March 10, 2003
In
the last act of its continued gutting of company-wide services, on March 5 Time
Inc. management announced the closing of the Photo Lab, effective June 30. By
the Guild’s count, this will affect 22 employees, 20 of them Guild-covered.
This
action is astonishing because it comes less than 18 months after Claude Boral,
then head of Edit Services, promised all the Photo Lab employees that the
lab’s operations would continue until November 30, 2004, at which time the
company would reevaluate the situation. Photo Lab employees had asked Boral
several times at the meeting to reaffirm the company’s commitment, and he said
that Time, People and Sports Illustrated had made “allocations” to the Photo
Lab for three years. Managers from
those magazines were in attendance.
It
is the Guild’s position that this public promise, made in front of some of the
same Human Resources people who were at the March 5 meeting, must be kept.
Guild
Unit Chairperson John Shostrom brought up Boral’s promise at the March 5
meeting, and a manager said that business had declined and that “Claude
shouldn’t have made that promise.” This manager was at the November 30,
2001, meeting and had said nothing to modify Boral’s categorical statement.
The company’s commitment was meaningless. On the other side, the Photo Lab employees have collectively given centuries of loyal service to the company, and they have made many life decisions based on the presumed security of their employment. Based on the promise of employment through November 2004, they are now being jettisoned 17 months early. The company owes them this time to prepare for their futures in an uncertain economic and technological climate. These workers don’t need to be told that many of their skills are rapidly becoming obsolete -- they do need the time and money to reposition themselves and their families for the rest of their lives.
A
Negative Image?
At
a follow-up meeting on the day of the announcement, management said that
Boral’s promise merely expressed a “hope” that the Photo Lab would stay
open for three years. But that wasn’t what he said and wasn’t what was
clearly understood by the employees. Does Time Inc. really want us to know that
nothing that is said means anything? That only legal documents have any truth to
them? Is this the kind of relationship that the company wants to have with us?
What loyalty will that kind of company inspire?
The Photo Lab employees
and the Guild will be finding out the answers to these questions very soon, as
talks among the employees, the company and the Guild will determine whether a
Time Inc. promise is just hot air.
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03/10/03