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Official Union Press Release

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 12:09:19 -0400

The members unanimously voted to approve the contract this morning.

“We won on two essential points with respect to our health benefits in that employees will continue to make no contribution toward the health care premiums, and there won’t be a two-tiered health care arrangement in which newer employees have to accept a lesser plan. These elements really put us ahead of the curve as far as the industry standard.”

—Graham A. Rayman, staff writer, and union spokesman.

For further info:

Graham A. Rayman
646-651-0914

We've Got a Settlement!

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 12:02:00 -0400

Last night a little before 10pm, after what one union rep described as “white knuckle negotiating,” a tentative agreement was reached with Village Voice Media that the bargaining committee could recommend to the membership.

Accordingly, a meeting took place this morning at 10am in the unfinished new conference room at the Village Voice offices. After some debate, the new contract was unanimously accepted by a show of hands.

The agreement, which expires July 30, 2004, includes wage increases, and no contribution to the health plan premium.

There were other issues too, some of which the union prevailed on, and some on which it did not, but there was general elation on the part of the membership to be seen everywhere on the 3rd floor of 36 Cooper Square after the vote.

The membership would like to thank everyone for the support we received at the strike benefit on Thursday night, on the web, and in other publications. And some day we hope to reciprocate in kind.

Official Statement By Our Spokesperson, 10:15pm

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:29:00 -0400

“We have reached a tentative agreement that is going to be presented to the membership for their approval in the morning.”—Graham A. Rayman, Village Voice staff writer and union spokesperson

Rayman said he could not discuss the terms until the offer has been presented to the membership.

Offer To Be Voted on Friday Morning

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:23:00 -0400

We have a tentative agreement with Village Voice management. Membership will meet tomorrow at 10 a.m. to discuss terms and put the contract to a vote. Stay tuned for details.

Thanks to our Bargaining Committee for their efforts.

Negotiating Committee Press Release, 4:47 p.m.

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:52:00 -0400

Village Voice union members from editorial, production and sales staged a symbolic walkout at about 4 p.m. today, to illustrate to management what the office would look like in the event of a strike.

Addressing the members, Jim Hoberman, a Voice film critic and a member of the union’s bargaining team, emphasized to members the importance of holding the line against management’s demands to cut health care benefits and eliminate the company’s 401K contribution.

With about seven hours to go before the contract expires, the two sides are still talking, but there has been little movement in the negotiations.

For further info:

Graham A. Rayman
646-651-0914

Why the Village Voice Should "Gross Up" On Same-Sex Marriage Taxes

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:47:00 -0400

by STEVEN W. THRASHER

The negotiating committee is asking the Village Voice to “gross up” and pay the discriminatory tax burdens same-sex couples face. This was my personal plea to management’s lawyer, Bert Pogrebin.

I had the honor of being in the Capitol building last week when the Senate passed the Marriage Equality Act. It was a highlight of both my life and of my career, and it was an opportunity for which I was very grateful. I was very proud to have written for the Voice on this topic. I’m particularly grateful to Tony Ortega for the space and support he’s given to this issue. I don’t think I was ever more proud to work for this paper than when he defended me to Ruben Diaz, Sr. on one occasion.

But as I was coming back on the bus from Albany, something you said, Mr. Pogrebin, stuck in my mind. We had brought this proposal up, about paying the tax differential same-sex couples face, and you said, basically, it was “Too bad, so sad” for gay employees who are taxed differently by the government than their heterosexual counterparts are. You did not seem sympathetic, and you did not seem to care that it was something that the company could help with.

You also kind of implied that if gay marriage passed, it would take care of this. I’d like to expand upon this a little, and to dispel some myths. New York marriage equality does nothing to address any federal issue because of the Defense of Marriage Act, and I don’t accept that this isn’t something Village Voice Media could do something about.

The Voice has a proud history of taking stands on issues. I don’t think the Voice would stand for a situation where my co-worker Sean would have to pay more for taxes because he was black than another employee of the company, and I don’t think this is something that the Voice should stand for here. The Voice took a proud stand on immigration in a national, award winning editorial effort, and the Voice has a very strong history on same sex civil rights.

The Voice was the first private employer in the entire nation to offer domestic partner benefits. And I think the Voice really needs to carry on this tradition. At this moment, as New York has passed this historic bill, I think the Voice should proudly take part in a program where it offsets the tax differences same-sex couples face. As the Human Rights Campaign points out, in a much more expensive plan, that would be a difference of about $1,500 dollars a year. It would be much less than that for any of the plans we’ve been discussing.

But that’s a cost that the Village Voice and Village Voice Media could conceivably cover for their employees. It’s not a cost that individuals could or should have to cover. And this is a cost less than any one of the enormous brand new flat screen televisions you’ve recently bought for this building. It’s not something that I could conceivably pay for, but it’s something that the Voice could do to do right by their employees.

And I was really appalled when you implied that it would be unfair for the Voice to bear this cost because it’s an injustice individuals should handle themselves. I’d like to give you a little insight into what it is to be a gay American without civil rights in this country. The New York Marriage Equality Act does nothing for someone like me. I had a partner of three years that I just put on a plane back to his home country on Monday, forever. We can never even be together or get married now that his visa is up. New York Marriage Equality does nothing for federal immigration issues, or federal taxes, which will still impose an unfair financial burden that we are addressing in our proposal.

