Agreement between
MINNESOTA NEWSPAPER GUILD/TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION
and
STAR TRIBUNE
Effective August 1, 2008 to and including July 31, 2011
PREAMBLE
This Agreement is made this 15th day of September, 2008,
between the Star Tribune, hereinafter known as the Publisher, and the Minnesota
Newspaper Guild/Typographical Union, a local chartered by the CWA, hereinafter
known as the Guild, for itself and on behalf of all the employees of the
Publisher (except those herein excluded) employed in the News and Editorial
Departments of the Star Tribune including the Sunday Tribune, employed in the
Sales Development/Promotion Department doing art and creative work, and all
Metro District Sales Managers in the Metro Circulation Department, and no others.
The Publisher recognizes the Guild as the duly authorized
collective bargaining agent for said employees.
The jurisdiction of the Guild is defined as all work presently being
performed for the Publisher by the employees covered by this Agreement, and the
performance of such work shall be assigned to employees within the Guild's
jurisdiction. It is the intent of the
parties that this Agreement shall not alter the jurisdiction of the Guild as
established by present practice.
It is agreed that the performance of fact‑gathering,
writing, photography or editing for electronic distribution of news material is
within the Guild's jurisdiction in the same way as comparable work now
performed for the News and Editorial Departments of the Star Tribune. It is understood that the Guild's
jurisdiction over electronic news material ceases when such material is
transmitted from the Library or the News and Editorial Departments of the Star
Tribune.
References in this Agreement to the masculine and feminine genders are used interchangeably and apply equally to both genders.
ARTICLE I‑‑EXCEPTIONS
1. This
Agreement shall not apply to: Executive
Editor/Editor, Executive Assistants, Associate Editors, Managing Editors,
Deputy Managing Editors, Assistant Managing Editors, three News Editors,
Editorial Page Editor, Deputy Editor, Editorial Page, St. Paul City Editor,
Sports Editor, Foreign Correspondents, Washington Correspondents, New York
Correspondent, Director of Photography,
Marketing Creative Leader, Associate Creative Directors, Director of Strategic and News Research,
Editor, startribune.com, Deputy Editor, startribune.com, Technology Director,
1A Coordinator, Features Editor (1), Recruiting and Training Coordinator, Night
News Editor, Deputy Photo Director (1), Deputy Local News Editor (1), Deputy
Business Editor (1), Deputy Sports Editor (1), Director, Copy Editing (1), Head Librarian, Assistant Librarian,
Electronic News System Coordinator, Survey Specialist and the Administration Specialists, Employment Training
Specialists and Executive Secretaries of any of them. Occasional part‑time and temporary
employees shall be excluded, likewise, except as to wages, hours and overtime
as provided in Article XIII.
2. This
Agreement shall apply to regular part‑time employees only as specifically
provided in Article XIII.
3.
The following are
exempt from the provisions relative to the five‑day week and payment of
overtime: St. Paul Bureau Chief and
Women's Editors.
4.
If the Publisher
creates during the term of this Agreement a new position in any department
represented by the Guild, and if the Publisher asserts that the new position
should be excluded from Guild representation, then the following procedures
shall apply:
a.
The Guild shall be
given notice of the new excluded position within fifteen (15) days of its
creation.
b.
The Guild may initiate
discussions with the Publisher to discuss and/or challenge the excluded
designation.
c.
In the event of a
failure of the parties to reach an agreement on the status of the newly created
position, the matter may be moved to arbitration pursuant to Article XI of the
Agreement.
d.
Failure of the Guild
to move to arbitration the question of the status of the newly created position
within ninety days of receiving notice pursuant to paragraph 1 above shall
waive the Guild’s right to challenge the excluded designation.
5. If the Publisher fills any of the
following newly created and vacant exempt positions - Deputy Photo Director,
Deputy Local News Editor, Deputy Business Editor, Deputy Sports Editor,
Director, Copy Editing, Features Editor – with a bargaining unit employee, the
Publisher shall fill the vacancy created by the bargaining unit employee
filling the exempt position.
