Gannett Honolulu union prepares to strike

[DanOregon]

Advertiser Workers Take Sunday Strike Vote
By Andrew Pereira, KHON

About 600 Honolulu Advertiser workers are preparing for a strike vote this Sunday as a labor dispute with the Gannett Corporation, the newspaper’s owner, drags into a critical phase.

Advertiser employees who spoke to Khon2 News say they feel betrayed by Gannett, a company with more than $8 billion in operating revenues that publishes 84 other dailies across the country and holds internet and television assets in the U.S. and United Kingdom.

"The sticking point for a lot of the union members is a substandard pay increase and at the same time making them pay considerably more for the health care," said Wayne Cahill, administrative officer for the Hawaiian Newspaper Guild, one of six employee unions negotiating jointly with Gannett.

“We think the members are going to tell the company loud and clear that they're not going to accept the kind of proposals the company's put on the table,” Cahill said about Sunday’s strike vote.

Under the company’s 21 month contract offer, wages for Advertiser employees would be frozen for the 9 months of the deal with a one time 1.5% bonus. In the final 12 months of the contract, set to begin in June 2008, workers would get a 1% pay raise.

The major sticking point however is medical coverage. Cahill says under a family plan, newspaper employees would have to pay hundreds of dollars more in premiums every month. “They'll have to pay about $395 a month just to have the plan and then they'll be subject to the co-pays that go with the plan,” he said.

Calls to the Gannett Corporation at the company’s Virginia headquarters and to the newspaper’s Hawaii publisher, Lee Webber, were not returned. While many mainland newspapers have had to scale back operations and trim staff because of falling profits, Cahill says the Advertiser remains profitable.

During contract talks Cahill said Gannett negotiators “were quite pointed that they knew that the Honolulu Advertiser was making money.”

“What would you do if your company offered you a pay cut,” said one Advertiser reporter, when asked about the possibility of workers authorizing a strike vote.

Employees have been working under the terms of a five year contract that expired last June. Under the old deal reporters agreed to voluntarily post blogs and shoot their own video for the newspaper’s website, something that could be threatened after Sunday's vote.

Both sides last met in December but Cahill says those discussions were not very promising.

“I think they're trying to match what they've been able to accomplish elsewhere,” Cahill said about Gannett’s contract offer, which many of the newspaper’s employees find insulting. “They're pretty upset and they fell pretty bad about it. I think it's definitely a case of corporate greed.”

In addition to printing the newspaper, the Advertiser’s Kapolei press also prints community and military publications that would be crippled by a strike.

Cahill is unsure if the Advertiser would continue to operate if workers walk off the job. “Unfortunately when a newspaper's on strike like with the writer's guild with the broadcast folks, they get what they can get and it's not the same quality.”

All six of the newspapers employee unions must approve Sunday’s strike vote before a strike deadline can be set. Cahill did not give a time-table for a possible strike, saying the goal right now is to leverage Gannett back to the bargaining table.

“We think that it's going to be a substantial strike vote (Sunday) that'll really send a message to the company that come on, let's get back to the bargaining table - let's get this thing done.”

 

[slappy4428]

Good luck to the union!

 

[HejiraHenry]

Get McGarrett on the phone, quick!

 

[TrooperBari]

Good luck to the union!

They'll need it.

HONOLULU (AP) — Union workers at The Honolulu Advertiser have overwhelmingly voted in favor of a strike although union officials say there will not be an immediate walk out.
Wayne Cahill of the Hawaii Newspaper and Printing Trades Council says workers voted 358-17 to authorize the strike.
He says if management does not respond with better contract terms, the roughly 600 employees, including reporters, represented by the newspaper’s six unions will walk out.
Cahill says the company’s latest contract offer amounts to a pay cut because it makes workers responsible for a greater share of their health care premiums and raises copays.
President and publisher of the Advertiser Lee P. Webber has called the offer reasonable.

 

[MoociePooh]

It doesn't seem like a great idea -- especially the way newspapers are trimming employees. Keep your fingers crossed as far as the union being successful :).

 

[StaggerLee]

It doesn't seem like a great idea -- especially the way newspapers are trimming employees. Keep your fingers crossed as far as the union being successful :).

Well, the Honolulu people don't have to worry about losing their job. Unless I've been told wrong by union reps (yes, I've actually contacted some to inquire about the process), an employee can not be fired simply because they're in a union. Now, the employer can put them on **** patrol and make them do horrible assignments until they quit, but they can't fire them.

The employees that have to worry are the Gannett employees at non-union papers. Those are the ones that will feel it in the end. Those are the ones that will have their budgets cut to make up for lost revenue in Honolulu.

If you look up evil in the dictionary, it says see also Gannett Corporation.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Well, the Honolulu people don't have to worry about losing their job. Unless I've been told wrong by union reps (yes, I've actually contacted some to inquire about the process), an employee can not be fired simply because they're in a union. Now, the employer can put them on **** patrol and make them do horrible assignments until they quit, but they can't fire them.

The usual procedure is to bring in strikebreakers who will put out the paper while regular employees are on strike. Strikebreakers can be loaners. Or they can be "replacement workers" who are considered permanent employees. The old employees go on a rehire list and return as positions become available.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804E5DB1739F931A15751C1A96F958260

 

[Ace]

The employees that have to worry are the Gannett employees at non-union papers. Those are the ones that will feel it in the end. Those are the ones that will have their budgets cut to make up for lost revenue in Honolulu.

I don't think it works that way. If it did, it would be like shouting out that papers should unionize and play hardball -- the last thing that Gannett wants.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Well, the Honolulu people don't have to worry about losing their job. Unless I've been told wrong by union reps (yes, I've actually contacted some to inquire about the process), an employee can not be fired simply because they're in a union. Now, the employer can put them on **** patrol and make them do horrible assignments until they quit, but they can't fire them.

