Hi everyone,
Quick headlines from Tuesday’s bargaining session:
We made proposals to the company we hope will help lead to a deal on paid time off, leaves of absence and hybrid work.
The company continued to resist language protecting union members’ jobs from being replaced by artificial intelligence.
We’re seeking feedback from every member as we take the next steps toward a fair contract.
We met with management for another bargaining session and presented a set of proposals hoping to reach agreement on paid time off, leaves of absence and hybrid work. We proposed small concessions in these areas while holding strong on wages, artificial intelligence and severance.
While discussing these issues, we again made the argument that it’s hard for us to make significant movement on issues like paid time off without seeing a serious wage offer from the company. Head of HR Martin Hammond said the company “can’t make an economic proposal that sits here for months while our situation deteriorates while we talk about AI” — indicating that they wouldn’t make another wage offer until “we feel like we’re in a zone where we’re about to settle” all topics and finalize the contract.
After a long caucus, we gave the company another set of proposals — this time packaging together wages, artificial intelligence and severance. We proposed an adjustment to our existing artificial intelligence stance, changing language to say the use of AI couldn’t result in the layoff of any bargaining unit employee, rather than staff reduction of bargaining unit employees. This directly addressed an argument management had previously made: That they want the ability to backfill vacated jobs with AI, if necessary.
It remains a core priority for us to protect our members’ jobs, but by softening this language, we would give the company flexibility to make adjustments when members retire or leave the company — a significant potential concession on our part.
Management said no anyway. Hammond said the company doesn’t plan to lay off journalists and replace them with AI, but “we don’t want to restrict ourselves. We want the right to keep navigating a tough industry.”
It was a long and at times frustrating session, but we continue doing our best to work toward a deal that is fair to our members and represents their priorities. Special thanks to the members who came and sat in on today’s session; we hope this will continue to be an option now that we’re meeting in the Alley24 office.
The mobilizing and bargaining committees have been reaching out to every single member of the unit to get more feedback after you overwhelmingly disapproved of the company's latest offer in our recent survey.
Please find a moment to chat when a union member reaches out to you by phone. It's essential that we get your feedback so that it factors into the decision-making process as we take the next steps toward a fair contract.