The relationship between unionized workers and the management-and-ownership team is a lot like a marriage. Two weeks into the coupling of the unions at MaineToday Media (publisher of the Portland Press Herald and numerous other print and online news outlets) and new owner Reade Brower (a Camden businessman who owns several Maine weeklies and a stake in a printing press) it looks like the honeymoon is over.
MTM executives were all smiles this spring as the transition to Brower’s ownership took place. They touted his commitment to quality journalism and the fact the state’s largest news-gathering operation would remain in the control of a Mainer. Union leaders were decidedly cautious. Their expression could best be described as tight-lipped as they anxiously awaited word regarding how many, if any, of their members would get the ax once the deal was sealed on June 1.
As Mainebiz reported the next day, only 10 of the company’s approximately 400 full- and part-time workers got pink slips this month. Everyone else accepted the new ownership’s job offer, despite the fact the unions have been working without a contract. “Brower said employees were offered the same wages and benefits,” Mainebiz reported on June 2.
On June 11, a post on the personal Facebook page of Press Herald reporter and union leader Tom Bell suggested otherwise. “Driving through rural Maine today, thinking about my recent pay cut and how to pay my bills, I asked God for a sign for a path forward,” Bell wrote. The attached photo showed a road sign pointing the way toward the towns of Union and Hope. In the comments below, Bell clarified his concern, saying workers had lost reimbursement for travel in some circumstances, as well as “overtime for working holidays and working more than 10 hours per day, etc.”
On June 16, Press Herald editorial page editor and union leader Greg Kesich fired a slightly more public salvo on behalf of the union’s executive board. In a post on the News Guild of Maine’s website headlined “What We Believe: Maine Guild Responds to Anti-Union Owner,” Kesich wrote: “We’ve heard from our new owner and have a better understanding of his values and beliefs. Here are some of ours.”
Kesich begins by stressing the importance of workers having a voice in management decisions that affect their lives. He goes on to say that “Pay, benefits, job security and discipline should not be left entirely to management discretion where they can become tools for favoritism and intimidation.” And he issues a call for solidarity. “We know that we are strongest when we stick together. That’s why companies would always rather deal with us as individuals than as a group.”
Reached by phone Wednesday morning, Kesich said his post was in response to a message employees recently received from Brower, an internal communication the union is not publicizing. He suggested readers of his post could infer what’s at stake from the points he raised.
It seems to me that Kesich is talking about nothing less than the very existence of his union. (Kesich’s guild represents newsroom employees and advertising reps; workers at MTM’s South Portland printing facility are affiliated with the Teamsters and are no less concerned about their future — the 10 positions Brower cut were on that side of the operation).
Kesich essentially agreed, saying his post was about “baseline existential questions” regarding what a union is and what it’s meant to accomplish. “We are in a situation we’ve never been in before, where we are a union without a contract and have to negotiate a new contract from scratch,” he told me.
The travel reimbursement is just one of “many things that are gone,” Kesich said, though he added that changes to overtime pay are among a plethora of issues whose impact will not be fully known until negotiations take place in the weeks to come.
Kesich’s post ended on a positive note, stressing the importance of working collaboratively with management toward common goals. “We are problem solvers, not troublemakers,” he wrote.
Brower told me by phone this week that he doesn’t want trouble, either. Though Brower said he’s not directly involved in the negotiations, he said, “our main goal is to move the paper forward and create a sustainable model that’s principled by common sense. As long as the union is willing to help us do that, we’re on the same page.” (He was also careful to say the pay and benefits workers were offered are “similar” to what they had before, not “the same.”)
I certainly hope the two sides can come to an agreement this summer that prevents a strike or additional layoffs. When a marriage fails, it’s usually the kids who get shafted. In the case of this partnership, the civic and cultural life of the entire state would take a huge hit should these newspaper nuptials crumble.