April 27, 2005
New Faces, Interests, on Both Sides of The Table
Last week, Guild and Standard & Poor's negotiators met to begin the contract bargaining process for a successor agreement at S&P. The union was represented by Local Representative Steve Zavatski, who will lead the talks for the Guild; Ed Fannon, Guild Unit Chairperson; Randye Gilliam, First Vice Chairperson and Grievance Committee Chairperson; Carol Wood, Secretary; Peter Burke, Treasurer; Joycelyn Braithwaite, and Andreea Popa. Braithwaite and Popa are members of the Local’s Representative Assembly. Though very involved in other aspects of Guild work at S&P, it is the first contract negotiation for Gilliam, Wood, and Popa.
The company was represented by outside attorney Steve Macri, who will be S&P’s chief spokesperson, John Gillen, Senior Director of Workforce Initiatives at S&P, and Meghan Doody, Manager of Workforce Initiatives. Macri represented the company in the last round of contract negotiations. It is Gillen and Doody’s first time representing the company in contract talks.
After the usual first-meeting pleasantries, the Guild outlined its concerns and described improvements in the contract that it intends to achieve. “It’s no secret that the company is doing very well,” Zavatski said. “The Guild staffers at S&P are really pleased that we played such a big part in the company’s recent and past success. In addition to a wage proposal that we will present at an appropriate time, we’re also going to be seeking improvements in core areas like job security, severance provisions, paid vacation, and holiday entitlements, and there will be a few more proposals that are connected to these issues,” he said. Steve also discussed the health-care provisions in the current contract, and the changes that Guild members are interested in. “We don’t represent the majority of employees in the entire McGraw Hill family of companies, but we do represent a lot of people who make a lot of money for S&P. Negotiating over proposed changes in our health insurance benefits is very important to us,” he said, referring to the Guild members’ coverage being bound to by changes made at McGraw-Hill. Outsourcing and “off-shoring,” was another issue about which the Guild voiced great concern. The union committee argued against any outsourcing or off-shoring by pointing out that the company is doing well because Guild employees do their jobs well.
When Macri outlined the company’s proposals, he spoke of regulations being imposed upon the company by the various regulatory authorities and the need for S&P to not only meet but to surpass and voluntarily adopt even stricter policies in the areas of personal securities trading, and compliance with outside client requests. Macri said the company will be seeking revisions in the contract in other areas, as well. They include: a new performance management process (known as the P.M.P. at S&P), changes in the length of probation periods for new employees, company concerns involving the use of emergency personal days, and a telecommuting policy. He added that S&P would like to see commonality in various business codes that vary by department and the addition of a trading policy for Credit Market Systems employees.
At the end of the meeting, both sides reviewed tentative dates for future meetings and said they wanted to avoid protruded talks.
The next meeting is May 12.
The Guild committee will continue to keep you informed as negotiations progress.
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04/27/05