Updated February 1, 2012
General Membership Meeting
Posted: February 1, 2012
6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012
Back Room, Anchor Bar
450 W.Fort St. between First and Cass Avenues Downtown Detroit
AGENDA
Approve minutes of Sept. 15, 2011 general membership meeting
President’s Report:
Nominations for the four Local 34022 officers: President, Vice-President, Secretary & Treasurer. Only members in good standing can be nominated from the floor or by signed petition submitted by Guild members.
Treasurer’s Report
Unit Reports
Detroit News - Recommendation to move the Joel Kurth jurisdiction grievance to binding arbitration
Michigan Catholic - Update on status of contract negotiations
UAW - Election of unit officers; contract talks pending
Independent Newspapers –Status of contract talks; contracts extended through February
New & Old Business
Guild and Metro Council of Newspaper Unions grievance filed Jan. 27th regarding unilateral changes for eligible retiree health insurance plans at the News, Free Press and Maintenance Units. Update on health insurance rates for active employees
Adjournment
FAQ’s About the Guild Pension Plan for Janitors
Posted: January 27, 2012
Some Guild members in the Maintenance Unit have recently asked questions concerning the amount of money that is contributed weekly by the Company on your behalf into The Newspaper Guild International Pension Plan. More
Contract updates: Detroit News, Maintenance
Posted: January 11, 2012
Detroit News More
Maintenance
More
Faq's about annual healthcare enrollment & Dec. 1 deadline
Posted: November 22, 2011
A number of Guild members have raised questions about the annual health insurance More
Dealing with benefits issues:
grievances, not “appeals.” (a true story)
Posted: September 27, 2011
Recently, a Free Press asked to drop her health insurance coverage More
Don't Shop Verizon!
Posted: September 21, 2011
Don't Shop Verizon! (PDF) - Fact Sheet (PDF)
Independent Unit Meeting
Posted: September 19, 2011
11 A.M. Sunday, October 2, 2011
CWA Local 4008 Hall 145 Colonial Ct. & S. Gratiot Ave. Mt. Clemens
Informational Meeting to discuss the status of contract negotiations and bargaining issues.
Guild attorney and lead negotiator Duane Ice will be in attendance, as well as your local officers and bargaining committee, to answer questions and review in detail the changes the company is seeking in a new contract.
Bargaining committee members include: President Lou Mleczko; Vice-President Bill Fleming; Bargaining committee members Norb Franz and Pam Marbach.
Free Parking located on Colonial Ct. and Parking Lot across the street from the
Local 4008 Hall.
Independent Newspapers Bargaining Bulletin
Guild representatives have been bargaining with the Independent Newspapers, Inc., More
Posted September 19, 2011
Macomb Daily and Daily Tribune Bargaining
Posted: August 15, 2011
Click to access PDF
Overtime Exemption
Posted: August 12, 2011
The Free Press and
the News have embarked on a new overtime/comp time policy More
HAP Employee Deductable and Co-Payments FAQ
Posted: July 26, 2011
Click here
UNION CONTRACTS EXTENDED TWO MONTHS; FIRST JOINT BARGAINING SESSION JULY 6TH
Posted: June 7, 2011
The Newspaper Guild of Detroit, and the other three unions comprising the Metropolitan Council of Newspaper Unions, have reached agreement with Independent Newspapers to extend the current contracts until Aug. 31st. The Unions and the Company also agreed to extend the existing contracts beyond Aug. 31st on a month-to-month basis unless either party gives two weeks’ notice to terminate the contracts.
The unions agreed with the assessment by Company officials that scheduling conflicts made it impossible to conclude talks by the current expiration date of June 30th.
At a preliminary meeting June 1st, the Council of Unions proposed joint bargaining on the subjects of wages, health insurance and duration with individual talks addressing other contractual issues unique to each union. The Company agreed with this format. The parties scheduled an initial joint session July 6th to hear a presentation from the Company.
