LHL Part-time Employees Agree to Extension for benefits.

They will have benefits until 2010 as part of a five year contract. They are free to renegotiate at that time. The company is obviously fearful of potential increases in the cost of healthcare - expected to be ridiculous under our current system of profits and million dollar parachutes.

Under the compromise agreed to by the Guild and Herald-Leader, part-time health insurance benefits for part-timers employed on the date of the signing agreement will be protected until Jan. 1, 2010. After that date, the Herald-Leader may eliminate part-time health insurance for those employees so long as it provides the Guild with 90 days notice.

Members of the Lexington Newspaper Guild, CWA Local 33229, the union that represents the Lexington Herald-Leader's 100 newsroom workers, voted unanimously tonight to ratify a tentative five-year collective bargaining agreement.

The contract is retroactive to January 1, 2007, and will expire December 31, 2011. A tentative agreement was reached on Jan. 19 after Guild and management bargaining teams met for two days with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

The major sticking points in negotiations were company proposals regarding paid time off and health insurance for part-time workers. Under the compromise agreed to by the Guild and Herald-Leader, part-time health insurance benefits will be protected until Jan. 1, 2010. After that date, the Herald-Leader may eliminate part-time health insurance so long as it provides the Guild with 90 days notice.

The Herald-Leader's current paid time off (PTO) plan will be preserved until Jan. 1, 2010. After that time the Herald-Leader or Guild may renegotiate the PTO benefits. The company would have to reach agreement with the Guild or bargain to legal impasse to implement changes.

"While this is far from an ideal compromise, this is a compromise that we can live with," Lexington Newspaper Guild president Brandon Ortiz said. "We want to thank the Lexington community for its support, which we believe was instrumental in convincing the Herald-Leader to make significant movement from its two previous final proposals. We specifically want to thank the 30,000 members of the international Newspaper Guild, and its president, Linda K. Foley; the Communications Workers of America; CWA Local 3372 and its president, Mike Garkovich; the Bluegrass Central Labor Council; the Kentucky State AFL-CIO, and its president, Bill Londrigan; and state Rep. Kathy Stein."

The new contract contains several improvements for newsroom workers. It requires the Herald-Leader to pay half the premium for COBRA health insurance benefits for 60 days in the event of layoffs; increases the notice for layoffs to one month; raises pay for news assistants when they write stories; and increases shift differentials for night-time and supervisory work.

As part of the settlement, the Herald-Leader got several items that it said it needed for flexibility. It can now assign reporters to take pictures; will have more flexibility administering pensions and health benefits; and can create up to five salaried senior reporter positions.

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The Lexington Newspaper Guild-CWA
Local 33229 of The Newspaper Guild (CWA-TNG, AFL-CIO, CLC)
www.lexguild.org