St. Paul Guild

Newspaper Guild and MediaNews Group/Pioneer Press bargainers today discussed the company's proposal to freeze the pension and a union program that would dedicate more resources to training throughout the company.

Guild bargainers also challenged company officials about the hurried process they undertook to offer and accept buyouts over the last two weeks.

PENSION 

Employees would not lose pension benefits they have already earned if the pension is frozen -- and continue to accrue those benefits right now, even though the current contract expired today. (The contract's evergreen clause calls for all its terms and conditions to continue past expiration, so long as negotiations are under way.)

The company did not offer to replace the pension with a 401(k) match. In their initial proposal, Guild bargainers call for a 401(k) match and have said they are willing to discuss ways to solve the long-term underfunding problem facing the pension in ways that could preserve the benefit.

Company officials said the Pioneer Press will spend $7 million on the pension in 2007, with "90 percent" of that amount mandated by the need to bring the pension up to a fully funded status -- that is, to make it so its assets are sufficient to cover all future benefit payments owed to participants.

"It's an extremely huge cost for us and it's critical that it happen," said Pioneer Press Labor Relations Director Marc Chrismer.

Guild negotiators asked company officials whether they had been able to answer questions raised over the last several months about the accuracy of recent estimates of the pension's funding status.

For example, a valuation presented last spring referred to a total number of active pension participants that appeared to overstate the number of Guild members who could someday be eligible for benefits -- a discrepancy that could inflate what the company owes the plan.

As they have in the past, company officials said they had no clear answer yet, although they hope to resolve the issue.

TRAINING

Business reporter Julie Forster, who serves on the bargaining committee, outlined a state program for which the Pioneer Press would be eligible that provides up to $400,000 in grants to companies that need to adapt in order to remain competitive in a changing marketplace.

Forster said the Pioneer Press Guild unit and the company could go to the state together in order to secure a grant that, if approved, would fund a custom series of courses at a local college to offer multimedia training to newsroom employees. Forster said the company could match the state grant by paying employees while they were in class.

"The main investment would be in time," she said.

Forster also called for someone at the newspaper to be designated as the lead person on training issues and for contract language that would set a minimum of annual training hours for each journalist at the newspaper.

Advertising Technology Support Specialist Bill Weyandt, a former teacher who was hired to work at the Pioneer Press as a trainer, described problems in commercial departments that have resulted from outdated technology and inadequate training. For example, market development staff have computers that use an old Macintosh operating system that is not compatible with current Internet browsers and therefore cannot access websites for material they need.

Meanwhile, Weyandt said, training on current systems -- such as the Mactive programs that organize financial and sales information -- seems to have fallen short, creating billing and other problems for people who do not know how to take advantage of all of the program's features.

BUYOUTS/LAYOFFS 

Guild bargainers also used today's session to reiterate their hope that, when the company cuts staff, it does so through voluntary buyouts rather than through involuntary layoffs.

At the last bargaining session, held July 24, Guild bargainers told company officials that the week-long deadline they set for employees to apply for a buyout would probably not be enough time for some people who otherwise might agree to leave the company but need to assess their financial situations first.

The company still does not know what health insurance benefits will be offered to buyout recipients who are eligible to retire. Officials blamed the lack of information on McClatchy Co., which administers health care for some employees as a result of the Knight Ridder purchase. The lack of information led to an extended deadline for composers offered buyouts, but that deadline expired Tuesday without those employees knowing what their health plan would be if they retired.

In what became a sharp exchange, Guild Unit Chairman Alex Friedrich asked the company to hold off on unveiling a buyout program in the future until managers and human resources staff had benefit information prepared for interested employees. Friedrich pressed the point, prompting Chrismer to respond: "Next time we won't do buyouts. We'll go straight to layoffs, OK?"

Also today, the Guild introduced proposals that would require the company to allow a Guild-backed group to put together an employee ownership plan if the Pioneer Press is sold and require a future owner to honor contract terms and conditions. MediaNews executive Marshall Anstandig said both proposals are unlikely to be accepted.

No bargaining dates are currently set.

The Guild was represented by Darren Carroll, Marilyn Clements, Julie Forster, Lance Forys, Alex Friedrich, Duane Maxson, Dave Noble, Jim Ragsdale, Jack Sullivan and Bill Weyandt.

The company was represented by Marshall Anstandig, Barb Cartalucca, Marc Chrismer, Thom Fladung and Lynne Swenson.