April 24, 2001

Weekly Paydays Saved                                Pay Freezes Melted

 TENTATIVE AGREEMENT REACHED

             The Guild and Standard & Poor’s reached a tentative agreement late Friday afternoon on a new 51-month contract that does not include wage freezes, twice-a-month paydays, or other management-proposed retrogressions. 

            The agreement calls for a 4.25% wage increase, retroactive to January 1, 2001, and running through March 31, 2002. On April 1, 2002, a 4% wage hike will go into effect and then there will be yearly boosts, 3.75% on April 1, 2003, and 3.5% on April 1, 2004. 

            The increases compounded are 16.4% over 51 months and will be applied to all salaries, grand-fathered steps, and minimums. 

            The agreement was reached Friday by a bargaining sub-committee made up of New York Newspaper Guild President Barry Lipton, Local Representative Bob Townsend and Standard & Poor’s Guild Unit Chairperson Ed Fannon.  The bargaining sub-committee constantly reported back to and consulted with the full committee, which also included Marilyn Bissell of Cash Systems, Peter Burke of Ratings Information Services, Brian McGuire of Facilities and Services Management, John Matis of Data Operations, Dorothy Madison of Subscriber Services – Circulation Fulfillment and Caheim Murray of Mail Services, which unanimously recommended acceptance of the tentative agreement.  Leo Larkin of the Analytical Department was unable to attend Friday. 

Bye, Bye to Freezes and Twice-a-Month Paychecks  

            In the final round of bargaining, management dropped its menacing proposal that any wage increases be given to people at the top of their classifications only in a “lump” payment at the beginning of the contract year and that the salaries, themselves, be frozen.  It also dropped its proposal that employees at the “hiring-in” and first-year experience levels also receive the increases in the form of bonuses instead of salary increases.  The tentative agreement contains no freezing of salaries or experience levels whatsoever. 

            And, despite the fact that the company’s lead negotiator, Stephen J. Macri, a lawyer with the firm of Putney, Twombly, Hall & Hirson, recently vowed, “Bi-monthly payroll is a necessary element of any wage settlement for this contract,” the Guild pushed the twice-a-month paydays proposal from the table late in the final days of negotiations. 

Meetings Set to Vote on Contract

             A meeting has been set for Thursday, May 10, at 11 a.m. to vote on the contract in the 13^th floor auditorium at 55 Water Street.  Another meeting will be held at 3 p.m. for the people on President Street in Brooklyn. 

Guild’s Proposed Vacation System Adopted  

If the proposed contract is passed, we will go to an annual vacation schedule. For employees hired before January 1, 2001, the transition will take place over 19 months.  On June 1, 2001, employees will be credited with their full entitlement. And on January 1, 2002, employees will receive an additional 7/12s of earned entitlement, which will be rounded upward to the next whole number.  These employees will continue to accrue vacation as they have in the past.  Gone is the company’s plan for “instant accrual” that would have cheated current employees out of accrual money when they leave S&P. 

Employees hired after January 1, 2001, will utilize a different vacation earnings system.  Those hired between January 1, and June 30, of each year will receive one week’s vacation.  Those hired after June 30, must wait until the next calendar year before they’re eligible for vacation.  Then, each January 1, they will instantly accrue their full vacation entitlement.  In agreeing to this, the company agreed to a Guild-proposed system that preserves full vacation entitlement for everyone. 

The company also agreed that employees will be able to “cash out” unused vacation under certain circumstances, including those times when you’re unable to take vacation due to the needs of the Publisher, when you’re unable to take time due to a disability or if there is an economic hardship. Company negotiators agreed that the economic hardship may be described to a member of the Human Resources Department on a confidential basis. 

Other Changes  

* Under the tentative agreement, Guild-covered employees who are enrolled in the S&P Indemnity Health Insurance Plan would switch over to the McGraw-Hill Indemnity Plan in January if they wish to stay in an indemnity plan.  Rates for the McGraw-Hill Plan will be frozen at the same exact level they are currently paying under the S&P Indemnity Plan for the entire length of the contract for both employees and retirees.  The provisions of the McGraw-Hill are basically comparable to the S&P plan. 

* The 401(k) enhancements that were originally offered to the Guild, provided we would agree to twice-a-month paydays, will now become part of the contract.  We originally rejected the company’s power play, claiming the language that already existed in the contract mandated the Publisher provide us with the enhancements if they were available. We filed for an arbitration based on that premise.  In the final round of bargaining, Lipton, Townsend and Fannon shook the enhancements free from twice-a-month paydays and the new improved 401(k) plan will got into effect next January.  The Guild will withdraw its arbitration demand. 

Beginning the first of the year, there will be no year’s wait before an employee can participate in the 401(k), employees will immediately become fully vested, highly compensated employees will be able to make a 15% contribution up to the maximum of $10,500 and employees who are not highly compensated may make a 15% pre-tax contribution as opposed to the 10% pre-tax and 5% post-tax contribution that they’re now allowed. 

