales employees will retain
current accounts, unless the account hasn’t placed advertising with the
publication for more than 90 days. For seasonal accounts the off season period
will not be considered.
The following classified sales employees shall have
job guarantees for the duration of this contract provided they meet the minimum
performance standards provided in Article XVII Section 5, or terminated for
just cause. The job guarantee holders are:
Julianne Mitchell Diana Hall Linda Addis Patty Andrews
Shirley Fox
Evon Pfeilstucker
If the annual classified sales fall by $500,000,
the Company shall have the right to layoff one person by seniority for each
drop in annual classified sales of $500,000. The base year is 2003. The
determination is made each quarter (March, June, September, December) comparing
quarterly sales to the corresponding quarter in 2003. If quarterly sales fall
by $125,000 below the 2003 figure the Company shall have the right to lay off
one of the listed classified sales employees by seniority. For each additional
$125,000 below the 2003 the Company shall have the right to lay off additional
classified sales employees. In any event, there shall be only one layoff by
seniority for losses totaling $500,000 for the calendar year. If losses do not
fall by $500,000 at the end of the year, the laid off employee shall be called
back to work. Job guarantees shall be terminated upon voluntary separation of a
guarantee holder, retirement, just cause discharge, failure to meet minimum
performance standards, or lay off pursuant to this section.
The Company is not obligated to replace any of the
employees with job guarantees who are terminated under the above provisions or
voluntary resign or retire.
ARTICLE
II - MODIFIED GUILD SHOP
1. Any present employee who is a member of the Guild in good standing on the date of execution of this Agreement shall be required to be and remain a member of the Guild in good standing as a condition of employment for the duration of this Agreement.
2. Any new
employee hired after the date of execution of this Agreement shall be required
as a condition of employment to become and remain a member of the Guild in good
standing not later than the 31st day following the date of hiring.
3. There
shall be no dismissal, discipline, harassment of or other discrimination against
any employee because of his membership or activity in the Guild.
ARTICLE
III - DUES DEDUCTION
1. Upon any employee's voluntary written assignment, the Publisher shall deduct weekly from the earnings of such employee and pay to the Guild not later than the 15th day of each month all Guild membership dues. Such monthly membership dues shall be deducted from the employee's earnings in accordance with the Guild's schedule of rates furnished the Publisher by the Guild. Such schedule may be amended by the Guild at any time. An employee's voluntary written assignment shall remain effective in accordance with the terms of such assignment.
2. The
dues deduction assignment shall be made upon the following form:
Date
I
understand that, by agreement with the Newspaper Guild of Detroit, you perform
for your employees the service of paying their Guild dues by payroll deduction.
I wish to take advantage of this convenience, at no extra cost to me.
I
hereby authorize and request you to check off and deduct such amounts during
the month for which such dues are levied and the Guild so notifies you, from
any salary then standing to my credit as your employee, and to remit the amount
deducted to the Newspaper Guild of Detroit.
I
hereby assign to the Newspaper Guild of Detroit, from my salary earned or to be
earned by me as your employee, an amount equal to all membership dues lawfully
levied against me by the Guild for each calendar month following the date of
this assignment as certified by the Treasurer of the Newspaper Guild of
Detroit.
This assignment and authorization shall remain in effect until revoked by me, but shall be irrevocable for a period of one year from the date appearing above or until the termination of the collective bargaining agreement between yourself and the Guild, whichever occurs sooner. I further agree and direct that this assignment and authorization shall be continued automatically and shall be irrevocable for successive periods of one year each or for the period of each succeeding applicable agreement between yourself and the Guild, whichever period shall be shorter, unless written notice of its revocation is given by me to yourself and to the Guild by registered mail not more than thirty (30) days, and not less than fifteen (15) days prior to the expiration of each period of one year, or of each applicable collective agreement between yourself and the Guild, whichever occurs sooner. Such notice of revocation shall become effective for the calendar month following the calendar month in which you receive it. This assignment and authorization supersedes all previous assignments and authorizations heretofore given to you by me in relation to my Guild membership dues.
