THANKS FOR VOTING
The Guild Bargaining Committee thanks you for your overwhelming support.
Thank you for not falling for the company’s spin and scare tactics, for not allowing them to pit old against young. Thanks to the new hires for not letting the company divide you with their senseless seniority attack and thanks to the longer-term employees for caring about the financial impact the health care proposals will have on the younger folk.
Last night’s strike authorization vote was overwhelming. Nearly 70 percent of members came out to vote (a very high number) and that number was consistent in both the main unit and the Philly.com unit. At Philly.com, 77 percent of members voted (24 to 7) to authorize a strike. At the main unit, the number was an incredible 93 percent (263 to 19). These vote numbers are even more striking when you consider that 55 employees have opted out of our health care plan because they are on the plan of a spouse or parent.
We will be returning to the bargaining table today at 1 p.m. with this message and meeting with Guild and CWA leaders in Detroit from Sunday to Wednesday of next week. Over the next few weeks we will do whatever we can to get the Company to offer a contract worthy of its employees and avoid a strike.
We remain convinced that if the Company stops treating us as an enemy and starts treating us as the professionals who helped build this Company, we can get this done relatively quickly. Pay for health care, merge Philly.com into the main unit, stop the attack on seniority.
In Solidarity,
Howard Gensler
Bill Ross
Diane Mastrull
Cindy Burton
Melanie Burney
Regina Medina
Brian McCrone
