Mediation May Yield
Common Ground

by Tom Buckham

Deadlocked over wages, with negotiations about to enter their 15th month, the Buffalo Newspaper Guild and Buffalo News management agreed this week to seek non-binding mediation in order to move the talks forward.

Guild negotiators are weighing whether to accept the services of a private mediator suggested by management, propose their own candidate or instead choose between the federal and state mediators assigned to the negotiations at the outset.

"As it stands now, we will probably be in mediation by the last week of July," said Marian Needham, the Guild's chief negotiator.

Mediation itself is expected to be brief, since there is only one issue - The News' insistence that any wage settlement include lump sum payments in the first year.

"The point is to see if we can't get them off the lump sum concept," Needham said. "It's a way to possibly bridge the gap."

Seeking a mediated solution was discussed at a special meeting of the Guild Executive Committee and the Bargaining Committee. The Executive Committee unanimously endorsed the team's suggestion.

"It's a cooling-off period - an attempt to stop the cycle of threat and counter-threat," added Sina Williams, Guild president, referring to the advertising and circulation boycotts overwhelmingly approved by members in June, and The News' retaliatory threat to cancel its contract with the union.

The Guild will try to persuade the mediator that a wage freeze at a time when The News is racking up unprecedented profits would be unacceptable.

On the other hand, if mediation fails to sway The News, "then we will have to decide whether or not to bargain with The News on lump sums," Needham said.

Added Williams: "The mediator's role is not to force a solution, but to produce a climate in which each side will hear what the other is saying, and to seek out a solution."

The News agreed not to issue a 60-day notice of contract termination and the Guild agreed not to engage in an advertising or circulation boycott during mediation.

Williams and Needham stressed that the Guild has merely put on hold the boycott strategies enthusiastically endorsed by the membership .

''In fact, the Bargaining Committee encouraged the Workplace Strategies Committee to continue preparing for the boycotts," Needham noted. "If we can't move The News off lump sums, we will have to decide what else can we do."

Mediation will not weaken the Guild's resolve, added Tom Dolan, Bargaining Committee member.

"We lose none of our weapons," he said. Mediation "simply delays a bit longer what's already been delayed, in order to see if we can make this company reasonable.

"We're not in a weak or subservient position. We will continue to be rational, clear-headed and tough."

News chief negotiator Ralph Wray said a mediator provides both parties "an unencumbered opportunity to reach an agreement on an objective basis."

He described this latest development in bargaining as "significant" but added: "The Guild has characterized the potential success of mediation in terms of its own self interest. The News will refrain from responding in kind."

"Whatever issues the parties agree to must be thought of as a gigantic step in the right direction," Wray said. "The News remains hopeful that an agreement will be reached in the near future."