Bargaining update 4/26: union makes pay proposal

We wrapped up our fourth round of bargaining this week. A strong show of support from members during the bargaining session truly changed the energy in the room, a good reminder of our power in numbers.

In the proposal we put forward this week, we asked for an overhaul of the applicable step scales in our current contract, which are very outdated and don’t accurately show how much an employee makes based on their experience at the Times. We also proposed an 8% across-the-board increase for all Guild employees in the first year to keep up with annual inflation, 8% increases to incentive pay, and 5% annual increases in the following years to base wage rates and actual member pay. 

We expect wages to be the toughest part of negotiations, so we also submitted a cover letter to our proposal (both attached) that reminds the company that while they complain about ink and gas prices, we’ve all been significantly impacted by inflation since our last contract was approved and that housing, child care and transportation costs are simply unaffordable. Our members also submitted and read powerful testimony about the individual impacts of our unsustainable wages. 

The company has not yet submitted their wage counter-proposal (it’ll likely happen at our next session on 5/10) and we really don’t know what that will look like, but the company's initial thoughts were, as predicted, that what we put forward “isn’t realistic” and would be “unprecedented.” 

We also had some difficulty reasoning with management about the best way forward in wage talks. According to the company, because we’ve proposed so many “weighty asks,” it’s hard for them to tell where the priorities are and what they should focus on. Yet management wouldn’t disclose to us how much is realistically available or what ballpark number the company could afford — essentially asking us to show our cards while refusing to reciprocate in transparency. We’re not interested in countering our own proposal before they submit theirs, but we continue talking with members about what our priorities.

We tentatively agreed to two of their proposals/counters: information and excluded positions, which include basic updates to what information the company has to send the Guild about members and a list union-represented positions. We’ll continue to work on our counters for parking, bylines, hybrid work, probation/termination, grant-funded employees, drone photography and gender identity, and will continue to check in with members as we move through the process. 

This was the first step into likely the hardest part of negotiations, but we’re gaining momentum and are excited to keep pushing forward.