December 15, 2006

Fellow Guild members:

The elected leadership of the Guild – all of whom have worked tirelessly for a very long time to negotiate a good collective bargaining agreement for our members -- urges you to vote for its ratification.

As your president, I have observed the bargaining committee through years of training and recent months of stressful and hard work. I’ve watched them in brain-storming sessions, at the bargaining table and working on their own doing research. They have worked deep into nights and on weekends. These volunteer, unpaid officers come from many departments and represent many skills. Each member has used his or her knowledge of our newspapers and skills to serve you very well.

Bargaining a labor contract is a complex and tedious process. It tests one’s ability to stay focused and endure delays, salesmanship and threats. It tests one’s ability to relentlessly keep thinking about ways to get the job done when preferred approaches are rejected. Your committee, chaired by Diane Mastrull, has passed all the tests!

This particular process required great discipline. The committee had to remain focused always to avoid being trapped by clever lawyers or saying something that would weaken our side’s position now or in future efforts to enforce the contract. The new owners promised a new era of cooperation with workers and rebuilding. Then they abruptly changed course and elected to let the union-demeaning law firm Knight Ridder used craft many of its strategies and language. They demanded cuts that will hurt our members and our newspapers. Yet, despite intense anger and feeling betrayed by the new owners, your committee was disciplined and smart. The committee kept pressing your issues and, in many cases, it got amazing results.

At several points management gave us an opportunity save face and give you a weak proposal that looked far better than it was. The committee stayed at work until it could reach an agreement that, as ugly as it is, works and can be improved in future bargaining.

We strongly urge that you VOTE YES for ratification. A YES vote will, among many other things:

·              Send a powerful message to Brian Tierney that your union is united and serious, and that he’d better get used to dealing with it.

·              Preserve our pension, which is so important to the future lives of many of our members, and other major victories your committee has achieved.

·              Dramatically reduce the number of layoffs and strengthen the Guild leadership’s ability to bargain for buyouts and other alternatives to layoffs.

-- Henry J. Holcomb, president

The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia

CWA Local 38010