Frontier Reporter -- April 1997

News’ Stingy Economic Offer
Raises Members’ Ire
Paper Pitches 5-Year Pact with
Wage Freeze, Lump Sums

Last month, The Buffalo News announced that it posted $49.8 million in pre-tax profits for 1996. Four days later, it proposed that members of the Buffalo Newspaper Guild accept a five-year wage freeze and four annual lump-sum payments that range between 1.46 and 2.08 percent. The proposal provides no wage increase or bonus for 1996.

“It’s totally unacceptable,” said local president Sina Williams. “These lump-sum payments are not only insultingly low, they have a harmful, long-term effect.”

In addition to the miserly wage offer, the company continues to stand by some of its most egregious proposals, including:

• an elimination of overtime for work in excess of 7.5 hours per day and 37.5 per week. Overtime would be paid only for work in excess of 40 hours a week.
• the ability to revoke merit pay granted to employees.
• allowing management to perform all Guild work in the newsroom.
• changing the grievance procedure to provide that the paper would be required to make retroactive pay adjustments only if a grievance is filed within 180 days of the infraction.

The company made little effort to answer Guild concerns in its “comprehensive proposal.”

Meanwhile, the Guild resumed its community campaign with a bang last month after The News’ continued refusals to negotiate contract limits on its use of non-union stringers.

Just days after The News turned down Guild suggestions during contract talks and insisted there was no acceptable way to limit the use of non-staffers who cover local news in Erie County, union members hammered their message hard, staging a one-day by-line strike and a press conference outside The News building.

The media briefing, attended by all local major news organizations except The News, was quickly followed by a new round of leafleting and meetings with other labor unions to seek their support. A special local meeting was also held during which members approved escalating the tactics to include residential picketing

“Our readers deserve better...Despite profits of $46.8 million in 1995, The Buffalo News is understaffed by at least 30 percent when compared to newsrooms at similar newspapers across the country,” Williams told more than a dozen local radio and television reporters who attended the press conference.

“Anybody who knows us, knows how painful it is for us to be making news rather than reporting it,” vice president Tom Dolan said. ‘We’re taking our message to readers in the suburbs... The News refuses to stop its headlong rush towards using more and more cheap outside labor,” he added.

Assembled behind union leaders during the press briefing were more than 50 members from several departments, including dozens of reporters, columnists and photographers who demonstrated their support by withholding bylines from The News editions of Tuesday, March 11. According to Guild workplace strategy chairperson Phil Fairbanks, the byline strike had 100 percent participation by editorial Guild members.