April 16, 2001

GUILD  TELLS  S&P:

“MELT  THE  FREEZE!” 

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EDITOR’S NOTE 

New York Newspaper Guild President Barry Lipton will join Local Representative Bob Townsend and Unit Chairperson Ed Fannon in a sub-committee to meet with company negotiators on Friday, after which the full committees will meet.  The sub-committee session will be an off-the-record meeting in an effort to speed up the process towards a settlement.

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Local Representative Bob Townsend told Standard & Poor’s negotiators to let go of their proposals for a wage freeze on the maximum salaries and twice-a-month paydays if they want to reach a contract settlement. 

Speaking at an April 10th negotiating session at 55 Water Street, Townsend told the S&P committee about our membership meeting held the Friday before, which was very well attended and very vocal. 

Townsend said our members spoke loud and made it clear that they were unalterably opposed to accepting bonuses – or “lumps,” as company negotiator Stephen J. Macri calls them – instead of raises for those at the top of their classifications. And, Townsend said, our members were adamant that they didn’t want to get paid twice a month instead of weekly.  

Analyst Leo Larkin, a member of the Guild’s bargaining committee, made an impassioned plea for Guild-covered equity analysts to be included in the incentive plan heretofore reserved for management analysts. 

“We’re evaluated on the same basis (at management analysts),” Larkin argued. “We perform the same tasks. We make ‘buy,’ ‘sell,’ and ‘hold’ recommendations on the same number of companies. We write for the same publications.”  

Larkin said: “We think it’s a matter of justice. The Guild (covered) analysts should be included in the incentive program just like an investment officer.” 

Peter Burke of Credit Information Services made a pitch for debt-rating analysts to be included in the incentive program.  

“Just like associates, they meet with issuers,” he said.  “They pour through related documentation and analyze information to come up with a rating.  They write a presentation and take it to committee to lobby why they think an issuer deserves the rating – an upgrade or a downgrade.  

“Then, they’re responsible for sending their presentation for dissemination to the news wire. 

“They do the same work associates do.” 

Also at April 10^th’s session, the 14th in the current series of bargaining, Townsend took the opportunity to question Temme about rumors the Guild has been hearing. He asked, for instance, if all non-Guild S&P employees had been given raises in excess of 4%. 

Temme said no. He said merit increases had been given to non-union S&P staff. He said there was no across-the-board amount that was given out, however. “It was purely merit,” he said. 

Townsend asked if it were true that McGraw-Hill non-union personnel received bonuses on top of salary increases. 

“That’s not correct,” Temme responded. “Some individuals got bonuses.”

Townsend asked if it were true McGraw-Hill would be reporting that first-quarter earnings went  “through the roof.”  

“I would hope that we were on budget,” Temme allowed, “but (McGraw-Hill earnings were) not through the roof.” 

In addition to Townsend, Fannon, Larkin and Burke, the Guild committee is made up of Brian McGuire of Facilities and Services Management, Marilyn Bissell of Cash Systems, Caheim Murray of Mail Services, Dorothy Madison of Subscriber Services – Circulation Fulfillment and John Matis of Data Operations. 

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