The first round of individual bargaining begins July 12th with the Pressmen in the morning and the Guild in the afternoon followed by the Teamsters on July 13th and the Detroit Typographical Union on July 14th.
Independent Newspapers will be led in both joint and individual bargaining by Michael Rybicki, an attorney for Seyfarth Shaw of Chicago while Duane Ice will be leading the Metro Council of Unions in joint negotiations. The Guild bargaining committee includes: Bill Fleming, Unit Chairperson and Vice-President, Local 34022; Norb Franz, Reporter; Pam Marbach, Circulation Clerk; Lou Mleczko, President Local 34022; and Ice.
This will be the first round of bargaining on new contracts since Journal Register Co. emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009. As you know, the unions provided critical wage and benefit concessions then to ensure the survival of Independent Newspapers. We will be providing bulletins and having membership meetings as needed concerning the talks. We urge you to pay close attention to bargaining developments and to support your bargaining committee.
If you haven’t already done so, please send us your home e-mail address to help us keep you informed. The Guild e-mail address is: Lou@detroitguild22.com.
GUILD PENSION PLAN REMAINS STABLE IN 2011
Posted: May 5, 2011
Detroit News Editorial and Maintenance Unit employees recently received their annual funding notice from The Newspaper Guild International Pension Plan, and while the technical report is hard to understand, the bottom line is that the funding remains stable and that the trustees are not anticipating any benefit changes in 2011.
As you may recall, the Newspaper Guild of Detroit, the News and the Detroit Media Partnership signed documents in 2010 and adopted a “Preferred Schedule” that is part of a five-year “Rehabilitation Plan” required by the federal government for any pension plan as having a “critical status.” This is required for any plan in which the funded percentage of assets falls below 80%. You received an 11-page document in 2010 detailing the changes now in effect. As of Jan. 1, 2010, the Guild’s funded percentage was 79.59% - a reflection of the severe financial losses that most pension plans absorbed in 2008 and 2009. Guild trustees don’t anticipate any changes to the Preferred Schedule of benefits adopted last year, and if the financial markets remain relatively stable, the pension plan assets will continue to improve from their current funding level. Among the key points you should keep in mind:
* The News and the DMP are committed to remaining participants in the Guild plan for another four years. This requirement doesn’t change even if the next contract is for a shorter time period. There are significant financial penalties if the News or the DMP violate this time commitment.
* The Guild plan maintains the core benefits including normal retirement age of 65, early and disability retirements, spouse and domestic partner benefits. Refer to your 11-page Preferred Schedule for details.
* The weekly contributions of $45.30 for News editorial employees and $56.00 for Maintenance workers remain the same. These weekly contributions are made by the Company, not the employees. Starting in 2013, the Company must increase its contribution by 3% annually.
Guild represented employees can take some comfort in that the pension plan is meeting all of its financial obligations and commitments to existing and future retirees.
New time cards require Accurate Information by employees
Posted: April 26, 2011
The Guild’s initial review of the new time cards do not seem to present any contractual or labor relations issues. Employers are allowed to make reasonable rules concerning administrative matters like time-keeping.
However, Guild represented employees may be held accountable for the hours they record, their accuracy and proper categorization of hours. You must be careful to not over-report or under-report hours.
The time sheets require employees to identify the categories to be paid – regular, overtime, sick, vacation, personal, holiday and other. If there is any question regarding whether certain hours are compensable or their proper category, employees should raise the question with their supervisors or contact the Guild. You do not want to be subject to any charge that you provided false information or sought pay or benefit hours to which you are not entitled.
Employees should record all hours you worked (regular or overtime) and all benefit time to be paid. There will be a legal presumption that the recorded hours are accurate. If the hours are under-reported, you may have difficulty in any later effort to seek proper pay, benefit status or particular benefit payments.
Individual and aggregated hours are used for many purposes, such as determining benefit eligibility, benefit contributions, analyzing workloads and understaffing or overstaffing of departments, compliance with wage and hour laws and remedies in contract cases.