During negotiations, the company agreed Guild-covered employees are eligible for participation in the Spot Bonus Plan, the Management Discretionary Rewards and Recognition Program and the Service Awards Program, and these programs will now be incorporated into the contract. 

* The federal government has eased up on flexible spending regulations that the company has now agreed to make available to Guild-covered employees.  Up until now, employees could set aside up $5,000 for health care and dependent care. Going forward, $5,000 may be set aside separately for both health care and dependent care, for a total of $10,000. 

Improvements in Merit System  

The Negotiating Committee was unable to kill the “merit” system of increases that replaced the “step” system in the last contract for people who have not reached the top rate in their classifications. We were, however, able to negotiate meaningful improvements to the system. 

As you know, in addition to the annual pay raise, people below the maximum in their classifications are entitled to 2%, 3% or 4% pay hikes depending upon their performance reviews. Now, there will be another category. If, in the eyes of management, an employee’s performance is extraordinary, management would be required to give a raise in excess of the 4%. 

Any employee who isn’t eligible for a merit increase – because of when he or she started – in the first 12 months of employment, will have the hike pro-rated when he or she does receive it.  For instance, if you start in October of a given year and you go 15 months before any merit increase is applied, 15/12s of the increase will be applied to your salary.  For example, using this illustration, what would have been a 3% increase under the old system, will increase to 3.75%. 

Also, if you receive any merit increase, the increase will now become a permanent part of your salary, and all future increases will be figured on top of it. 

All employees grand-fathered in the old step-up system under the old contract will continue to be grand-fathered in the new contract. 

Job Security  

The tentative agreement includes advances in the area of job security. 

Under the current contract, S&P has an obligation to recall laid-off employees only to positions they formerly held in their job security group. In the future, the company will be mandated to recall layoff victims not only to those positions but also to openings in lower-rated job classifications in their security group.  That obligation would not be in effect, however, if “such employee is not qualified, in the opinion of the Publisher, to perform the work of the lower rated job classification.”  If the Guild does not agreed with that opinion, however, we can grieve and arbitrate the decision. 

Currently, an employee who is job eliminated may “bump” only into a position he or she previously held.  Under the tentative agreement, he or she could now displace another employee in an equally or lower rated job classification within the affected security group if the employee to be displaced has not completed his or her probationary period.  Again, the employee would have to be qualified, in the opinion of the Publisher, to perform the duties in the lower rated classification, but, again, the Guild could challenge the finding in front of an arbitrator. 

The job security groups, from which employees are laid off and to which they are recalled to work, were reduced from four to three, a big improvement.  Under the agreement, Information Services and Finance and Planning will be combined into one security group, giving employees there less chance of being laid off and more chance of being recalled.  The other two security groups are Credit Market Services and Corporate Facilities. 

In addition Guild-covered employees at the company’s President Street facility will have their guaranteed job security, afforded to them by the settlement of an arbitration the Guild filed concerning the sub-contracting of some of their work, extended through May 31, 2002. 

* The tentative agreement provides for a new $5,000 reimbursement toward the expenses of adopting a child, five days off for the adoption of a minor child (the contract hasn’t specified the number of days off for adoption, but there has been a practice at S&P of 10 days), and five days paternity leave upon the birth of a child (paternity leave is currently three days). 

* Currently, there is no bereavement (death-in-family) leave in the contract.  By practice, however, S&P has granted Guild-covered employees up to five days off when relatives closest to them pass away and one day for other relatives  Under the tentative agreement, bereavement leave is now guaranteed by the contract and three days will be given for all relatives. 

At the same time, however, two new paid urgent personal days will be put into the contract, and they may be added to the three days of bereavement by the employee.  They will replace two sickness-in-family days, which were a practice for Guild-covered employees at S&P, but were not in the contract. 

* A side agreement was reached allowing Guild-covered employees to participate in the company’s health club subsidy program.  That was put into effect in advance and 117 Guild members took advantage of the $600 reimbursement for membership at the New York Health and Racquet Club, 63 at the New York Sports Club and five at the Equinox Fitness Club. 

* You’ll recall, the health club subsidy was originally offered to non-Guild employees while the union employees were shut out.  This scenario can’t happen again if McGraw-Hill adopts TransitChek for its employees. We’ve got a “me-too” clause in the tentative agreement that says it will be automatically extended to Guild-covered employees. 

* The Guild made a bid for union-covered analysts to participate in the same incentive program that is offered to analysts who are in management.  The company agreed that proposal will be further considered by a new joint Guild-Management Compensation Committee after the contract is signed. The same joint committee will also consider a Guild proposal to create new Senior Copy Editor and Associate Editor positions in Credit Information Services. 

            The company also agreed to make its health care expert available  to meet with a Guild Committee to consider the possibility of making a Point of Service Plan available to retirees. 

 Thank You  

Our thanks to all of the Guild members at S&P whose unwavering support throughout these difficult negotiations helped make this superior settlement possible. 

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