In remarkable contrast to the acrimony that preceded their current pact, the Providence Journal and the Providence Newspaper Guild reached agreement December 20 on a new three-year contract, intended to run from January 1 through the end of 2010. The deal includes a three percent raise in the first year; two percent or whatever is received by the Teamsters or the Pressmans’ Union, whichever is higher, in the second year; and the same raise as the other unions in the final year.
Members of the Guild, which represents more than 400 reporters, photographers, and other workers at the ProJo, are scheduled to vote on the contract January 9. The union's bargaining committee has unanimously recommended voting in favor of it.
The Guild's last contract agreement, in 2003, came after four years of a divisive union-management battle that left many employees with a bitter taste following the Belo Corporation’s 1997 acquisition of the ProJo. The pain of the last battle, as I reported earlier this month (see “Smooth sailing,” News, December 7), left both sides in a decidedly more collaborative state of mind.
“It’s a pleasant change,” Guild administrator Tim Schick says. “To be in a situation where you can have constructive dialogue and work at problem-solving, not just in terms of this round of bargaining, but in what’s been going on in the last couple of years [is] a lot more preferable than duking it out and litigating everything. It’s the way labor relations should be practiced. It doesn't mean we resolved all our problems . . . but we currently have a better situation than most newspapers do.”
Schick calls the agreement “a reasonable deal given the state of the economy and what’s been going on in the newspaper industry right now.” Initial feedback “is that most people are satisfied with it. There are aspects that some people don't like, but ultimately we'll know where the members stand on January 9.”
The deal comes as the ProJo reported last Friday that Belo is writing down the value of Rhode Island's statewide daily:
“The Providence Journal is worth less today than it was 10 years ago, when it was bought by Belo Corp., of Dallas, Texas.
“The same is true for a newspaper in Riverside, Calif., which Belo also bought 10 years ago.
“To account for the decline in value of its Providence and Riverside newspapers, Belo will have to lower the value of the assets it carries on its balance sheet. Belo’s net worth — the amount by which the company’s total assets exceed its total liabilities — will probably drop, too.
“The write-down in the value of the Providence and Riverside properties will also result in a charge against Belo’s earnings for the three-month period that will end Dec.31, according to a document that Belo has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington, DC.”
Additional highlights of the new contract agreement are described on the Guild’s Web site (riguild.org).
This story was posted on thephoenix.com/notfornothing on December 21.
