Bonuses and Retro to be Paid
to Members by Month’s End

By Tom Buckham

The first wage increase for Guild members under the new six-year contract with The Buffalo News earlier this month..

The 4.39 percent hike members find in their envelopes reflects a 2.87 percent gain for 1996, dating from the Aug. 1, 1996 expiration of the previous contract, and 1.52 percent for 1997.

By Oct. 31, members should receive the signing bonus of $500 plus 5 percent of annual contract minimums.

Retroactive pay for the period Aug. 1, 1996, to July 31, 1997, is expected to be made during the first week of November, to be followed at mid-month by retroactivity for the period Aug. 1 to Oct. 4 this year.

No Guild dues will be deducted from the signing bonus under a decision made by local members at the October meeting. However, dues will be taken from the retroactive payments at the rate of 1.5625 percent of gross pay.

Remaining raises will be paid annually on Aug. 1, as follows: 1998 - 2.366 percent; 1999 - 1.52 percent; 2000 - 2.366 percent and 2001 - 2.366 percent.

The schedule of payments comes in the wake of the Sept. 28 ratification vote in the Radisson Hotel. The balloting followed 17 arduous months of give and take between the union and management negotiators.

Although the outcome - 142 in favor of ratification and 23 against - suggested overwhelming support for the agreement, and the bargaining team was roundly applauded for its efforts, there was no rejoicing.

Instead, the mood was one of resignation - and determination to begin laying the foundation for better results next time.

Critics of the agreement focused on the decision by a divided bargaining committee to forego the public campaign solidly approved by members in June. That strategy would have set in motion advertising and circulation boycotts and a national and local media campaign designed to win a more favorable agreement.

Taking aim at the committee, Kevin Collison of editorial, speaking against the tentative agreement, said: "We gave you a mandate."

"Threatening The News' profitability was the only way to achieve a better settlement, he continued, adding: "The only thing these guys (management) know is money."

In the future, "we'd better make sure how far we're willing to go ahead of time," said Jim Heaney of editorial, who complained that the contract's wage increases will lag the historic rate of inflation. "We need a bargaining team willing to talk the walk.

"This," Heaney added, "is the kind of contract you are going to continue to get until you become a union."

While urging approval of the agreement, which achieved several non-economic advances and amounted to the best deal a fragmented union could expect, Tom Dolan, an editorial bargaining team member, agreed with Heaney's last suggestion.

It's time for the Guild to take a long, hard look at itself, focusing on better organizing and the membership enforcing contract terms, Dolan said.

"Become a union. Respect yourself. Respect your contract. Don't work three jobs. Work one job and put in for overtime," he urged.

Bev Gniewecki of classified said individual members should search their souls.

“Think what you did during the last 18 months to help (the bargaining team) get you a better contract," she said. "Did you wear buttons, and volunteer to leaflet or picket?"

President Sina Williams viewed the long term as a buffer. Management is "not going to go after your benefits for another five years," she said.

Reflecting candidly on the protracted negotiations, and her frustration with the split among bargaining team members, Williams added:

"We put up as strong a fight as we could. We were more of a union than we've ever been. But as soon as the company called our bluff we folded our tent."

Echoing Dolan's plea for a strong organizing push, Bob Walker of circulation urged members to "regroup and not knock each other down. Become a union. Become one."