Thread by @baltsunguild

🚨🚨We've just begun contract negotiations w/ @tribpub seeking fair wages for @baltimoresun employees, many of whom have taken home less & less in recent years w inflation & no cost of living increases.

"If journalism matters this company should pay for it," says chair @ssdance.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance Here is our full opening statement for our contract negotiations with @tribpub:

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance We are now going through our contract proposals.

Here's one: We want a Rooney Rule inserted!

"We are trying to have a clause that will foster more diversity in hiring," Cet Parks, executive director of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, tells our @tribpub counterparts.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance We represent newsroom folks, but also many others who support the fantastic journalism the @baltimoresun produces. Current wages are frozen in the past. We shouldn't see our pay decrease thru inflation year after year! Our proposals call for fair wage increases across the board.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance What's at stake?

“If there is pent-up frustration over a lack of pay increases and even cost-of-living increases, then there is the very real potential that top tier talent in the newsroom will look elsewhere..." says bargaining member @RectorSun.

More: baltimorefishbowl.com/stories/in-new…

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun Today @baltsunguild is going over its contract proposals. We want better parental leave, more diversity, to share our earned sick leave w/ ill colleagues, employee safety protections & right of first refusal if the company sells. Human stuff. Fair stuff. Good for Baltimore stuff.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun We're back from lunch, ready to hear what proposals @tribpub has for our next contract.

We hope they come in good faith, and honor their recent pronouncements of valuing their people.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun The @tribpub proposes to entirely remove the advertising department from our bargaining unit and from coverage under our collective bargaining agreement entirely.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun .@tribpub: “The publisher does desire to have the ability to lay off people as a direct result of their work being performed by others, wherever those others are, whether they are in our company or in another company.”

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun .@tribpub is proposing to eliminate all of the step increases above the starting salary.

Those steps have served for years as the only means by which many new, young, diverse reporters have reached from near minimum wage into the middle class.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun .@tribpub wants the right to force people to work six days a week.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun .@tribpub wants to remove the provision in our contract requiring a certain amount of notice before layoffs.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun .@tribpub wants to do away entirely with the seniority clause that makes it such that they cannot layoff older employees who have been with the company longer simply to hire younger, cheaper employees.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun .@tribpub wants to slash our severance packages.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun .@tribpub wants to be able to unilaterally reclassify an employee to a new job role and be able to pay them 25 percent less, whenever they want.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun .@tribpub wants to remove our sick leave provisions and replace them with a short-term disability policy that they have sole discretion to change and reshape.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun .@tribpub wants sole discretion to determine what it reimburses us in mileage for driving ourselves all around town, and sometimes on out-of-town reporting trips, in our own cars every day.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun .@tribpub wants to remove all caps on how much employee contributions to our medical and other health benefits can increase per year.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun .@tribpub wants to start specifically charging unionized employees $75 a month for parking at our newsroom in Port Covington. Non-unionized employees do not pay for parking.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun Through its proposals today, @tribpub has sought to systematically dismantle the hard-fought protections which this union has won over decades and which have long preserved the integrity and talent of the Sun in the face of tremendous threats.

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun The @tribpub opening is a slap in the face to our members, to journalism, and to Baltimore. It is a threat to a great American newspaper that has played and continues to play a critical watchdog role in a city with tremendous problems.

Join us in telling them this is outrageous!

@tribpub @baltimoresun @ssdance @RectorSun WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR US?

1. Follow & share the @BaltSunGuild Facebook page and Twitter handle, and help spread our message.
2. Tell other media entities to cover our bargaining journey.
3. Send letters of support for us to:
c/o Trif Alatzas
300 E Cromwell St.
Baltimore, MD 21230