Bargaining Update 6/10: We’ve filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge

The Seattle Times Union on Wednesday filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge against The Seattle Times, accusing the company of not bargaining in good faith because they refuse to give us a counterproposal on Seattle Times workers’ No. 1 issue: wages.

Pay is by far the most important issue to our members. We’re fighting for across-the-board pay increases over the next three years and higher wage floors across all job categories — and we told the company that when we gave them our proposals on Day 1 of bargaining in March.

Three sessions in a row, the company showed up without their wage proposal. Instead, they told the bargaining committee we should settle all other issues before they would make us a wage offer. They said their wage proposal was “not ready” until other issues were settled. It’s a tactic that pressures us to make decisions about our other economic proposals on behalf of members before we have all information on the table.

The workers who make the Seattle Times every day are struggling now with Seattle’s sky-high costs of living and wages that have failed to keep up. In our latest union bargaining survey, one in three members who responded said they have taken on outside work to supplement their income. Nearly half have looked for another job because of low pay. Seattle deserves journalists who can afford to live in the community they cover. Our members have waited long enough to hear the company’s offer.

Both sides are obligated to bargain in good faith. The union has taken those obligations seriously, and we have been ready to constructively engage. But we are not obligated to negotiate against ourselves in lieu of a real wage proposal from the company.

We are not refusing to bargain. We are ready and eager to meet when the company is ready to talk about wages.