ARTICLE II‑‑ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION
1. In
conjunction with the 1980 negotiations, the Publisher agreed to extend certain
new jurisdictional rights to the Guild regarding the preparation of news
material for electronic distribution.
Those jurisdictional concessions are set forth elsewhere in this
Agreement.
2. The Publisher
shall, within the framework of the existing joint Guild Management Committee
in: (1) the newsroom of the Star
Tribune, (2) the Library and (3) the Metropolitan Circulation Department
endeavor to provide as early and as complete information as possible regarding
proposed experimental electronic news distribution systems.
3. It is
anticipated that Guild representatives on said committees will make all
reasonable effort to provide such input and advice regarding the most mutually
beneficial way of planning and moving into experimentation with and
implementation of electronic news distribution in the same manner as Guild
members did in the successful mutual effort to introduce the Atex Systems into
the Publisher's newsroom.
4. The
management of the Metropolitan Circulation Department, including the Manager of
said department, shall meet with Guild representatives as feasible and upon
request to apprise the Guild when and if there is a reasonable probability of
implementation of any electronic distribution system which would have a
measurable impact on the need for District Sales Managers within the
department.
ARTICLE III‑‑UNION SECURITY
1. All
employees covered by this Agreement who are members of the Newspaper Guild of
the Twin Cities on August 1, 2008, the effective date of this Agreement, and
all employees who become members thereof on or after said date, shall, as a
condition of employment, maintain their membership in the Guild for the
duration of this Agreement in the manner and to the extent permitted by law.
2. Upon an
employee's voluntary written assignment, the Publisher shall deduct per payroll
period from the payroll period's earnings of such employee and pay to the Guild
not later than two weeks following that pay period an amount equal to Guild
initiation fees, dues and assessments.
Such amounts shall be deducted from the employee's earnings in
accordance with the Guild rate furnished the Publisher by the Guild. Such schedule may be amended by the Guild at
any time. An employee's voluntary
written assignment shall remain effective in accordance with the terms of such
assignment.
The dues deductions assignment shall be made upon the
following form:
ASSIGNMENT
and
AUTHORIZATION TO DEDUCT GUILD MEMBERSHIP DUES
To: Star
Tribune
I hereby assign to the Newspaper Guild of the Twin Cities,
from any salary or wages earned or to be earned by me as your employee, an
amount equal to all Guild initiation fees, dues and assessments lawfully levied
against me by the Guild for each payroll period following the date of this
assignment as certified by the Treasurer of the Newspaper Guild of the Twin
Cities.
I hereby authorize and request you to check‑off and
deduct such amounts from each payroll period for which such initiation fees,
dues and assessments are levied and the Guild so notified you, from any
earnings then standing to my credit as your employee, and to remit the amount
deducted to the Newspaper Guild of the Twin Cities.
This assignment and authorization shall remain in effect
until revoked by me, but shall be irrevocable for a period of one year from the
date appearing below or until the termination of the collective bargaining
agreement between yourself and the Guild, whichever occurs sooner. I further agree and direct that this assignment
and authorization shall be renewed automatically and shall be irrevocable for
successive periods of one year each or for the period of each succeeding
applicable collective agreement between yourself and the Guild, whichever
period shall be shorter, unless written notice of its revocation is given by me
to yourself and to the Guild by registered mail, or delivered to the Guild
office in person, not more than thirty (30) days and not less than fifteen (15)
days prior to the expiration of each period of one year, or of each applicable
collective agreement between yourself and the Guild, whichever occurs
sooner. Such notice of revocation shall
become effective for the calendar month following the calendar month in which
you receive it.
