Contract talks progress in Monterey...

Guild reps and Monterey Herald negotiators reached a tentative agreement Tuesday on a matching contribution by the company to the 401(k) plan.  Under the agreement, the company will match 50 cents for each dollar contributed by employees, up to a maximum contribution by the company of 3 percent of an employee's salary.  

In Tuesday's talks, the Guild also put forward two amended proposals:

1) The first proposal would link mileage reimbursement to 90 percent of the IRS rate, which now stands at 50.5 cents per mile.  Under the proposal, any employee required by the company to have a car available for work would receive the greater of $25 per week or the actual value of mileage reimbursement.

2) The second proposal would require the company to pay two weeks of severance for each year of employment to any employee laid off by The Herald, with a minimum of four weeks and a maximum of 16 weeks. Severance would be paid for service from August 24, 1997, when Knight-Ridder acquired The Herald.

Herald Guild reps and the rest of our negotiating team are continuing to press for reasonable gains in the ongoing talks.

Thank you Daren!

Pleasanton copy-desker Daren Darrow, a key player in our organizing drive over the past year, has accepted a job at CNET. His last day at BANG-EB will be January 28.

"I'll be giving up design work, which I love doing, but everything else about the job looks so good, I just couldn't pass it up," he said.

Daren has spent untold hours helping us organize the copy desk, producing many of our best fliers, and serving as a delegate to national gatherings of the Guild's MediaNews industry council. He came to Bay Area journalism after college at Oklahoma State, working 11 months for the Fremont Argus before moving to Pleasanton in the consolidation.

Stay tuned, plans are under way for a suitable sendoff for Daren. Meanwhile, we all thank him for his big efforts to help get us to this point, and we wish him well in his next gig!

Merc’s top editor replaced by MediaNews VP Butler

By now you've likely heard the news:  Carole Leigh Hutton, the editor of the Mercury News, was replaced in a top-level shake up yesterday. Our newsroom colleagues and management alike were stunned...and few we spoke with were thrilled that she was being replaced by David Butler, a well-traveled MediaNews corporate exec based in Denver.

What's really going on here? Hutton told E&P she resigned on her own, but there's lots of speculation the Denver brass want more control of the Hutton-supported "Rethinking the Mercury News" project.

What do you think this means for the Merc? Will there be a new year trend of Denver-based execs taking control of MNG's Bay Area papers? 

Happy 2008! Hope and Change are in the Air...

A happy new year to all and Guild wishes for a healthy, productive '08!  Hopefulness and a spirit of change are definitely in the air, and not just in Iowa...

The One Big BANG campaign is gathering momentum in worksites across the East Bay, as hunger grows for a real voice in the changes we're all facing day-to-day.  This week's shake up at The Merc is just one example of the seemingly daily news of changes from papers across the region and the country. (For some especially good pro-labor news see the recent Santa Barbara News-Press ruling.)

Be sure to take a moment and read New Year, New Guild by local Guild President Michael Cabantuan, for his take on Bay Area prospects for 2008.  Chime in below with a new year's resolution for your workplace...

You come around this Big Bang universe often, sweetheart?

The new One Big Bang Web site is looking good, judging from a preview I got to see over the weekend. There's a regularly updated and expanding section with people's pics and tales, and much more. Anyway, chime in if you want to make suggestions about the Web site (or that I should never be allowed near the English language when innocent people are exposed).

For now here's a link to California Media Workers Guild President Michael Cabanatuan's recent blog post - New Year, New Guild - as food for thought (he's a super nice guy -- just thought I'd throw that in there. But, really, just read his post and you'll see what I'm talking about).

I'm gonna have to get a job as a carnaval barker soon if I don't stop.

SF Weekly cover story on One Big BANG campaign!

What do you think of this article? The comments are starting to flow over at the SF Weekly ...

Leave a comment below for the ol' water cooler...

Ask what your union can do for you

From the SF Weekly cover story about the One Big BANG campaign:

"Veteran Hayward Daily Review reporter Karen Holzmeister became an ANG union devotee in 2002. Editors asked Holzmeister, who had worked for the newspaper since 1973, to write an increasing amount of stories, following budget cuts. In addition to her normal Hayward beat, she was asked to report on two unincorporated areas and regional elections. Finally, Holzmeister says, she collapsed in her doctor's office from work fatigue. She took two weeks of accumulated sick leave; when she returned, her editor had demoted her to the Castro Valley beat, which was typically reserved for rookie reporters.

Holzmeister, who describes herself as a "happy employee" for most of her career, was shocked. She was considering hiring a lawyer when Tribune reporters and union officers Josh Richman and Robert Gammon (the latter of whom is now with the East Bay Express) showed up at her door to offer the guild's help. "I couldn't understand why I was being treated this way after I had dedicated my professional life to the company," she says. "Frankly, had the guild not offered to help me, I would have no recourse whatsoever."