Members ratify contract

Guild members Thursday voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new three-year agreement with Standard & Poor’s at two meetings held, unfortunately, at the Downtown Conference Center because no space could be made available at 55 Water Street.

The ratification vote marked the culmination of 20 sessions that spanned five months of difficult negotiations that were brief compared to prior contracts. Both Guild and S&P negotiators had agreed beforehand to enter the talks with limited proposals, to meet regularly and attempt to streamline the process.

The new contract calls for a 2.25% general wage increase retroactive to April 1, 2010, even though the unilaterally imposed deadline set by S&P negotiators late in the talks was missed. Another general wage increase of 2% will take place on April 1, 2011 and, in that year, another 0.75% of the total Guild base payroll will be placed into a merit pool to be doled out at management’s discretion. Although it will be up to management who receives the merit money, at least 25% of the pool must be distributed to individuals at the top of their respective wage scales or higher.

In the third year of the contract, there will be a 1.5% general wage increase. In that year, another 1% of the total Guild base payroll will go into a merit pool to be paid out in the same fashion as the previous year.

There were no major givebacks in the new contract.

Management has said the 2.25% general wage increase will go into effect and retroactive payments will be made by the end of August.