Lee Enterprises eliminates more Post-Dispatch retiree benefits

The retiree health benefit saga continues at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

On Tuesday, St. Louis Newspaper Guild members who retired and accepted buyout offers between June 2004 and March 2010 were notified that their free medical coverage, which was part of their union contract, will be eliminated on Jan. 1; the retirees will have to pay all of their premium costs to keep their health insurance.

A few years ago, Lee Enterprises made the same announcement that affected guild members who retired under a previous contract, between 1994 and 2004. The St. Louis Newspaper Guild filed suit against Lee. The guild won that suit in late September; the judge ruled that those retirees should get to keep their lifelong health benefits that were guaranteed in their union contract. required Lee to go to arbitration with the union. Lee is expected to appeal the decision.

The guild says it will fight the latest benefit cut as well.

(Via e-mails; send tips, links and memos to lee.ent.watch@gmail.com.)

Lee Enterprises loses benefits lawsuit

A federal judge ruled Thursday that St. Louis Post-Dispatch employees who retired between 1994 and 2004 should get to keep their lifelong health benefits, which were guaranteed in their union contract. Lee Enterprises cut those benefits more than a year ago.

Following the ruling, Lee Enterprises and the St. Louis Newspaper Guild will begin an arbitration process. Lee is expected to appeal the decision.

The St. Louis Newspaper Guild has details on the background of the case.

Lee, guild retiree insurance fight continues

In December 2008, St. Louis Post-Dispatch retirees were taken off a low-deductible insurance plan and added to Lee's mid-deductible plan, forcing the retirees to pay more for insurance. The St. Louis Newspaper Guild filed a grievance, and in February 2010 an arbitrator ruled Lee must refund the difference in coverage to retirees and reinstate the low-deductible plan.

Lee has mailed those checks, but says the arbitrator "ordered the P-D to restore the low deductible option for the affected retirees under the 2004-2009 contract ... he did not order the P-D to reinstate the low deductible plan beyond the term of the 2004-2009 agreement."

Guild members approved a new contract on March 28. The guild has filed another grievance and asked the arbitrator to weigh in again.

What does Post-Dispatch contract mean for Lee?

In its latest SEC statement, Lee Enterprises says the St. Louis Post-Dispatch contract with the St. Louis Newspaper Guild will save the company more than $30 million over the next five years.

"The Company estimates the contract changes will result in non-cash curtailment gains totaling $14,000,000, which will be recognized in March 2010, and are expected to further reduce operating expenses for the six months ending September 2010 by $1,300,000 and by an average of $1,800,000 on an annual basis over the life of the contract. The Company’s post retirement medical benefit and pension obligations will be reduced by approximately $6,500,000 and $2,000,000, respectively, in March 2010. Curtailment gains and changes in benefit obligations are subject to final actuarial calculations."

Post-Dispatch guild approves contract

St. Louis Newspaper Guild members voted 132-54 to approve a five-and-half year contract with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The contract includes a 6 percent pay cut for the duration of the contract and three furloughs between April 1, 2010, and Sept. 30, 2012; eliminates retiree medical benefits for current employees; freezes pensions; and guarantees no layoffs for six months.

(Via e-mails)

Ahead of union vote, a look at Lee executives salaries

On Saturday, St. Louis Newspaper Guild members at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch will vote on Lee's "final offer" five-year contract. That offer includes a 6 percent pay cut through September 2015, a one-week unpaid furlough in 2010, 2011 and 2012, and a possible "snap-back" salary increase in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Which gives us an opportunity to look at the salary of Lee's leaders. According to the company's proxy statement released in January:

Name	2009 salary	2009 compensation	2008 salary	2008 compensation
CEO Mary E. Junck	$833,654	$882,454	$850,000	$1,089,506
CFO Carl G. Schmidt	$472,731	$612,831	$482,000	$681,492
VP Greg R. Veon	$354,058	$381,337	$361,000	$487,315
VP Kevin D. Mowbray	$328,558	$353,328	$335,000	$452,383
VP Vytenis P. Kuraitis	$262,846	$283,413	$268,000	$370,266

Salaries for each executive decreased by 1.92 percent -- or approximately a one-week unpaid furlough. Total compensation includes bonuses, stock awards and retirement account contributions; fewer of those were awarded. From 2007 to 2008, each executive's salary increased by more than 3 percent.

