THEII'KLIlrrG ItiLY20ro 1 PAGE2
lN OTHER NEWSrThanks Gary!
Gary Moore recentlyretired after 37 years shootingpictures for
the lndianapolisnewspaper. Gary was a greatfriend to the Guild and
wasa dedicated duespayer. TheGuild wentto batfor him evenup to his
second-to-last day,sending an e-mailto HumanResources because
theyhad not calculated what hisretirement pension would be.Even
though pensions are notcontrolled by the Guild, whenwe get
involved, our presenceadds an element of urgencythat can spur
action by theStarto get important ques-tions resolved.
Gannett doubles profitGannett's second-quarter
profit released July 16 morethan doubled, thanks to taxgains and
strong gains at itsbroadcast and digital divi*ions.Gannett repo*ed
a pro,fit of$195.5 million, or 8r cents ashare, up from $7o.5
miilion, or30 cents a share, in the sameperiod rn zoo9.
Paywall here?There's been nc mention of
a paywall like the ones goingup at papers in Tallahassee,Fla.;
6reenville, 5.C., and5t. George, Utah, corporatespokeswoman Robin
Pencetold Poynter Online that Gan-nett has not yet deoded onthe
approach for its other mar-kets. but that the company willuse what
it learns from the testsites "to help i:s develop ourlong-term
strategy for paidcontent."
Source: Gannett Blog.
TNG-CWA budgetcut 14 percent
The effects of the rapidlyshrinking newspaper industryon Guild
finances were under-scored in May in a messagefromTNG-CWA
PresidentBernie Lunzerto local officers,in which he disclosed that
neriyear's budget is being cut r3.9percent. The $415.ooo cutfollows
a rz-cent reduction inmonthly percapita dues paidby locals
toTNG-CWA, the firstper capita redr.rction rn Gurldhistory. {lndy
is also payingless.)
s)urce: I fie butld Re0orter.
I\EWOFFICERS ffiilARE,S\,VORI{IN ffi^l
congratulations to the new slate of .lliccrs of the In-
ryretdianapolis Newspaper Guild, who were elected al thc end
Yates::l:ii,#::-|;:#;:*n#",",iposed rhe I'orunteer
ffi,'?ru':ilH::'tl;i,,ru:ni:ffi:ii:il"ilii"sa ;il wwffil
$i.1:.?';;'i,"'-:;::Lii::IlJi'tr :11 Tii, ffir,artor. ruug.. lost
last vear ivhen (under duress lrom Gan- LoPez
-nett) the tinion votedto accept a two-year contract that
ffiincluded a 10 percent pay cut and pa,v frceze. ffiryW
'lhc r,llicchold.r's arr: W *dffirTomspalding,president
ffi;1ffiI Adarn Yates, First vice president ffiWr Tania Lopez,
Second vice president Kuzniar::?i*:ffi;:?.:::::?" ffiffiThe
ollicers want to thank outgoing vice presidents Vic reffi Sgffi
Rl,ckaert and Duluan Carpenter for thcir Lerms of servicc,
WH;ffiM2007to2010. ffiOolei,
New ofiicers and stewards, abote, were elected. and namedlune
30,24tr0.
Grievance over use ofUSA'lbtlay baseball pageu,'ithdrawn for
nor,v
The Guild notified editor Den-nis \'erson that it is
withdrawingits grievance, n'ithout prejudice,rclated to the use
by'Ihe Star o1'theGannettlUSA T'oday version of thesports baseball
page.
The companl" rejected the Guild'sgrievance that the use of this
page-
work that was pre't'iously doneby page dcsigncrs, copy cditors
anclparaprofcssionals employcd b,v'IhcStar
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violates our contract. fhcGuild believes that the companytmoves
to outsource work will even-rually lead to rnore ia1'of1.s.
!\re sti-ll reserve the right trl lileanother grievancr'
siroulcl there be areduction in staff size in the futurerelated to
usage ofany kind ofout-sourced rnaterial.
Laid-offempl:yees haveFriority for new postings
Our contract gualantces that Starcmploycr's lost to la1',..rfli
have prror-ity for two years lrhen new jobs areannounced.
