February 4, 2005

Guild Staffers Can Expect Wage Increase

Starting February 1, 2005, all Guild-covered employees will receive a 2% increase as per the Guild contract.  You have to have been hired on or before August 1, 2004, to get the raise.

Every employee, no matter what her or his pay is, will get a guaranteed raise this year, and in the remaining two years of the contract.  Before the 2004-2007 contract, only those employees below a cut-off of $61,500 were guaranteed any kind of yearly raise.  In the last round of contract extension talks, the Guild was able to negotiate the merit pool out of the contract.  Management’s insistence on having a merit pool was the major cause of the Guild at Time Inc’s only strike, in 1976.

Everyone’s guaranteed raise (called the “General Increase”) will be the same, and everyone will get the raise at the same time.  But remember that the General Increase is a floor, not a ceiling: You may ask your boss for more, and your boss may give you more.

New language that appears in the most recent memorandum of agreement between Time Inc. and the Guild contract says: 

“Further, the General Increases provided for in Section 1 above do not prevent an Employee from seeking or the Publisher, in its sole discretion, from granting to individuals merit increases and bonuses in addition to the General Increases.”

The Guild encourages its covered employees to ask their managers for additional raises, especially as the company’s finances and the overall economy improve.

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02/04/05