The Huffington Post
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By Katherine Fung
Angry New York Times staffers took to the company's annual
shareholders meeting on Wednesday in a flagrant display of discontent
with the paper's handling of contract negotiations.
Nearly seventy New York Times staffers formed "a silent gauntlet" outside the meeting, according to the Newspaper Guild of New York. The protest took the war between staffers and management to new levels.
Employees lined up in the lobby of the company's Manhattan
headquarters, handing out leaflets criticizing the contract
negotiations. Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., other members of
the Sulzberger family and company executives had to walk past the
staffers on their way to the meeting.
Outside of the building, more employees handed out other materials
and protested with a large poster that read “Without Journalists and
Staff, The Times is Just White Space.”
The Newspaper Guild wrote on Wednesday, "Local leaders say members
are getting angrier by the day about the lack of progress on a fair
contract and the company's continuing demands for a 10 to 15 percent cut
in compensation – demands made while handing a $24 million severance
package to a departing CEO."
The protest is the latest development in the increasingly contentious
war over contract negotiations at the Times. Last week, staffers put
out a new video speaking out against the company's call to freeze their
pension plans. One staffer, Donald G. MacNeil, went on record saying
that the amount he stood to lose from the change "is worth risking a strike over."
Note: Images of the Guild's protest outside the Times annual stockholders meeting added by Broadcast Union News.
New York Times labor reporter,Steven Greenhouse, shared his views on the Times-Guild contract talks with colleagues in a memo that the Guild members handed to stockholders as they entered the annual meeting.
Greenhouse holds no union position and is not a member of the bargaining committee or any other Guild committee. We thought his report was a clear, thoughtful, down-the-middle account of where things stand and what's at stake in these very important talks. So, with Steven's permission, we're making it available to all Times Guild members. - The Newspaper Guild of New York)
Greenhouse Wrote:
* "As someone who has covered labor negotiations for years, I was baffled why it took nearly a year for management to move beyond its initial draconian offer."
* "I fear that the anger in the newsroom will only continue to grow so long as the Times negotiating team sticks with contract offers that would cut our after-inflation compensation."
* "I believe the Times should work with the Guild to seriously explore some type of profit-sharing formula that would help hold down the Times' fixed costs while at the same time assuring that Times employees receive a fair share of any financial rebound that the Times
enjoys."
* "I fear that the anger in the newsroom will only continue to grow so long as the Times negotiating team sticks with contract offers that would cut our after-inflation compensation."
* "I believe the Times should work with the Guild to seriously explore some type of profit-sharing formula that would help hold down the Times' fixed costs while at the same time assuring that Times employees receive a fair share of any financial rebound that the Times
enjoys."
* "I have great respect for Arthur and the entire Sulzberger family for their whole-hearted dedication to maintaining the Times as the world's greatest newspaper. But I fear that the Arthur has been ill served by [Times labor chief] Terry Hayes and other negotiators who,
through their draconian contract offers, have shown considerable disrespect toward the newsroom."
through their draconian contract offers, have shown considerable disrespect toward the newsroom."
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