And the ralliers agree with his assessment of the brand—the reason they all say they’ve sacrificed so far is because they love their work and believe in the AP. The day before leading the “Cheap, Cheap” chant, Johnson told me that while the AP has its problems, “I like a lot of things about working for AP, the most important being that I work with some phenomenal people. We have some just brilliant, talented, dedicated people. I enjoy that. And when you work for AP you get to help set news agenda, for the world.” Derella, taking a moment between chants, said, “The reason you work here is the people you work with. I’ve made friends around the world, been able to travel. AP has been good for us.”
The news wire has its annual meeting Thursday and negotiators are hoping to reach a deal soon.
Update: AP this morning forwarded me a summary of Tuesday’s negotiations sent late last night to the news wire’s news leaders and department heads by AP’s director for global labor and employee relations Michelle Ehrlich. The key points are that the Guild, according to the summary, conceded that the current defined benefits scheme is unsustainable and presented another counterproposal to AP’s negotiators. AP looks unlikely to accept it. From the summary:
Today [Tuesday], the News Media Guild took an important step and acknowledged that the old pension, a defined benefit plan which most other companies in our industry have phased out, was no longer sustainable if the AP is to remain competitive. The Guild presented a counterproposal which provides a freeze of the defined benefit plan and replaces it with a defined contribution plan.
Astonishingly, the cost of the Guild’s defined contribution plan—estimated to be $30.8 million over five years—is twice the cost of the company’s proposal. The Guild’s counterproposal further impedes resolution because its costs would only continue to grow beyond the initial five years, which is when AP’s plan would show the most savings. Since January the AP has explained that those savings would be used to stabilize and grow its position in the marketplace.
There were also signs of growing frustration at the protracted nature of the negotiations. Ehrlich wrote:
There is very little time left to solve this. A pension freeze must be in place by July 1 and will take months to administer under pension regulations, so the process must begin very soon. If the pension is not frozen, cuts will have to be made elsewhere. And as [Human Resources VP] Jessica Bruce said in her note to staff last week, personnel costs are the company’s biggest expense.
…The future of the company rests on a swift and reasonable conclusion to negotiations.
Please sign this petition on behalf of quality journalism and fair working conditions for the men and women who provide the news at Associated Press, and have been struggling for a new contract since October 2010. http://www.newsmediaguild.org/rt_reaction_wp-rocketlauncher/
#1 Posted by Theresa M. Collins, CJR on Wed 13 Apr 2011 at 02:08 PM
The AP ramped up its pressure to push through a pension freeze by holding a conference call Tuesday evening with every manager across the country and giving them a script to share with their staffs, a tactic believed to be unprecedented in the company. The managers told staff Wednesday morning that if they don't accept the pension freeze within the next few days the company will begin to lay off 80-100 people in its money-losing print news operation. They told staff that the only profitable parts of the company are video, online and AP Images. At least one manager said he feared for the long-term survival of the cooperative, after hearing top executives lay out a grim picture Tuesday evening.
#2 Posted by Veteran AP writer, CJR on Wed 13 Apr 2011 at 09:27 PM
A thorough story, CJR, although the following facts are also important:
- For years, when a contract expired, the AP strategy has been to initially propose givebacks plus low or no pay raises, which it knows will stall meaningful negotiations for at least four months.
- Meantime, the AP will refuse to pay retroactively to the end of the prior contract, effectively wiping out much of the first year of whatever raise is eventually agreed on, saving the AP tens of thousands of dollars. This is not a tactic that follows a month or two of negotiating -- it is a stragegy the AP uses from the start with every new negotiating period.
- The AP has an ``open shop,'' so staffers have a choice of joining the NMG or not. Given issues such as high health premiums and the threat of layoffs, many staffers decide they can't afford to belong to the Guild on a monetary basis or due to a misguided fear that, as Guild members, they'll be layoff targets. Despite this, the NMG works for and protects all staffers, NMG members or not.
#3 Posted by Retired AP staffer, CJR on Thu 14 Apr 2011 at 03:11 AM
Listen to your hard workers. Thinking people.
#4 Posted by PhotoGuy, CJR on Thu 14 Apr 2011 at 03:39 AM
Pop quiz!
"Professional" journalists are to 2011 as:
(A) Pony Express riders were to 1862
(B) Blacksmiths were to 1908
(C) Keypunch operators were to 1985
(D) Television repairmen were to 1992
(E) All of the above
#5 Posted by padikiller, CJR on Thu 14 Apr 2011 at 09:49 AM
Lovely to know the CJR is featuring work by people who can't spell "forgo." Not sure union benefits would help.
#6 Posted by Lyn, CJR on Thu 14 Apr 2011 at 01:25 PM
>Lyn
Thanks for pointing out. Has been fixed.
#7 Posted by Joel Meares, CJR on Thu 14 Apr 2011 at 01:43 PM