Union News & Announcements

Dear Guild member: May 31, 2007

We’d like to take a moment of your time to update you as to the various actions we have taken in recent months to stand for our principles, and protect our membership.

1. We have been forceful in calling out Boston Globe/New York Times Co. management for their unfair and unreasonable bargaining stances. Our latest efforts began with a radio ad campaign last August – followed by a spate of widely followed newspaper stories and Internet coverage that called attention to the company’s poor offer.
2. We have been successful in securing critical support for BNG interests from political, labor and business leaders. This has included an October 2006 letter to Times Co. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. signed by U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch and nearly two-dozen other political leaders, as well as a separate letter by U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano. Those letters generated widespread media attention for Guild interests, and prompted an almost immediate response from Mr. Sulzberger.
3. These initial efforts were critical in calling public attention to the New York Times Co. position that BNG salary increases should be tied to company performance figures – a point that in part led to the Guild’s October 18 rejection of an unsatisfactory contract offer.
4. Support from political leaders and union brethren was particularly strong as the Guild hosted several rallies around the issue of tying revenue to salaries while EXCLUDING Boston.com revenues from the calculation.
5. BNG leadership moved to act once again after the Guild ratified a contract that INCLUDED Boston.com revenues in the calculation of salary increases. The contract language was an important victory for the Guild!
6. However, a further response was made necessary by an aggressive and unfair move by the Times Co. and Globe to then outsource dozens of jobs to India.
7. The Guild campaign against outsourcing began in January 2007, with a series of public statements and news releases issued on behalf of the BNG.
8. Our prior support from political leaders was important in February when we again reached out to “notify” them that the Times Co. had moved to outsource jobs – effectively disregarding the very pledge that Mr. Sulzberger had made to them in his response to their October 2006 letter.
9. A late February rally was well attended and received coverage in the press. We also kept the pressure on by issuing tough statements during visits by to Boston by NY Times Co. president Janet Robinson.
10. We garnered much attention by blasting outsourcing of Globe jobs with a full-page open letter in the Boston Herald. We also urged commuters to call the Times Co. with a banner along the Southeast Expressway.
11. And our campaign against outsourcing picked up momentum and was further carried forward with a major live-read radio ad buy with MetroNetworks. An anti-outsourcing spot ran for two weeks during news and weather on virtually every top-rated station in Boston.
12. Our anti-outsourcing efforts have begun to have an impact and meet with success. Initial plans to outsource as many as 55 jobs to India were scaled back to about 31 jobs.
13. But we continue to keep the pressure on: We made sure when the Times Co. announced plans to cut 125 positions overall in March, that there was coverage of top Times executives’ $4 million worth of salary perks.
14. With help from our supporters on the Boston City Council, a resolution was passed declaring a Boston Newspaper Guild Day at a time when we needed the backing.
15. And we took our protests directly to New York – conducting highly visible picket demonstrations right outside the Times Co. headquarters.
16. Additionally, state lawmakers Brian Wallace and Marty Walsh issued important open letters to their local newspapers calling for support of the BNG in the face of outsourcing by the Times Co.
17. In April, a very important Op/Ed co-bylined by AFL-CIO President Robert Haynes was published in the Boston Globe. It was a powerful statement on the reality of outsourcing – pulling almost no punches – published in the very newspaper that is being hijacked by Times Co. meddling!
18. Our next phase action got underway just in May. The BNG sent a letter to NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer – calling on him to decry and denounce outsourcing of Globe jobs by one of New York’s most recognizable companies. Other efforts compatible with this are in the works, as are the Guild’s ongoing and ever-successful initiatives to generate media attention for our activities.

Our Union strength comes from our members, each and every one of you. We stand committed to fighting for workplace fairness through daily enforcement of our contract.

This is YOUR union and the Executive Committee & Governing Board serves YOU. We continue to ask YOU to be involved and share your thoughts, concerns, questions and commentary with us on a constant basis.

In Unity, Your Executive Committee Team

Dan Totten, President Patrice Sneyd, Treasurer

Jenna Russell, Recording Secretary Scott Steeves, At Large

June 11, 2007