It's time to party!
Come one, come all to the Guild's annual Spring Party on Saturday, April 5.
It's been a long winter so let's celebrate spring - and our local's 69th
birthday.
As always, the casual-dress event will be held at the River City Inn
beginning at 8 p.m. This private party for Guild members and their guests
will feature an open bar, tasty food, good music, great service by Harry and
Diane and a great opportunity for us to socialize.
At 10 p.m., pairs of Pirate tickets will be raffled for Guild members only.
You must be present to win. (If you're working that night and wish to be
entered in the raffle, please e-mail Mike Fuoco at
mfuoco@post-gazette.com.
Also, stop over on your lunch hour for something to eat.)
The party is always a lot of fun, but it will be more so if you and your
guest are there. So mark April 5 on the calendar, and let's toast spring,
our local's anniversary and each other.
Comp time? Don't Even think about it
Looking in the index of the 2002-06 Guild contract for the entry on "comp
time," we find - absolutely nothing. There's no such thing. Let's say it
again: Comp time doesn't exist for Guild members.
Our regular workday is 7 1/2 hours. Our regular work week is 37 1/2 hours.
When we work between 37 1/2 hours and 40 hours a week, we get paid extra at
the straight-time rate. It's not overtime, but it's extra money we'veearned.
Over the 40-hour mark, we make overtime -time and a half.
Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, and don't cheat yourself out of what
you've earned.
Money to give away
This year's Guild scholarship application has been posted on the Web site by
our Webmaster, David Guo, and letters have been sent to local colleges
offering two $1,500 scholarships to students from Western Pennsylvania or
those attending a local school who are headed toward a career in print
journalism as writers, photographers or graphic designers.
Know of a worthy student? Any questions? Sharon Eberson is Scholarship
Committee chairwoman, and the committee will meet after April 14 to decide
the deserving winners.
What's the Guild done for you lately? Plenty.
The Guild and the Company signed four MOUs (memorandums of understanding)
between March 5 and 12. All of them protect our members and make the
Post-Gazette a better place to work. Read on.
Vacation credits
Four Guild members who had breaks in their service of three years or less
will receive credit, for vacation purposes only, for their service both
before and after the break.
This applies only to employees who were on the PG payroll as of March 1.
Congratulations to David Guo, Stacy Innerst, Emily Escalante and Samantha
Bennett, who benefit from this agreement.
On the other hand, in the future, if an employee resigns and later is
rehired, he/she will be treated, for vacation purposes, as a new employee.
New classification: Photo Operations Manager
The Guild and the Company created a new job classification, Photo Operations
Manager, effective March 1. Congratulations to Kurt Weber, who elevated to
the new position.
The MOU outlines responsibilities for the position, including overseeing all
newsroom prepress activities and monitoring new technology. To reward the
extra responsibility, there's an extra $150 per week over step-ups in the
News Assistant/Image Tech classification.
Good news for all part-time employees
Way back on Jan. 30, the Guild filed a grievance
over the Company's, shall
we say, whimsical decision to pro-rate negotiated vacation and service
bonuses to part-time employees.
For example, if you are a part-time employee who works three days a week,
the Company decided to pay you 60 percent of your $250 bonus for 10 years of
service.
Effective March 12, the Guild withdrew the grievance, and the Company agreed
- for the purpose of such bonuses - to pay part-time employees the same
bonus as full-time employees.
By now, all part-time employees have received the extra cash in their
paychecks. They earned it.
But that's not all we won.
If you read Paragraph C of the preamble to our contract (Page 4), you'll
read that the Company had the right to permit two exempt employees to
perform Guild work. The Guild and the company agreed to reduce by 50 percent
the number of such exempt employees, from two to one (currently the Seen
editor).
In exchange for the elimination of the management job and restoration of
full bonuses to the part-time Guild members, the union has relinquished
jurisdiction of support work formerly performed by two Guild members for the
PG Store/Information Projects. The work has been moved to the Marketing
Department in an effort to consolidate all of the PG's promotional
activities.
On the whole, not a bad deal, we'd say.
Part-time employees who work on their day
off
The Guild filed a March 5 grievance over the use of freelance photographs by
a staff photographer who, wanting to make some extra money, took photos for
the Seen column on his day off. The Company had paid the photographer as a
stringer on his off day for performing the same work he does while on the
Company payroll.
The Guild withdrew the grievance after the Guild and the Company agreed that
part-time employees (i.e., those who work no more than 30 hours a week) can
work a five-hour shift at straight time over and above their normal work
week. In such cases, the part-time employee is guaranteed five hours of pay
when scheduled on his/her off day.
Let's emphasize that nothing about this MOU changes the contract's overtime
provisions. Nor does it affect the past practice of employees functioning as
stringers outside their normally assigned duties.
The principle is clear - when we're doing our regular work, even on our day
off, the Company can't pay us as stringers
.Who are your Guild
officers?
Post-Gazette Guild editorial staffing
It's unanimous: Safety first
In a spirit of cooperation, the local and the
Post-Gazette have developed
guidelines for news coverage in dangerous situations.
After one meeting with new Executive Editor David M. Shribman and Managing
Editor Maddy Ross last week, the Guild Safety Committee and the company
quickly agreed on a policy for coverage and the development of disaster kits
that will be available for anyone who goes into a potentially dangerous
situation, such as a fire, an explosion, a chemical accident, or terrorist
activity.
There was no disagreement on the basic principle: No one should go into or
be assigned to a situation that puts them at personal risk. Guild members
are reminded that under the contract they have the right to refuse an
assignment that they consider dangerous.
For those occasions when staff members are assigned to potentially dangerous
situations, the company and Guild have prepared 20 disaster kits. Those kits
include basic items such as bottled water, goggles for eye protection,
flashlights, painter's masks, bandages, a wash cloth, and over-the-counter
pain relievers. Six gas masks and a bullet-proof vest also will be
available.
Six of those kits have been given to members of the local desk's Go Team,
which is expected to respond to any domestic terrorism incident across the
country. The rest are on the bottom shelf of the newsroom supply closet,
behind the photo desk.
Members of the Go Team and others have received a demonstration on how to
use the gas masks. Others can receive instructions by request.
But be aware: These kits are designed only to provide minimal protection,
long enough for employees to get themselves out of dangerous situations.
They are not designed to allow extended coverage in a dangerous situation.
The Guild and the Company's position is clear: No one should put him/herself
at personal risk to get a story.
Also, here's some clarification of the policy when an emergency situation
occurs: Everyone who is scheduled to work is expected to report to work.
If conditions make it difficult to come into the office, Guild members
should check in with their supervisor or someone else who is here. Make sure
you talk to someone. Don't leave a voice-mail message because that person
also may not be in.
During such conditions, managers may authorize employees to work from home.
For those who aren't scheduled to work, it still might be a good idea to
check with the office to see if your services are needed.
Safety Committee Chairman Ed Blazina offered thanks to committee members
Barbara Vancheri, Anita Srikameswaran, Cindi Lash and especially Don Hopey,
who developed our initial letter to the company requesting a meeting.
The Guild also will keep after the company to develop building evacuation
plans and guidelines for managers to follow when there are potentially
dangerous events in the building. We don't want a repeat of a situation that
occurred one evening a few weeks ago when members said there was a visible
layer of smoke and a bad smell on the second floor and no one communicated
with workers about whether to evacuate the building or what was being done
to address the problem.