Witness
Employee's
Signature
ARTICLE
IV - INFORMATION
1.
The Publisher shall notify the Guild monthly in writing of:
(a)
All merit increases
granted by name of the employee,
individual amount, resulting new salary, and effective date.
(b)
Step-up increases
paid by name of the employee, individual
amount,
resulting new salary, and effective date.
(c)
Changes in
classification, any salary changes by reason
thereof, and effective date.
(d) The
following information for new employees:
(1)
Name, address, date
of birth, and Social Security
number
and sex.
(2)
Date of hiring.
(3)
Classification.
(4)
Experience rating and
experience anniversary date.
(5)
Salary, including the
precise formula for any commission
or bonus arrangements, or other forms of compensation.
(e)
Resignations,
retirements, deaths and any other revisions in
the data listed above, and effective date.
2. The
Publisher will provide the Guild with a written notice containing the name,
last known address, and date of termination of an employee whose employment
with the Publisher is terminated for any reason, said notice to be sent to the
Guild office at the time notice of termination is delivered to the payroll
department.
3. The Publisher will furnish in writing to a covered employee and simultaneously to the Guild a copy of any commendation or incident of unsatisfactory performance of work or omission in performance of work which may serve as a basis for future disciplinary action. Should any comment or notation, as defined above, which the employee and/or the Guild deem to be adverse be placed in an employee’s personnel file, the employee and/or the Guild shall have the right to place in such file a response.
ARTICLE V
- GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
1. The Guild shall designate a committee of not more than three (3) employees of its own choosing to take up with the Publisher or his authorized agent any matter arising from the application of this Agreement or affecting the relations of employee and Publisher.
2. The
Publisher agrees to meet with the committee (plus one non-employee
representative if the committee so desires) within five working days after
request for meeting. Efforts to adjust grievances shall be made on company
time.
3. Any
grievance involving the interpretation, application, administration or alleged
violation of this Agreement not satisfactorily settled in the above described
meetings may be submitted by the Guild to final and binding arbitration;
provided however, that any such grievance shall be put in writing, signed by an
authorized representative of the Guild, and submitted to the designated agent
of the Publisher within 45 work days after the act or event which is the
subject of the grievance, or, if later, within 45 work days after the Guild
learns of such act or event or reasonably could have known of its occurrence.
The grievance shall set forth the circumstances clearly and in detail, and
shall specify the contract section or sections claimed to have been violated.
The Publisher will meet with the Guild committee (plus one non-employee
representative if the committee so desires) within five work days after the
written grievance is submitted, and will give the Guild a written answer within
14 work days (within five work days in discharge cases) after the date of such
meeting.
4. If such written answer does not satisfactorily resolve the grievance, the Guild may appeal the grievance to arbitration by mailing a written demand for arbitration to the Publisher within 20 work days from the Guild's receipt of the Publisher's written answer. The arbitrator to decide a grievance appealed to arbitration will be selected by the process of elimination from a panel of three (3) arbitrators selected by mutual agreement prior to the signing of the agreement. The first party to strike a name from the panel will be selected by lot. The other party shall then strike a name, and the arbitrator whose name remains shall decide the case.
5. Upon mutual agreement, the parties will consider
such steps as may be appropriate to expedite the arbitration on a given
grievance. Such steps may include waiving transcripts, waiving briefs,
stipulating facts and issues in advance of hearing, requesting bench decisions
or taking such other steps as they may find acceptable for the grievance in
question.
6. The arbitration shall be conducted pursuant to the Voluntary Labor Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association. The decision of the Arbitrator shall be final and binding on the Publisher, the Guild, and any employee or employees involved. The Arbitrator shall not have power to alter, amend, modify, add to or subtract from any provisions of this Agreement. The fees and expenses of the Arbitrator shall be borne equally by the Publisher and the Guild, except that no party shall be obligated to pay any part of the cost of a stenographic transcript without express consent. Failure of a party to agree to share the costs of such transcript record, shall be determined a waiver of such party's right of access to the record. Each party shall bear its own expenses for other items such as attorney fees and witnesses.
