January 22, 2001

 Contract Bargaining Underway 

The first bargaining session for a new contract between employees represented by the Newspaper Guild of New York, and Hour management was held Thursday morning. 

The Guild team included newly elected officers Jerrod Ferrari, Unit Chairperson; Erik Trautmann, First Vice Chair; and Colleen Emsing, Second Vice Chair.  

Barry Lipton, Guild President and Steve Zavatski, Local Representative of the Guild, were also at the table. Zavatski will be the Guild’s chief spokesperson during the negotiations. He was a photographer on The Hour staff from 1986 till May of 2000 when he left to join the Guild staff. He served as Guild unit chair from 1988 until his departure. 

Management was represented by Brett Whitton, Executive Vice President of The Hour Publishing Company, and Attorney John Zandy who will be the company’s lead negotiator at the bargaining table. 

After introductions, Lipton opened the meeting by saying that the union and the company now have a mature relationship and the proposals that Steve and the Guild committee have formulated will address the changes that have occurred at the paper since the last time we bargained. 

Those changes include but are not limited to the morning and Sunday editions, the cost of living within a reasonable commute to the paper, and the need for greater job security. 

Zavatski then presented the company with some, but not all, of the proposals the Guild intends to win through bargaining on the new contract.  He said: 

“There have been so many changes here at the paper since we bargained last time, and quite frankly, many of these changes have affected our members negatively. The proposals we’re bringing to the table are intended to rectify the problems the members are facing on a daily basis and also reward them financially and otherwise for their contribution to the success of the new product.” 

The next negotiating sessions will be held on February 9^th and the 14^th.  The company requested a break of several days so they may study the Guild proposals. The Guild said that it wanted to meet frequently so that the negotiations do not become drawn out.