If Junck followed the salary guidelines and furloughs the union will vote on:

	6 percent pay cut	Furlough	Snap-back	Annual salary
2010	$799,000	$16,346.15		$782,653.85
2011	$799,000	$16,346.15		$782,653.85
2012	$799,000	$16,346.15		$782,653.85
2013	$799,000		$19,975	$818,975
2014	$799,000		$40,948.75	$839,948.75
2015	$799,000		$62,996.16	$861,996.16

Furlough represents one-week's salary, calculated by dividing the annual salary by 52 weeks. The "snap-back" is added if the company increases its annual revenue by at least 2 percent, which I am assuming in this example, and will result in a salary increase of 2.5 percent in the last three years of the contract.

If Mowbray, who in addition to being a vice president of publishing is also the publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, followed the same salary reduction and furlough schedule:

	6 percent pay cut	Furlough	Snap-back	Annual salary
2010	$314,900	$6,442.31		$308,457.69
2011	$314,900	$6,442.31		$308,457.69
2012	$314,900	$6,442.31		$308,457.69
2013	$314,900		$7,872.50	$322,772.50
2014	$314,900		$16,138.62	$331,038.62
2015	$314,900		$24,827.90	$339,727.90

From 2008 to 2015, Junck's and Mowbray's salaries would have increased by 1.41 percent (assuming, of course, that there were no bonuses or other additional compensation).

Post-Dispatch makes 'last, best, final' offer

Hours after a St. Louis Newspaper Guild rally outside the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Lee Enterprises presented its "last, best and final" offer to the guild. The offer now goes to guild members for a vote, tentatively scheduled for March 27.

According to the guild's website, the offer includes several pay cuts, three furloughs and, if the new contract is ratified by April 1, 2010, a six-month no-layoff guarantee.

• April 1, 2010 to Sept. 30, 2010: 6 percent decrease plus one week unpaid furlough
• Oct. 1, 2010 to Sept. 30, 2011: 6 percent decrease continues plus one week unpaid furlough
• Oct. 1, 2011 to Sept. 30, 2012: 6 percent decrease continues plus one week unpaid furlough
• Oct. 1, 2012 to Sept. 30, 2013: 6 percent decrease continues minus "snap back" of 2.5 percent on Oct. 1, 2012
• Oct. 1, 2013 to Sept. 30, 2014: 6 percent decrease continues minus "snap back" of 2.5 percent totaling 5 percent on Oct. 1, 2013
• Oct. 1, 2014 to Sept. 30, 2015: 6 percent decrease continues minus "snap back" of 2.5 percent totaling 7.5 percent on Oct. 1, 2014

"Snap backs" are triggered by year-over-year total revenue increases of 2 percent or more.

For advertising sales reps, territories and outside sales commission with no base will increase to $575.

Seniority remains, but the company can exempt up to 20 newsroom employees and five advertising employees from seniority in any layoff.

Retiree medical plan, PPO, JPP pension and retiree life insurance would be eliminated.

St. Louis Newspaper Guild sponsors rally

The St. Louis Newspaper Guild will hold a vigil at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday outside the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as contract negotiations continue with Lee Enterprises. The guild also is asking its members to wear red to work in a sign of solidarity.

"I expect management will present on Tuesday, March 16, their 'last, best and final offer,'" guild business representative Shannon Duffy said in a press release. "Such an action by the management could end bargaining tomorrow. If that happens, our prayer vigil may turn into a wake -- complete with a coffin -- to mourn the passage of labor relations between the workers at our hometown newspaper, The Post-Dispatch, and the out-of-town owners, Lee Enterprises, of Iowa."