7. A grievance described in Section 3 above shall
be barred if not submitted within the limit specified in said Section 3 or if
arbitration is not demanded in the manner and within the time limit specified
in said Section 4. Time limits may be extended by mutual agreement in writing.
8. Any back pay award made by the Arbitrator shall provide for
deduction of any and all amounts received by the employee during the period in
question from other employment or self-employment (except other employment of
self-employment in which the employee was engaged while employed by the
Publisher), from unemployment compensation, or from workmen's compensation. The
Arbitrator shall have discretion to disregard this clause in any case where he
concludes that the Publisher acted arbitrarily or capriciously.
9. It is
specifically understood and agreed that the Publisher or the Guild shall have
the right at any time the "panel" method of arbitrator selection set
forth in Section 4 above, and to return for the then remaining duration of the
contract to the method of arbitrator selection set forth in Section 3 of
Article V of the 1977-1980 agreement between the parties, by so notifying the
other party in writing. The only restriction of this right shall be that it
cannot be exercised with respect to any grievance as to which the Guild or the
Publisher has already served a demand for arbitration.
1. There shall be no dismissals as a result of the
execution of this Agreement.
2. No seniority employee shall be dismissed except
for just and sufficient cause. This section does not apply to dismissals to
reduce the force.
3. Each new employee shall be in a probationary status until he has completed three months of continuous employment as either a full-time or regular part time employee, during which period he may be discharged at the will of the Publisher. Absence from all of the employee's scheduled working hours during a full week will extend the probationary period by one week. Upon completion of the probationary period, the employee's seniority date will become his first day of work. Employees with the same seniority date will be ranked in order of their Social Security numbers (lowest Social Security number has higher seniority). A given employee's probationary period may be extended by written mutual agreement between the Publisher and the Guild.
4. Dismissals to reduce the force, if any, shall
start with the youngest employee in point of service in the classification or
classifications in which reduction in force is made. Any employee so affected
who holds greater seniority in a lower ranking classification from which he has
been promoted may elect to return to such lower rank classification if his
seniority in such lower rank classification is sufficient to continue his
employment and his rate of pay shall be the contract rate for the
classification in which he continues his employment.
5. The Publisher shall fill all vacancies with
persons on the layoff list who are qualified for the classification in which a
vacancy occurs in the order of length of service. A person rehired from the
rehiring list shall be paid the contract rate for the classification into which
he is rehired, plus any merit differential above the rate enjoyed in that
classification when placed on the list.
6.
Employment shall be deemed continuous unless terminated by (a) dismissal
(except dismissal to reduce the force), (b) resignation, (c) refusal to accept
an offer to rehire into the classification in which an employee worked when he
was dismissed to reduce the force, (d) failure to be recalled, after having
been dismissed in a reduction in force, for a period in excess of one year
after such dismissal or a period equal to the employee's seniority at the time
of such dismissal, whichever is greater.
7. In case of any dismissal of a seniority employee
(including dismissals to reduce the force) the Publisher shall give the
employee and the Guild two (2) weeks' notice of its intention in writing, or in
lieu of such notice, two (2) weeks' pay in addition to any salary due. If any
severance pay is provided for elsewhere in this Agreement, any such pay in lieu
of notice shall be in addition to any such severance pay.
8. The Publisher agrees to make a reasonable effort
to use attrition and normal turnover for any reduction in force.
9. When the volume of work in the inside classified
department requires a temporary reduction in the force, the following shall prevail:
(a)
Temporary employees
and part time employees (according to seniority) shall be laid off first.
(b)
The least senior full
time employees will be offered part time status in lieu of temporary lay off.
(c) A full time employee who elects to accept lay off rather than part time hours shall be entitled to recall to full time employment in his/her classification according to seniority.