This came into play in Mar.-. Thecompany decided to create a
10-we ek [cmporari'pagc dcsigncr posi-l-ion. Even though this wasnt
a full-time or permanent job, it contactedeach ofthe page designers
who havebeen laid off to determine if theywould be interested.
Altcr it was detcrrnined that nonewantecl 1o apply, the company
post-ed the position and filled the tempo-rary posifion fiorn
outside.
Ilowever, without the protr'ctionol' the (iuildls contraci,
therc is noguarantee laid off employecs rvouldbe considered 161
ng11' posil-irlns.
We still say no to advertorials'lhc Indy Nervs {luild oficers
and
stewards have askerl Star editorialNOT to allow any of our
journalists'work 1o be reused'withoul lheir au-thorization as part
of ant' in-housemarkcling r)r advertising carnpaigtt.
Ileat-ures rcportcr 'I'J Banes wroteon sumrler camps ir January
2007-
only to har,'e the siory "repur-posed" and used with her
b,r'line aspart of a lnetro section "summercamp guicli' that rvas
labeled a "spe-cial arivcrtising feature" in dre printStar metro
scction on trlarch 23.
the stor,v and hvo photos wereused without t-he writer's or
pholog-
rapher'.s knowledge and rhe contenlrvas manipiJated to make it
appearto be currenl.
This wasni a case of an article be-ing simplv reprlnted. It was
alteredto mislead readers in a way thatcould damage this
reporler'.s cred-itrilit.v wi'th the sources of the oligi-nal story
Il rvas an emlrarrassmentto the elhical standards the Indl,Nervs
Guild has been pushing Starmanagement to uphold since 2006,rvhen
dre conpany 6rst prescntedthc idea o1'havi-ng journalists pro-duce
and edit so-called "advertorial"c0ntent.
'lhe summer camp article is anexample of rvhy the Guilci has
raisedobjectlons to the unit's work beingrepurposcd in this manner.
11 can al-low departrnents to use our work insuch a careless and
unprofessionaliashion that it reflects batlly uponthc journalism
prr:duced by the Starnewsroom.
-Io their credit, newsroom leader-ship has heen cognizant to not
putCluild mernbers in an alvkward po-sition when it cornes 1o ad
relers oradvertorial, doing that work thern-selves.
THE IAII(IING JUt.Y20r0l PAGF.4
Weprotested Gannett CEOt raiseOur parent comparry paid
Chair-
rnan and CEO Craig lluborv $4.7nrillion last vcar, a sharp
incrcaseover the $3.1 million he took homein 2008.
And his 2{t09 pay included a bo-nus of $1.5 rnillion thal carne
alierhe engineered record lavoffs andother cost cutting across the
compa,ny Other execs got similar bonuses.
The lirdy News Guild sent cor-
Here is what our letterAs shareholdss and stakelnlclers af
(;anneft Co. btt., A'e take c.veptiiln tothe bonus providtd CtO,
Presid.ent nndChairman Craig.\. DuBour. Plen:erescindtlrc award and
pay il stipendrommensurate.fitr tm individual whr,wns out oJ the
ofiice r*uperatinBftantsurgery Jar a large sharc of 20Ae.
Saytng a banus equal to 50 percmt oJ'the 5942.0AU base salary is
nn egregiousahuse of our atmpanv\ restturcu andsltows a cullous
,lisrcgard jLr slurehald-en. Corrr esslcrrs p rcvail Jbr
employeese1/en as the str{tteg/ ertEloyed alil4t kun, lh., is srill
un{olrling end may
prove insulfident !o tutrtl ,yf Jirwnt'inldangerfor otr
conpnry.