Going to Tuesday's vigil? Send photos and updates to lee.ent.watch@gmail.com

(Via e-mails)

St. Louis guild prepares for corporate campaign

The St. Louis Newspaper Guild has hired an activist and a marketing firm to help in its corporate campaign. The Post-Dispatch and the guild have been negotiating a new contract for several months. The guild fears Lee Enterprises is close to declaring an impasse.

Activist Carrie Biggs-Adams is a member of Labor Network for Sustainability and a staff representative at the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians. Biggs-Adams, who has described herself as a "mobilization queen," worked with the St. Louis Newspaper Guild in 2003 when the Post-Dispatch was owned by Pulitzer Inc. Biggs-Adams is on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Revolution Messaging is a Washington, D.C., public relations and communications firm founded by members of Barack Obama's social media campaign. Revolution specializes in social media and mobile communication. It is on Twitter.

The guild is still looking for a campaign coordinator. Contract negotiations resume Wednesday.

(Via e-mail)

St. Louis guild counteroffer: Furloughs and buyouts

The St. Louis Newspaper Guild responded to Lee Enterprise's recent contract offer for St. Louis Post-Dispatch members, which included a 10 percent pay cut and three one-week furloughs by Sept. 30, 2012.

The guild's counteroffer:

• Raises to the base wage for sales people on commission
• Unpaid furloughs in the first two years of the new contract, and the possibility of a furlough in the third year.
• Cash buyouts for eligible guild members who retire during the term of the agreement.

The guild says Lee representatives "characterized our proposal as 'disappointing' and 'unrealistic.'" Negotiations continue Friday.

(Via email)

Lee 'very, very close' to final offer to St. Louis guild

On Friday, Lee Enterprises sent what it called its "very, very close to our last, best and final offer" to the St. Louis Newspaper Guild. The new proposal includes a 10 percent pay cut and three unpaid one-week furloughs between now and Sept. 30, 2012. Previous proposals included a 15 percent pay cut in the first year and a 5 percent pay cut the next two years, but no furloughs. The guild will make a counter offer Wednesday.

The union sent its members an overview of Lee's new proposal:

5.5 year contract (This would make the contract conform to Lee's fiscal year-FY) 10% wage with three one-week furloughs between now and Sept. 30, 2012.

Possible* 2.5 % raise based on year over revenue in October 2012, 2013, 2014

*Raises are triggered by year over year revenue increases of 2% or more. Revenue is defined as total revenue of the Post-Dispatch and STL Distribution as they have historically recorded revenue.

Advertising Sale Reps-Retail sales reps, who currently have a base of $400 per week and outside sales commission employees, who currently have no base, will now have a base of $575 per week.

Retiree Medical-Eliminate

Retiree Life Insurance-Eliminate

Pension Plan-Freeze (keep the accrued benefits, but the pension would stop growing)

401K- Increase monthly contribution to $75 a month

Phones-
Newsroom: Status quo if you have a company provided phone you can keep it and the company will continue to pay for it.

Advertising: The Company will approve PDAs for all outside sales employees. Employees will be reimbursed $100 to buy a PDA and given $60 a month to plan for a minute plan.

The company is also proposing transitioning Guild members from the current accrual method of accounting for vacation to a grant system of vacation. We are still attempting to fully understand the impact of this and we'll share the details of this when the company clarifies this part of the proposal.

Seniority changes proposed by Company would give them the right to exclude up to 20% of the employees in an affected job classification in the event of a layoff.

Guild members have posted signs and tent cards to present a unified voice opposing Lee's then-proposed 15 percent pay cut. (This sign references the paper's "moxie" campaign.)

(Via e-mails)

St. Louis Newspaper Guild adds mark to win column

In a case that even the St. Louis Newspaper Guild says can get confusing, recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch guild retirees whose low-deductible medical insurance was changed to a higher plan will have their original plan reinstated, and will get cash-back for the difference.

The union has a complete recap on its website.

(Via e-mail)

College paper queries decline of the Post-Dispatch

A St. Louis college newspaper is taking Lee to task. In an editorial titled The Post-Dispatch's decline spells trouble for all St. Louisians, the Webster University paper takes a look at the "Post-Dispatch's destruction."

