May 8, 2006

 

“LOGJAM” CONTINUES,

BUT END MAY BE IN SIGHT

TWO CONSECUTIVE BARGAINING SESSIONS

ARE SET FOR NEXT WEEK

 

After N.Y. Guild President Barry Lipton told S&P negotiators that “someone has to break the logjam” being caused by the proposed trading policy, “or you’ll do what you have to do and we’ll fight it out in court,” successive negotiating sessions, expected to be marathons, were set for Wednesday, May 17, and Thursday, May 18.

 

The company’s proposed Personal Securities Trading System has dominated debate in contract talks for months. Barry told S&P that the Guild has accepted the need for a trading policy, “but could never agree to it” exactly as it was being proposed. After a day of debate on Monday, and several sessions spent debating the issue before then, Lipton concluded, “The basic tenets of management’s policy remain unchanged.”

 

One of the most distasteful of these tenets is the requirement that employees must hold a stock for 45 days after its purchase before selling it for a profit. The company had originally proposed a 60-day hold, but the 45-day demand has been in place for several months.

 

Although never indicating that it would agree to a 45-day hold, Guild negotiators asked management if any restriction on selling for a profit would be waived if the company issued a public “sell recommendation.”

 

Company negotiators responded to the question Monday, “No.”

 

If S&P analysts were recommending a sell and S&P employees had purchased a stock in the past 45 days, they still couldn’t follow the public advice and sell for a profit, company negotiators said.

 

“The purpose of the restriction is to provide a clear statement to regulators and clients that S&P employees cannot capitalize on exposure to confidential information. Creating a general exception that employees may trade with S&P recommendations would create conflicts based on the appearance that S&P employees might influence their equity research analysts as to be able to capture a profit,” was the response, in part.

 

Company negotiators weren’t available to meet again until the middle of next week, but both sides expressed a desire to get to a point where there could be an agreement on the trading policy, and then they could turn to health benefits, job security, and economics and try to wrap up the contract.

 

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05.08.06