Proposed Wage Settlement
Spells Guild Victory

by Phil Fairbanks
Immediate Past President

A small group of Guild members in Editorial and Circulation will share in nearly $8,000 in back wages as part of a proposed grievance settlement with The Buffalo News.

The settlement, if approved by the membership, would end a year-long fight by the Guild.

If accepted, the agreement would mark a total victory for the union by awarding the full monetary amount owed to its members and preserving a valuable precedent on retroactive wages.

In early 1998, the union filed a grievance when The News refused retroactive, differential pay to employees who worked in higher job classifications before the signing of a new Guild contract.

At issue is whether Guild members were entitled to higher differential pay for the period between Aug. 1, 1996, the new contract's starting date, and Oct. 10, 1997, the date it was actually signed.

The Guild argued that, like all other types of wages, the higher differential pay should be retroactive to 1996. From the start, union leaders said members had done the out-of-classification work at The News' request and should be properly compensated by the company.

News executives said the higher differential rate, which was negotiated as part of the new contract, should take effect in 1997.

In the end, the Guild won out by threatening to take the issue to arbitration and proving there was no contract language or past practice to support The News' position.

The settlement affects about 12 Guild members in the newsroom and another -- in Inside Circulation. Among the biggest winners, in terms of money, are clerical employees in Editorial.

Any Guild members who think they may be entitled to retroactive, differential pay have until April 16 to submit their names to a union representative.

A final vote on accepting the settlement is expected at the upcoming local meeting on April 27.