Lexington Newspaper Guild Takes Contract Fight -- To YouTube

By: Joe Strupp The Newspaper Guild contract fight at the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, which has ranged from union radio ads attacking management to a publisher's letter criticizing the guild, has now reached YouTube.com.

The Lexington Newspaper Guild, which will reach one year without a contract on Jan. 1, 2008, posted on YouTube an eight-minute video of a recent guild rally outside of the Herald-Leader. The video shows picketing members and bullhorn-toting union leaders, including Linda Foley, president of the national Newspaper Guild and a former Herald-Leader staffer.

It can be viewed at:

http://www.youtube.com/LexingtonGuild

"The video was another way of getting our message out and showing the public what is going on at this supposedly progressive newspaper," said Brandon Ortiz, local guild president and a court reporter at the paper. "People here are on edge, it has essentially hurt morale."

The union, which represents about 100 staffers, says the sticking points in the latest contract talks are not over merit pay, raises, or other major issues. Ortiz claims the agreement is stalled over two requests by the paper to allow management the right to cut days off and reduce health benefits for part-time workers.

"We are pretty bewildered that they would allow this to hold up a contract," Ortiz said. "We are pretty close to an agreement, in the last couple of months we have made some compromises."

Publisher Timothy Kelly denied that the paper was seeking any cuts in time-off or health benefits, stating: "We have just said that we want to continue to treat all of the employees the same." He declined to elaborate.

Kelly also had no reaction to the YouTube video, saying "we would have preferred to have done our negotiations in private." But he let his thoughts be known in a recent letter to readers, which Ortiz said ran in an odd space -- on the front of the metro section.

The letter, published Dec. 9, stated, among other things, that: "We offer a generous health care plan that allows part-time employees who average as few as 20 hours per week to pay the same health care rates as full-time employees. We also offer very generous paid time-off and short-term disability benefits. Full-time employees with the most tenure have 31 paid time-off days and seven holidays each year. Not many newspapers can say the same."

Ortiz said the letter offended guild leaders, adding: "he essentially accused us of lying."

Kelly's column also pointed to a guild ad campaign, which included a week's worth of radio ads that criticized management. The publisher wrote, "not only are the company?s positions being misrepresented but...the union appears bent on trying to damage the image of the Herald-Leader and [parent company] McClatchy in the community."

Ortiz said more ads are due in early January, in print, with several local weeklies slated to carry them. "It is the most contentious negotiations we have had in decades," said Ortiz, who contends that McClatchy, which took over the paper in 2006 with its purchase of Knight Ridder, is the true cause of the friction. "We think it is being driven by McClatchy."

Kelly said he had no comment about any claims of a McClatchy-driven approach.

The guild is hopeful that some agreement can be reached soon, with Ortiz noting that the talks are not at an impasse and that a federal mediator will be brought in for the next negotiations on Jan. 18 and 19: "We hope they enter in with an open mind."