A solid newspaper keeps the wolves at bay. It keeps the corrupt in check and prevents the little guy from constant fleecing. If the Post-Dispatch isn't around to speak truth to power, who will?

The editorial is similar to the St. Louis Newspaper Guild's open letter to Mary Junck.

St. Louis guild OKs $500,000 for campaign against Lee

The St. Louis Newspaper Guild has voted to use $500,000 for a possible campaign against Lee Enterprises. Negotiations between the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the union have deteriorated, and the union says it fears the company may soon try to declare an impasse.

"We will launch a full-fledged corporate campaign against Lee only if the company terminates our contract and imposes wage and benefit cuts," a recent guild newsletter article said. "This step will be taken only after our members vote to authorize such action."

Details of the $500,000 campaign were not released, but will include social media -- blogs, Twitter and Facebook -- based on the guild story.

St. Louis guild writes open letter to Junck

The latest newsletter from the St. Louis Newspaper Guild included an open letter to Lee CEO Mary Junck and St. Louis Post-Dispatch publisher Kevin Mowbray. The guild recently said negotiations on a new contract for Post-Dispatch employees has "turned more acrimonious." The letter recaps a bit of Lee/Post-Dispatch history, but never seems to deliver on the build-up. Here it is, in full:

OPEN LETTER TO:
Mary Junck, CEO of Lee Enterprises
Kevin Mowbray, publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
And the officers and directors of Lee Enterprises

What it all comes down to is this: You’re just not that into us, and you never were.

From almost Day 1, we couldn’t really understand why Lee Enterprises felt compelled to buy Pulitzer. After all, Lee is a small town corporation; St. Louis, by Midwest standards, is a big city. The biggest of Lee’s newspapers barely reach 100,000 circulation; the Post-Dispatch has daily circulation twice that – and four times that on Sunday. Lee’s newspapers thrive by covering local news in small cities and towns; the Post-Dispatch made its mark covering the world, with a fully staffed Washington bureau.

Most of all, we couldn’t understand why Lee Enterprises, a mostly union-free operation accustomed to dictating terms to its newspapers, would take on insane debt to purchase a unionized paper in a pro-union city whose people react badly to being told what to do by carpetbaggers.

You must have felt that Pulitzer in general, and the Post-Dispatch in particular, would be a media jewel in your corporate crown. We thought that the Post-Dispatch might be a model by which Lee could expand the journalistic reach of its other newspapers. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that your goal was to turn the Post-Dispatch into just another Lee newspaper.

So, starting long before the economy tanked, we watched as scores of our colleagues were bought out and laid off. This may have helped the bottom line but also erased hundreds of years of institutional wisdom and memory on which great newspapers depend. We watched as you gutted the Washington bureau, national desk and wire desk. We watched as you killed the Everyday section and relegated feature writing to the margins, eliminating a brand that St. Louisans had turned to for more than 100 years.

And we sat by while you treated the Post-Dispatch and its employees and retirees with a breathtaking lack of respect. This began as soon as you took the keys to the building, with the inanely hostile act of prohibiting union members from using the Lee Lodge. And it has continued right through contract negotiations and the immoral and, in our view, illegal stripping of paid health insurance from the retired men and women who built this newspaper and worked for decades toward that benefit.

As you have remade the Post-Dispatch in the image of Davenport or Munster, you have told us that we make too much money, as if St. Louis and Davenport, or Munster, were equivalent in any meaningful way.

You have said that even if Lee were “swimming in money,” our retirees wouldn’t get any of it.

And you continue to insist that we take a 23 percent pay cut among other Draconian economic proposals, while rejecting each and every proposal we have given you for saving money or making money.

So here we are. And we’re still wondering: Why did Lee Enterprises buy Pulitzer if its goal was to destroy it?

And here are two more things that you may not have known about the Newspaper Guild five years ago and that you apparently still haven’t learned: You can’t scare us to death, and we will not roll over.

Read the rest of the newsletter on the guild's website.

