Sunday, August 23, 2009

A message to my Indy Star Colleagues: Please vote no

Newspaper Guild members at the Star are set to vote on a contract proposal this Tuesday. They are voting on a counter-proposal to the company's last, best offer that included a 12 percent pay cut. Gannett agreed to reduce it to a 10 percent cut in exchange for dropping the arbitration for seven employees improperly laid off in December, including myself.

On behalf of the seven of us, we're asking you to please vote no.

Obviously, this agreement would be detrimental to us, as we would lose our right to have our case heard before an arbitrator in exchange for a pittance of a monetary settlement, which we had no hand in negotiating.

But beyond the fate of us seven, the reason we need to uphold the arbitration is that no contract is worth anything unless we're willing to enforce it.

I'll be attending the informational meeting today from 2-4 p.m. today, and will be happy to answer questions from anyone who wants to contact me. My e-mail address is posted here on my blog under my profile.

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