Post "Drops a Bomb" On Workers as Contract Talks Open
Thursday, June 27, 2013(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
The
Washington Post’s
publisher “dropped a bomb” on its Newspaper Guild (TNG) members on the
first
day of bargaining talks on Tuesday. “Moments after saying that the company
would not be seeking drastic changes in a proposed two-year contract, the
publisher’s labor lawyer outlined its most contemptuous proposal in
memory,”
reports TNG 32035 co-chair Freddy Kunkle. The Post’s proposal
“would give managers the
power to fire anyone for any reason,” Kunkle says. Under the Guild’s
existing
contract, the Post must
go through a system of progressive discipline, including oral and written
warnings, before suspending or terminating an employee. Its decisions are also
subject to review by an arbitrator. Other Post
demands include eliminating important layoff provisions, weakening
the use of seniority in deciding layoffs, and “a poison pill” that the
Guild
says would make it even harder for the union to collect dues at the end of the
next contract. The Post’s
proposals are especially “shocking,” Kunkle says, “since the company has
asked
everyone to work harder than ever to cover for colleagues whose jobs have
already disappeared.” The Guild is beefing up bargaining strategies and
organizing efforts at the Post,
urging workers there to join the Guild, “prepare for action [and] join us in
fighting for a moral workplace.” - photo: pickets during
the 2011 contract
negotiations; photo by Rick Ehrmann