Date___________
Employee's Signature_____________________
3. Not
fewer than four (4) of five (5) new employees hired after August 1, 2008, as
"A" classification or "H" classification employees on the
Star Tribune, as Metro Circulation District Manager, as Coordinators and Copy
Specialist in the Sales Development/Promotion Department, as Senior Creative
employees in the Sales Development/Promotion Department, as Artists in the
Sales Development/Promotion Department, as Night Supervisors in the Library, as
Classifiers or Researchers in the Library, as Assistants in the Library, as Lab
Assistants, either color or black and white, in the Photo Lab, and as News
Assistants, Receptionists, Typists, Clerks or Copy Aides in the News
Departments, shall, as a condition of employment, become members of the Guild
not later than thirty (30) days after the date of their employment, and shall
maintain their membership in the Guild for the duration of this Agreement in
the manner and to the extent permitted by law.
Notice of exclusion of any such new employee from compulsory union
membership must be given to the Guild by the Publisher within ten (10) days
after the date of commencement of employment of such new employee. Any one new employee out of each five hired
in each department represented by the Guild may be excluded from the compulsory
union membership requirement. In the
event that no exclusion is requested in any group of five new employees in any
such department, the Guild will give favorable consideration to a request from
the Publisher for an added exclusion in any such department at some subsequent
date.
4. In the
event of dismissal by the Publisher of an employee by reason of the
requirements of this Article, the Publisher shall be relieved of all
obligations to such employee under this Agreement as they relate to dismissal
pay and vacation pay.
ARTICLE IV‑‑WAGES
1. GENERAL
INCREASE. All employees earning more
than the minimum wage rate for their classification, based on rates in effect
in the Agreement signed by the parties on September 15, 2008, shall receive
effective December 1, 2009, June 1, 2010, and January 1, 2011, a general
increase that is equal to the appropriate scale increase set out below in the
minimum rate for their classification. Effective June 1, 2010, if, at any time
specified for any general increase, the rate of pay of any employee is more
than 110% of the appropriate minimum wage scale applicable to that employee on
the date such general increase is to become effective, then such employee shall
not necessarily receive a general increase.
2. MINIMUM WAGE
SCALES. In the application of this
Agreement, employees shall be divided into the classifications set forth
below. Employees shall be paid at bi‑weekly
intervals. Effective on the dates
indicated below, the minimum weekly wage for full‑time employees in each
classification, based on their years of experience therein, shall not be less
than set forth in the following minimum wage scale:
|
A. |
Writers,
Reporters, Copy Editors, Photographers, and Graphics Artists: |
|||||||||||
|
|
|
1st year |
|
2nd Year |
|
3rd Year |
|
4th Year |
|
5th Year |
|
6th Year |
|
8/1/2008 |
|
714.00 |
|
831.00 |
|
949.50 |
|
1,067.50 |
|
1,185.25 |
|
1,344.00 |
|
12/1/2009 |
|
723.00 |
|
841.50 |
|
961.25 |
|
1,080.75 |
|
1,200.00 |
|
1,360.75 |
|
6/1/2010 |
|
730.25 |
|
849.75 |
|
971.00 |
|
1,091.75 |
|
1,212.00 |
|
1,374.50 |
|
1/1/2011 |
|
741.00 |
|
862.50 |
|
985.50 |
|
1,108.00 |
|
1,230.25 |
|
1,395.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
B. |
|
Reference
Librarians: |
||||||||||
|
|
|
1st year |
|
2nd Year |
|
3rd Year |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8/1/2008 |
|
939.00 |
|
1,079.75 |
|
1,137.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
12/1/2009 |
|
950.75 |
|
1,093.25 |
|
1,151.25 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6/1/2010 |
|
960.25 |
|
1,104.25 |
|
1,162.75 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1/1/2011 |
|
974.75 |
|
1,120.75 |
|
1,180.25 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
C. |
|
Library
Classifiers and Researchers |
||||||||||
|
|
|
1st year |
|
2nd Year |
|
3rd Year |
|
4th Year |
|
5th Year |
|
|
|
8/1/2008 |
|
633.00 |
|
702.00 |
|
770.75 |
|
825.75 |
|
877.50 |
|
|
|
12/1/2009 |
|
641.00 |
|
710.75 |
|
780.50 |
|
836.00 |
|
|||