The company and union inched closer to agreement on a few issues, but most money issues, including wage scales, copy editing and pagination pay, mileage reimbursement, sick leave, vacation and insurance, remain unresolved.
Management continues to advocate from their position that revenue is down and will continue to trend downward, so additional reductions in employee costs are needed. The union continues to advocate from the position that the paper’s bottom line has improved enough to begin restoring concessions made by the staff over the past several years.
Health Insurance Premiums
The company and the union are both proposing to decrease the premium percentage paid by the company in 2014 for employee-only coverage, and increase the percentage paid by the company for family coverage. The percentage paid by employees for employee-only coverage will likely increase from 5 percent to 10-15 percent. The percentage paid by employees for family coverage will likely decrease from 35 percent to 25 percent. There are no proposals to change the 20 percent paid by employees for Employee + Spouse and Employee+ Child(ren) coverage. There isn’t an agreement on premium percentage share yet, so those numbers are subject to change. As you enroll in 2014 medical coverage, please keep these potential premium changes in mind.
Below are the union’s estimates on the potential premium changes:
| CLASSIC 11 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employee | Employee + Spouse | Employee + Child(ren) | Family | |
| Current | $54.48 | $187.74 | $146.92 | $341.39 |
| 5% Increase | $66.55 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 10% Increase | $78.62 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 10% Decrease | n/a | n/a | n/a | $276.45 |
| CLASSIC 17 | ||||
| Employee | Employee + Spouse | Employee + Child(ren) | Family | |
| Current | $12.07 | $99.95 | $78.22 | $227.30 |
| 5% Increase | $24.14 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 10% Increase | $36.21 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 10% Decrease | n/a | n/a | n/a | $162.36 |
| HDHP/HSA 22A | ||||
| Employee | Employee + Spouse | Employee + Child(ren) | Family | |
| Current | $0.00 | $36.62 | $28.65 | $145.00 |
| 5% Increase | $0.00 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 10% Increase | $5.62 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 10% Decrease | n/a | n/a | n/a | $80.06 |

The union’s bargaining team includes Marge Strescino, Nick Bonham, Jeff Letofsky, Gayle Perez and Tony Mulligan.
The company’s bargaining team includes Ray Stafford, Steve Henson, Martha Eller, Brianna Ferran, Phil Ruegg and Chad Orvis.
Bargaining sessions are scheduled for Dec. 11 and 13.
The current contract and other information is available at denvernewspaperguild.org.