St. Louis guild on contract negotiations: 'Things have gotten more serious'

It sounds like contract negotiations between the St. Louis Post-Dispatch union employees and Lee Enterprises is heating up. A memo from the St. Louis Newspaper Guild:

In the last week, the company has turned more acrimonious in its negotiations with the Guild. The company continues to demand a 15% wage cut in the first year of the contract, followed by a 5% cut the second year and 5% cut the third year. They still insist on eliminating retiree health care and they are demanding huge concessions on seniority.

We are now meeting twice a week with the company and a federal mediator is sitting in on negotiations. Things have gotten more serious.

Despite numerous tentative agreements, roughly a dozen on various individual items in the contract, we are concerned that the company may soon move to declare impasse. This belief is based on a number of thinly-veiled threats the company has issued across the bargaining table.

Under federal law, if impasse is reached, the company could break off negotiations and make their “last, best and final” offer. The Guild would bring that offer, as bad as it might be, to the members for a vote. This could all happen quickly, within weeks if the company moves aggressively.

It would be fair to assume the company’s final offer would include many of the above poisonous provisions but would also include freezing the pension plan, eliminating the 401-K contributions, and other bad deals for the members. Obviously, the Guild would not endorse the offer and it would likely be voted down by the members.

If their final offer is voted down, the company has two choices; return to the bargaining table and continue bargaining or impose the terms and conditions of their last, best and final offer.

If the company declares impasse, the Guild will file an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The Guild believes we are far from impasse. We have made steady progress through negotiations. The Guild has stated time and again at the bargaining table that we want to reach an agreement. And we do.

While we do not believe the company has a case for impasse, we could all end up working under imposed working conditions until the NLRB comes to a decision on our unfair labor practice charge.

A declaration of impasse by the company would allow the Guild to pursue a number of options to force the company back to the table. Those options include all forms of economic actions against the company. The Guild has laid the ground for a corporate campaign directed at the economic interests of Lee Enterprises. For strategic reasons we’d prefer not to reveal the details of the plan at this time.

The Guild continues to work diligently towards an agreement.

We want to paint a realistic picture of where we stand and what the stakes are. Now is the time to pay attention and get involved. This affects the future of all of us. More information will be released in a Ruffled Feather next week. We are also planning a unit meeting for later in February.

Via e-mail. Send tips and memos to lee.ent.watch@gmail.com.

Lee reinstates life insurance for P-D retirees

Lee has reinstated life insurance for St. Louis Post-Dispatch employees who previously accepted a buyout. The letter signed human resources director Jennifer Kivlin says, in part:

"Upon further review of your Voluntary Retirement Offcer from St. Louis Post-Dispatch LLC, the decision has been made to reinstate your retiree life insurance benefit. ... This decision is based on your Voluntary Retirement Offer and does not affect most retirees of Lee Enterprises. In addition, the changes to retiree health care that you were previously advised of will be implemented."

(Via e-mail. Send tips, memos and comments to lee.ent.watch@gmail.com.)

Lee makes error in P-D pension deposits

What is going on between Lee and St. Louis Post-Dispatch retirees?

On Jan. 1, several former Post-Dispatch employees who took buyouts in 2005 or 2007 found their pension deposits lowered by hundreds of dollars -- without prior notification or explanation from Lee. (I'm told this is a different group of retirees than those who were told in December that their healthcare premiums would go up.) According to a source, one retiree received just $6.

On Sunday, Astrid Garcia, vice president of human resources at the Post-Dispatch, said the company had made an error, according to the St. Louis Newspaper Guild blog. Garcia said Lee was not sure how the error was made, but full pensions would be deposited/sent on Tuesday.

Post-Dispatch protest video

The St. Louis Newspaper Guild posted a video of Tuesday's protest outside the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Post-Dispatch retirees protest Lee's insurance decision

About 75 St. Louis Post-Dispatch retirees and union reps picketed this morning in front of the newspaper's office. Last week, Lee told many Post-Dispatch retirees that their health insurance would be eliminated. One of the retirees at the protest sent in these great photos:







KMOX also has several photos.