Yes, GCI's shcre price. rallied in 2009,bal so did the DIIA,
andby a witlermargin. Our sharc price l,rrs rcturualtu only hatJ
ils vulue oJ,\4urch 2tt0l,while DJL4 is about 20 percent of
themarlg *nd t:he S(tP 5AA has perJarmedr'ror lr. tfir:
A $1.5 million honus in this mscseerns excessive anri prunature,
as
respondence' to all the directors ofGannett protestinc these
perks. Westrongly beliere in capitalism andearning/keeping the
fiuits of one'slabor
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but not earning it by (toborrow an expression) climbingover l-hc
bkrodicd bodies of our ern-pioyees
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and to the ultimate det-riment of the company. The execu-tives
instead should set thls moneyaside for, among other purposes,
said:are tht atAlitional penluisitts,[or N[r.DuBou, nalcd in
tlr- iurrcnl Prox1.s:tatement. Thlle inclu de membe/-ship in a
country club anrl ust of {}CIaircrnfi for tlree vears after
kwinglhe ampanS, the Jttnomott oJ C,CIhome ofiice e4uiptficnt,
payiltent oJMedkare supplentents, and accas tanmp*ny p*id
secretarial and terihnitalassistance.
Had thc GCI st,rk prirc rtnuincJin the range of the
S?8-per-share piceprevailing when it{l', DuBaw betnmepresidtnt oJ
thc canrpany, this banusand pe rqui s LE r a mpensufion st ht' n
pmight hate been rlwwed satisJ'a*sr,uI n thc co n qu nS'
"s currcn t,6 nnncialstruits, hov,ver, !his is exccssrve
gt:tterosit)r on lha pttrt of the boartl an,l isahu sive t a sl
nrehol tie rc.
Wt might not the ;ompensation Jor!lr. DilJow is clearly erod{ng
emplal.eetnt)rclL herc in lntlianapo[is, Lhe No.4newspaperin GCI in
terms af dailycin'ulaLion. At the Star newspaperand indystdr.iaftt,
Icu,lership lttts been
to help pay off Gannerr debt. Wereceived a letter lrom the
Securi-tics and Exchange Cornmission ac-knorvledging our
complaint.
Guild members also questionedDubow in person during his visit
toIndianapolis. Prcsident -Ibm Spald-ing hopes Dubow
-
rvho called histotal-pay increase "verv fair"
-
hasa better understanding ofhow therank-and-fl le feel about
sacrifi ce.
t akn ry manclrtted unp aid Jurlot ryhs.The Indy News CuiM,
which reprcsentsabout 180 newsrt'tomworkers, hssheenforced to
nttelstfurlou,gfts and npemurrnt l}oto pny cut. Tk etnployment base
is some 40 pertent of thebvel in plncc when thc newEaper
n'asacquintl by GCI a dectuh ago. NLttshole hrts been lntmtionnl\t
reduced"cin:ulation outlets shwnk and em-pk'vet headrount
trturmt,d. 7iw digitatittilidtivcs nnildaled by
'\4cLtun Inv,,ttot ,;fset tlv rcycnte sliJe on the printside.
CIearIy. the comparyhas *ied to.ut its wa)) td rrosleril)"()n nn
enJ nnte, pleax hu)ulge us andil obsefl'dtioil particulnrl,v
relevant tothe wot*force in Intli*napolis. We havenumenus postirs
in place iderttifyingour corc talue:
-
Lertd, lunavate,lncludc, Rupet{. Thc cxctssive btnru>flies in
tlrc face of thzse ttalues. Pleaserusinrl the rttirement ]jeftluki
t ?sLtnd thc bonus, and ptw the et:rru-tiv|l, a stiWnd
cotnmensunlle to lkeiri0n!ribntion."
Say ho'to committees'Ihe Indy News Guild recom-
mencls that its mernbers say "no" toany workplace related
volunteer HR(i.e. outside-the-newsroorn) initia-tive now through
August 201 1.
The Guild asks its members, forexarnple, to not serve on anv
Ern-ploy'ee Nerrsletter Task Force or theEngagernent Teanr or any
other typeol extracurricuiar activity that is de-velopcd that yru
spot and that you1et us know atrout.
Oficers would irnmediatelv recon-sider this'non-involvement
stancd ifthe company clianges its rnird aboutthe wage freeze being
lifted firr all.The exception: trltu:n our menrbersare arvardcd
'Star of the Quartcr' furgreal- journalisrn. A1so, arry commit,tees
arising lrorn the nervsrr:om haveour blessing.
