You’d be forgiven for not noticing, but The Gazette has just finished going through a labour conflict.
On Friday, the paper reports it has struck a deal with the union representing mailroom employees, who have been locked out since Aug. 7.
The deal will result in job reductions – seven buyouts and three layoffs with severance for a total of 10 jobs lost out of about 60.
On the other hand, the jobs will remain four days a week. The employer had wanted them to switch to five days a week.
Both sides say they are satisfied with the deal, which is good. It’s just unfortunate that it took six months to get to this point.
The lockout also affected a bargaining unit of two platemakers, who came to a deal in December.
I can’t believe we live in a society where grown ass adults think a 4 day work week is appropriate. It’s called part time.
I retract my statement if they’re cramming 10-12 hour days in those 4 days. If it’s a standard 8 hour shift tho…. colour me unimpressed.
Amazing. The Gazette still sends and receives enough postal mail to keep sixty (or even fifty) people busy?
Reminds me a bit of the typesetters who, back in the early 90s, went on strike for years when some corner-office suits realized that nearly any trained monkey could work a Mac loaded with QuarkXPress. Did they really think they were going to be paid $30/hour to push lead for perpetuity?
Yep. The times, they are still a-changin’.
Most of the workers are part-time, and the name is kind of a misnomer. The workers do things like handle inserts – all those flyers that get stuffed into the paper, which you might have noticed have been less common recently.
Back in the day, though, in 1968 when I began, the mailers, although they did handle inserts even back then, also prepared for mailing those newspapers which were mailed out to out-of-town subscribers.
http://www.chaunceywing.com
Wow, there is still a job description for platemakers. I guess my assumption that digital production excluded the occupation of platemakers was false.
followup question: perhaps Fagstein could give us a guided tour through the modern newspaper printing process sometime?
I’m not an expert. I work in a different building far away. But that would make for a good story, I think.
Yea… would be an interesting read. How a late-night story, such as say the Best Picture at the Oscars, makes it to print and online by 3:30 AM/at our doors by 6 AM.
It’s not so much digital production as it is technology that prints directly to the plate. But yes, the positions have been essentially made obsolete, which is why the employer wanted them eliminated.