The usual procedure is to bring in strikebreakers who will put out the paper while regular employees are on strike. Strikebreakers can be loaners. Or they can be "replacement workers" who are considered permanent employees. The old employees go on a rehire list and return as positions become available.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804E5DB1739F931A15751C1A96F958260

And Gannett's problem is going to be finding enough strikebreakers on the islands. It's not like they're going to pony up to fly them in.

The union just might win this one.

 

[I love puppies!]

It's the union workers' own fault! Their demands are taking the company down!

Wait. Wrong thread.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

And Gannett's problem is going to be finding enough strikebreakers on the islands. It's not like they're going to pony up to fly them in.

Of course they will. Most professional strikebreakers come from thousands of miles away, The strikebreakers get paid more money than regular employees, and they are sheltered and fed at company expense, and given paid protection to and from work. It is expensive, but that's how it's done.

 

[wickedwritah]

Thanks to some competition, this is one of the few spots that a work action remains feasible.

 

[pressmurphy]

And Gannett's problem is going to be finding enough strikebreakers on the islands. It's not like they're going to pony up to fly them in.

Of course they will. Most professional strikebreakers come from thousands of miles away, The strikebreakers get paid more money than regular employees, and they are sheltered and fed at company expense, and given paid protection to and from work. It is expensive, but that's how it's done.

I not sure even Gannett has the stomach to fly very many people in from the mainland to break the strike, so they had better be able to scrounge up a bunch of locals if the unions walk. Off the top of my head, and assuming double occupancy, hotel space alone will run $600/week per scab. Food, transportation and incidentals will be around another $300 a week. Guaranteed trips back home every two months (a perk that they'll have to allow for in order to keep the strikebreakers happy) will average at least $1,000.

All told, you're looking at $4,000 a month or more per worker (I'm not factoring in salary because they'll stay on their local payroll; the "home" paper won't be allowed to bring in a replacement). If they have to bring in even 150 bodies, that's $600K a month.

If my intuition is right, that's 40-50 percent of their annual operating profit in Honolulu even before a couple of major advertisers boycott the paper in sympathy to the unions (whose members are their customers). That's a major hit, even by Gannett standards, and will cause them to send out a belt-tightening memo to all of their other papers. And in this day and age, trust me that all of the fat in the rank-and-file and production operations is already gone.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

And Gannett's problem is going to be finding enough strikebreakers on the islands. It's not like they're going to pony up to fly them in.

Of course they will. Most professional strikebreakers come from thousands of miles away, The strikebreakers get paid more money than regular employees, and they are sheltered and fed at company expense, and given paid protection to and from work. It is expensive, but that's how it's done.

I not sure even Gannett has the stomach to fly very many people in from the mainland to break the strike, so they had better be able to scrounge up a bunch of locals if the unions walk. Off the top of my head, and assuming double occupancy, hotel space alone will run $600/week per scab. Food, transportation and incidentals will be around another $300 a week. Guaranteed trips back home every two months (a perk that they'll have to allow for in order to keep the strikebreakers happy) will average at least $1,000.

All told, you're looking at $4,000 a month or more per worker (I'm not factoring in salary because they'll stay on their local payroll; the "home" paper won't be allowed to bring in a replacement). If they have to bring in even 150 bodies, that's $600K a month.

If my intuition is right, that's 40-50 percent of their annual operating profit in Honolulu even before a couple of major advertisers boycott the paper in sympathy to the unions (whose members are their customers). That's a major hit, even by Gannett standards, and will cause them to send out a belt-tightening memo to all of their other papers. And in this day and age, trust me that all of the fat in the rank-and-file and production operations is already gone.

It makes little sense to me, but historically newspapers have spent lavishly on breaking unions because, although expensive in the short term, they feel it's worth it. I'd be very surprised if Gannett didn't fly in experienced newspaper people from the mainland, especially since there is another daily in Honolulu that could benefit if the Advertiser falters.

 

[Gold]

Hawaii is a strong union state. Does this strike affect both the Advertiser and the Star-Bulletin?

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Hawaii is a strong union state. Does this strike affect both the Advertiser and the Star-Bulletin?

No. Here is the Star-Bulletin story:

http://starbulletin.com/2008/02/18/news/story04.html

 

[DanOregon]

I was really surprised how paltry the big G's offer is. Hawaii is not a cheap place to live. I'd say screw it, I'm not paying more to work here. I don't see how a company with the number of employees that Gannett has can have such a crappy health insurance plan.

 

[StaggerLee]

I was really surprised how paltry the big G's offer is. Hawaii is not a cheap place to live. I'd say screw it, I'm not paying more to work here. I don't see how a company with the number of employees that Gannett has can have such a crappy health insurance plan.

Gannett gets away with ****, because they are Gannett. I've worked for three other big media companies and Gannett is, by far, the cheapest and most evil of them all. I used to think the others were bad until I worked for Gannett.

The problem is that Gannett is everywhere, so avoiding them is pretty difficult. And my wife doesn't make enough money to support us both.

 

[Armchair_QB]

I was really surprised how paltry the big G's offer is. Hawaii is not a cheap place to live. I'd say screw it, I'm not paying more to work here. I don't see how a company with the number of employees that Gannett has can have such a crappy health insurance plan.

Easier said than done. If you're in the newspaper biz in Honolulu there aren't a lot of other options. And if you're a local who has never lived off the islands chances are you aren't going to move to the Mainland.

 

[scalper]

Latrell Sprewell should have been made to work for Gannett in Hawaii. How's your family eating now, superstar?