Web a topic in Baltimore union negotiations
Liz Foreman May 17th, 2007
There are other issues on both sides but here are the webby ones…
1) The Baltimore Sun wants the union to okay combined reporter-photographer positions at the paper media organization.
2) The Sun’s union wants, “to combine operations of baltimoresun.com, whose employees are not Guild members, into The Sun’s unionized newsroom,” said a guild spokesman.
8 Comments Add your own
1. ! | May 17th, 2007 at 10:15 am
union workrules simply won’t work on the net - where it’s all about immediacy.
can you imagine no one around to hit the submit button for a huge breaking story because it’s break time???
2. aidian | May 17th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Union work rules work fine on the web, in tv, anywhere else. They just mandate that management provide adequate staffing — including a little margin so staffers aren’t constantly stretched to the limit. Yes, it could take the station’s profit margin down to 40%, or, gasp, even 30%, but it’s not that they “won’t work on the web.”
What I find interesting is how shortsighted the unions were to let the web staff come in as non-union — this has to be the third or fourth time I’ve read about unionized newsroom with non-union web staff.
How’d the union ever let that happen in the first place? Guess many union leaders were as clueless as many company leaders were about the web.
3. Fernando | May 19th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
I agree with Aidian’s post. As a former union represented employee at a network O&O, I can tell you that there is nothing more immediate than having to cut a minute thirty story in less than one hour and not miss your slot. We consistantly shot, edited and made our times because we took pride and cared about our craft. Telling the story is the important part.
I will say though, that in protecting the collective, sometimes the incentive is lost for those that might be a bit lazy. As far as the web, most of my former colleagues don’t have a clue about about flash vs. h.264…web 2.0… etc… there is a certain sense of maintaining the status-quo. We wait to retire. My old union has opened up to this new technology and is trying to position the workforce on this new playing field.
Another side to this is that the companies want younger employees, that are more tech savy, that they can bring in at a lower pay rate. I think that a hybrid approach can be possible. You can teach certain old dogs new tricks, and youthful exuberance can ignite passion. It’s not as much about age, as it is about learning, and never thinking that you know everything.
Please forgive my long riff!
4. Erik | May 21st, 2007 at 3:57 pm
The only thing the union did at my former station is keep me, as a producer, from hitting stop or play on the tape machines near the control room. Hitting play was reserved for the former film cutters. The uninon also negotiated a lesser health plan than that of non-union employees. Maybe it is different in print.
5. MrKorvin | October 12th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
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