T&G Union Sends Execs A Zinger
Union leaders for the news and circulation employees at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette followed the lead from their counterparts at the Boston Globe and sent a tensely worded missive criticizing executives at the New York Times for accepting generous pay raises while their workforces languish without contracts.
“We have terrific jobs in the world’s best industry, and we are only too happy to concentrate on the business and politics and human drama that enliven Central Massachusetts day in and day out...” the letter states. “But even the most focused of us could not help but notice the pay raises that both of you received for 2009. ”
The letter takes aim at the two top dogs at the New York Times: Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman and publisher, and Janet L. Robinson, president and CEO. Both saw generous compensation increases from 2008 to 2009. Robinson’s compensation increased 31.8 percent to $6.3 million, while Sulzberger’s increased more than 150 percent to nearly $6 million.
The T&G workers, who are represented by the Providence Newspaper Guild, have been in negotiations with management since their contract expired nearly three years ago. During that time, according to the letter, the union workers at the T&G have received no pay increases or bonuses. The letter also says that management “proposes to slash real compensation when benefits are considered.” Those benefits include pensions, which, the guild says, would no longer be offered to new employees.
Bob Datz, a part-time copy editor at the T&G and a member of the Providence Newspaper Guild’s Unit Council in Worcester, said the extended contract negotiations have changed in tone.
“It’s not the pulse of negotiations, but the tenor of what’s going on given these raises,” he said. “These raises are a galvanizing issue in people’s minds.”
The other frustration for union members at the T&G is the knowledge that the paper has historically made healthy margins, a fact Datz said was confirmed for him by T&G management.
“The reality is that this operation has been profitable,” he said.
T&G Publisher Bruce Gaultney, through a spokesman, declined to comment as did a spokesman for the New York Times Co.
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