After two years of contract negotiations, neither The Register-Guard management nor the Eugene Newspaper Guild is expecting a resolution in the near future.
“As of May 1, it will be two years without a contract,” said Suzi Prozanski, guild president and a copy editor for The Register-Guard features department. “We’re hanging in limbo and still operating under the expired contract, which is better than anything they have on the table.”
The dispute began two years ago, when the former contract expired and new contract negotiations were initiated. Both The Register-Guard negotiating team and the Eugene Newspaper Guild offered contracts proposals, but the guild’s recommendation was rejected by newspaper management, Prozanski said.
Guild representatives allege that since negotiations began, Register-Guard management has been failing to negotiate in good faith, resulting in little progress. Newspaper management says the issue is one that is drawing to a close, leaving the union wondering when the concerns of employees will be addressed, Prozanski said.
November marked The Register-Guard’s first and last significant compromise during the negotiations, Prozanski said. The Register-Guard removed a union-busting proposal from the negotiation table, and in exchange, the union dropped four unfair labor practice charges against the company, she said.
“They have an ‘our way or no way’ attitude,” said Prozanski, who has worked for The Register-Guard since 1985. “They’re trying to roll back our rights we’ve had for the last 50 years.”
Register-Guard publisher Tony Baker didn’t return numerous calls from the Emerald, and Cynthia Walden, director of human resources, would not discuss specifics of the negotiations.
“It’s our position that we’re going to handle our negotiations at the bargaining table,” Walden said. “We don’t want to bargain it in the media.”
State Sen. Tony Corcoran, D-Cottage Grove, who has followed the negotiations, said The Register-Guard hasn’t been bargaining in good faith since it hired Zinser and Patterson, a Nashville, Tenn., law firm with a reputation among labor organizers as a union-buster.
“They’re trying to force employees to accept a management right clause that would basically neuter the union,” Corcoran said. “This is typical slow-down tactics, and it’s the first time The Register-Guard has gone to these lengths to bust the union.”
With several important issues yet to be addressed, Register-Guard representatives have told the union that they are approaching a final proposal. If the company continues to dig in its heels, union members can choose to accept or reject the proposal, Prozanski said. If the union rejects it, The Register-Guard can post conditions, and then a strike might occur.
The following are the issues that the union believes should be addressed in a future contract, Prozanski said:

Management clause
“If someone quits, they could divide that job between a manager and a part-timer or freelancer rather than hire a guild member,” Prozanski said.
If accepted, the clause could erode the number of family-wage jobs, Prozanski said. With this proposal, the newspaper could decrease the number of people working full-time with benefits. Currently, there are 155 employees in the union and almost an equal number of part-time employees. The union tried to get part-time workers covered in its proposal to The Register-Guard but was again rejected, she said.

Base wage pay freezes
The advertising department is facing a base wage pay freeze. When the economy isn’t doing well, advertising employees rely on base pay rather than commission, Prozanski said. If the proposal goes through, base wages will be frozen for 10 years.
“The Register-Guard is at the bottom line regarding economic issues, hinting they won’t budge,” Prozanski said. “Issues like new ad commission rates have not even been talked about.”

E-mail
“Register-Guard employees are not allowed to use their e-mail accounts for personal e-mails,” Prozanski said.
The guild has argued that it is an employee right to use e-mail for personal communications.

Freedom of expression
Wearing arm bands as a silent reminder of union-member rights is another area where The Register-Guard has cracked down on employees, though not uniformly, Prozanski said. After The Register-Guard management told a circulation employee not to wear arm bands outside of the building, staff received a letter banning controversial, political or union insignia worn while in contact with customers.
“In this case, [the customers] were newspaper carriers, independent contractors,” Prozanski said. “People have worn arm bands during interviews [without reprimand].”

Salaries
The Register-Guard management has also outlined in the contract a decrease of the district manager’s salary by 4.5 percent, Prozanski said. The union had proposed 5 percent increases for all staff, but The Register-Guard said the bottom line is a 2 percent maximum increase.
With the union’s issues yet unaddressed and the Register-Guard negotiation team seemingly unwilling to budge for any major compromises, the outcome of contract negotiations has yet to be determined, Prozanski said.