February 5, 2001

 BACK  TO  THE  FUTURE

 Tentative Agreement Reached

Providing Health Club Subsidy - Again

            We’re right where we were on January 9. Which isn’t the worst place in the world to be – negotiations were at the highest point they’ve been, on January 9.  

            It was on January 9 that Guild negotiators walked away from the table thinking they had reached a tentative agreement on a four-item “package” that would result in the elusive health-club subsidy being offered to union-covered employees. 

            Standard & Poor’s negotiators subsequently pulled the rug out from under us, however. 

            In order to be given the health club subsidy, company negotiators were demanding we accept the terms of the McGraw-Hill plans for adoption and bereavement (death-in-family) leave. 

            As far as adoption is concerned, McGraw-Hill gives its management and other non-union personnel a week off with pay when they adopt a child. The company also gives a reimbursement of up to $5,000. 

            The comparison with what Guild-covered employees now get for adopting a child is sort of a mixed bag. We’re currently given two weeks off and no reimbursement with pay so; overall, Guild negotiators thought what the company was offering was to our benefit. 

            Only when company negotiators put the offer in writing, they said that weren’t guaranteeing the terms and conditions will remain in effect for the life of the contract any more than they guarantee the terms and conditions of the adoption policy for non-union employees.  

            The same thing was true of the bereavement-leave proposal. McGraw-Hill gives management and other non-union personnel three days off in the event of the death of a family member. 

            Currently, we’re given five days off for those family members closest to us and one day off for others. In order for us to buy that proposal, we told S&P negotiators, they would have to take the two sickness-in-family days, not currently in the contract but a practice, put them into the contract and re-label them personal-emergency days. We were thinking the two personal-emergency days could be added to the death-in-family time if an individual felt he or she needed five bereavement days.

            Only when company negotiators put that proposal in writing, too, they did the same thing. They said they weren’t guaranteeing a damn thing. When it came to putting the adoption and bereavement plans in writing, S&P negotiators said we could participate in them under the “same terms, conditions and privileges as all other employees of the Publisher.” 

            And, of course, we all know “all other employees of the Publisher” don’t have a union. They don’t have a contract. They don’t have guarantees. The Publisher can change the terms and conditions of those plans anytime the Publisher sees fit. 

            Local Representative and lead negotiator Bob Townsend said the Guild wouldn’t agree to the “package” on that basis. The Guild and the employees it represents need the benefits guaranteed for the life of the contract. 

            At the most recent bargaining session held last Wednesday, S&P spokesman Stephen J. Macri, a lawyer with the firm of Putney, Twombly, Hall & Hirson, said the company would put the terms of the adoption policy into the contract. He said the terms of the bereavement policy would go into the contract. He agreed two personal-emergency days off would go into the contract. Those three items would be guaranteed for the life of the contract. 

            But, he said, McGraw-Hill considers the health club subsidy akin to a bonus. He insisted the health club can’t go into the contract. He said the company has to be able to change the terms and conditions of the subsidy. 

            Based of the assurances Macri gave to the Guild concerning the adoption policy, the bereavement policy and the personal- emergency days, the Guild once again tentatively agreed to the four-item “package,” so once again, a health club subsidy appears to be in our future. 

            The health club “bonus” has been enjoyed by non-union personnel at S&P for some time. A year ago, Guild officials complained to management, saying we should have it, too. We were told we’d have to win it in negotiations. 

            As the health club “bonus” currently stands, the Publisher will pay $600 toward memberships in the New York Health & Racquet Club, New York Sports Club or Equinox Fitness Club.  It should be pointed out that the $600 has to be declared as income for tax purposes. 

            With the tentative agreement reached, Senior Director of Human Resources Bob Temme said the company would make the health club plan available to Guild members as soon as possible without waiting for an agreement on the full contract.