Unpaid intemships opposedThe Indy Ner'vs Guild and our
rnembership should be proud rveadamantly opposed a joint
planlrom Ihe Star and the IU journal-ism proglam for a year-round
un-paid internship program at the Stardespite pressure trorn editor
DennisRyerson and IUt Tim Franklin.
Other schools have expressed in-trrrest in having a studcnt work
for"no chargei'lVe have poinled to thefact that Pulliam Fellows are
rvell-paid (The,v recel'"e third-year pay onour contract scale.)
'firev have calledus shortsighted hr forcing them trlabandon this
pl;ur to use lree labcr inthe Star newsrrxrm.
Recent national coverage showsthe Guild did the right thing. A
re-cent NY Times article even reportsthat the use of unpaid interns
isprobably illegal under current larv.
Givcn the economy, students areencouraged to lr,ork at any cost,
andJ-schools cornpete rvith each other tohave their students in
good internships. Unpaid interr.rships are dis-criminatory and they
are elirninatingstildents who can t allbrd [o do these-
Good actions for conrpanvWe have sproken to one of our PPC
i3uilding Service cmplo,vees coveredLrnder our contract. He took
somevacation days tr{ay 20-21 to tend tohis aunl-'.s uncxpccled
funeral.
The contract does not call ftir paidgrief-leave/tlays off for an
aunt, butin this case, his tlr'o vacation dayswere converted to
bereavement.
Thanks, to the supervisor whohandled this sil,uation. 'Ihc
Guildlikes good moves like yoursl
Qpestions andQ: Does the guild pay lbr renew-
al of Costco mernbership or justthe initial startup?
A: It's renelrcd a.nnuallyl fustsend it by intcrolice mail to
trea-surer Gcoff Ooley in sports ... Vru'llget $50 back rvilhin a
lcw days. 14/echoose Costco because nationallylhev arc knuhn J\
ltaving uni,'n-liiendiy policies.
Q: A bunch of the laid-off folkshave been getting calls about
aone-day-a-week editing job at tbeStar. Details are fuzzy,
thoughwe've heard it's Saturday or Sun-day night. They get a call
from HRand are told they have 72 hours torespond. Then when they
call, noone calls them back. It's all veryfishy. From our
discussions, we'reguessing this is their way of gettingaround the
two-year rehire clause:They dangle a yague offer of a
answers ...crappy part-time gig, just to see ifthey can catch
somebody not re-sponding, so they can write themo#" Does the Guild
know aboutthis, and if so what can you share?
A: 'Ihe deal is this: Yes, thcv arecalling people to see if they
haveinlerest in a job. They'll call you asmany as two times lbr
part-time.r.'s.tull-time gigs, so even if r,-ou "reject"the
part-time gig yolr i,vould still berecalled lor the t-ull-time gig.
Makesense? \Arhether they rehire is thestickv- point. l!'e iiave
argued untilour face was blue lhat the Julv 09iayoffs were
economic-drir,en, notperformance driven, so lrre are ptl-sitioned
to gricve if lhey puli anystunts. But they arc going by
senior-it1'. so that's a good thing.
Q: I've been asked to do guestappearirnces on local radio
showsbut I am not sure whether I am al-
lowed. And can I write for a corn-petit0r?
A: 'Ihe Guild has intervenecl onmembers' behalf rnuitiple
tirnesregarding when stafers can g0 onlhe air. Editor Dennis
Ryerson, hasagreed rvith us that, although it doesgive these radio
stations iree exper-tise, the Star does get lree advertis-ing in
that a beat reporter gets iden,tified in the comrnuni$r as to
hal'ingexper[ise on a topic. But befrrre do-ing any lreelance
rvork, contact yoursupervisor Ernplo_r,'ees must seekand receive
permission fiorn [reexecutive editrrr beibre freelancing.Also, when
il comrs to anv ry'pe {)irvriting lur a puh)ication. givc
y,'ur^employ'er the right of first refusal asis the cornpan,v's
right as outlinedin the contract. And rernember, doNOT use company
equipment toil'rite such a piece, and do not usecompany c-mail to
senri il out.
