Since early March, the Detroit Newspaper Guild has been in negotiations with 21st CMH Acquisition Co., the Alden Global Capital unit that received approval last week to buy Journal Register Co.’s assets out of bankruptcy.
Poynter printed a Guild bulletin outlining the company’s demands, which include a 15 percent pay cut and more than doubling employees’ health insurance premiums, according to the Detroit Free Press.
From the Detroit Free Press story:
Louis Mleczko, president of the Newspaper Guild of Detroit, which represents employees at the Macomb Daily and the Daily Tribune, said the employment terms are outrageous. He said Macomb Daily employees took a pension freeze and a 12.5% pay cut four years ago and have gotten just 2.5% back.
“They took tremendous sacrifice to help keep this entity afloat, but now (the company) decided to take on the unions and get rid of them and gut their contracts,” Mleczko said.
The contracts expires March 31. Workers have authorized a possible strike or other labor action once the contracts end.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