The Voice cannot do anything about the broken heart that I am feeling right now. But “grossing up” on taxes, that is something that the Voice can do. You could stand up behind your gay and lesbian employees on this issue, and say that that, “We’re going to help you with this unfair discrimination you are facing and we will stand with you.” Indeed, as the New York Times pointed out, many employers are already voluntarily doing this.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a position where you’ve been subject to discrimination, but in these situations you look to places for hope. And our readers have looked to the Village Voice for hope. I look to you, my employer, to the Voice for hope in this situation, and I think you should stand up and do the right thing. It is something practical that you can do that completely fits into the mission and the history of this paper.

Village Voice Staff Stages Walk-Out

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:33:00 -0400

At exactly 4 p.m. this afternoon, a creaking of chairs could be heard across the 3rd floor of 36 Cooper Square, and then an eerie silence as over 50 union employees and sympathizers walked off the job at the Village Voice, as a sign of dissatisfaction over the lack of movement by management at the bargaining table. The contract expires tonight at midnight.

Many of the walk-outs wore t-shirts emblazoned with a quote from Norman Mailer, one of the Village Voice founders: “Revolutions are the periods when individuals count most.”

After 30 minutes of spontaneous speeches, and the general consensus that the employees can’t keep working if the final offer by management will result in a reduction of their wages, they returned to work.

Stay tuned here for further updates.

VILLAGE VOICE UNION CONTRACT EXPIRES AT MIDNIGHT AS THE REAL VOICE RECEIVES A WARM WELCOME

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:05:00 -0400

With the union contract set to expire in twelve hours, our leadership returns to the negotiating table invigorated by the outpouring of support at last night’s strike benefit, from our readers and in the media, as sampled below.

Check TheRealVoice.org throughout the day for the latest information and follow us on Twitter.

_____

New York Observer:

The symbolic value of the first-ever Voice strike should not be underestimated. It would be an homage to the ethos of Mailer’s Voice. Perhaps it would remind the Arizona libertarians why they named their media conglomerate after it.

Washington Post:

The Voice dispute features a little intersection of money and politics as well. Rayman: “Despite our editorial support of gay marriage and domestic partner benefits, and despite the fact that the Voice was one of the first companies to give domestic partner benefits to employees, the company is also refusing in the negotiations to pay the tax on health insurance for domestic partners.”

Betabeat:

The initial post already has dozens of likes and reblogs. Tumblr’s built-in virality could be a huge asset for the union, as the Voice’s readers stay informed about the issue and stop visiting the official website. Tumblr is popular as a brand-builder and traffic driver for media, but it also supports the local news blog network Neighborhoodr, which sells ads on its Tumblr-powered site. Maybe the Voice staffers should try to woo some of the paper’s advertisers–that would put pressure on talks real quick.

Lt. Dan Choi and activist lawyer Yetta Kurland came out to the...

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 08:23:00 -0400

Lt. Dan Choi and activist lawyer Yetta Kurland came out to the Village Voice’s strike fund party last night, expressing appreciation of the Voice on behalf of the city’s LGBT population. Lt. Choi is a gay West Point graduate like Lucian Truscott, the famous Voice reporter who covered the Stonewall riots for the paper in 1969.

YETTA KURLAND
“We’re here, we’re queer, we’re in solidarity with the Village Voice, our sisters and brothers fighting to be recognized as a union, standing up for journalists, for writers, for all of us who create. Wonderful writing to express ourselves and allow ourselves to be in existence, in New York City, in the West Village and East Village. You guys, win your struggle!”

LT. DAN CHOI
“The Village Voice has been our voice for decades, and I was proud to know that Stonewall was first reported on by a West Point graduate, Lucian Truscott, who just a few months after graduating from West Point went to Stonewall and wrote for the Village Voice fearlessly! And with that same sense of fearlessness, I want to add my voice to the workers and to the writers of the Village Voice, who are struggling for that basic recognition of their work. Their work is important. Their work is the First Amendment. We fought for the First Amendment in this uniform, and I am very proud, very honored, and I am completely dignified in my righteous stance with those righteous workers.”

STRIKE BENEFIT TONIGHT! PLEASE DONATE!

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:00:00 -0400

Tonight at 8 p.m. is the strike benefit for the Village Voice at Public Assembly in Brooklyn. If you can’t make it, please consider donating to our strike fund, which will help our staff subsist in the event of a work stoppage.

Strike Benefit Details: Wednesday, June 29, 8 p.m. at Public...

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:48:30 -0400

Strike Benefit Details: Wednesday, June 29, 8 p.m. at Public Assembly (70 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 718-384-4586), featuring the bands Fort Lean, K-Holes, and Alan Watts. Suggested $10 donation. More info!

STRIKE LOOMS AT VILLAGE VOICE

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:50:00 -0400

June 28, 2011: For immediate release

The current three-year contract between Village Voice Media and UAW Local 2110, representing the workers of The Village Voice, expires midnight June 30. The membership has unanimously passed a strike authorization vote.

Over the past three years, the Voice staff has been cut by an estimated 60%, and average annual salaries have markedly diminished. Management has so far played hardball with the union, refusing to make an offer, while demanding extensive concessions from the newspaper’s staff, including a substantial, ever-increasing contribution to an inferior health plan, as well as the elimination of management’s own contribution to employees’ retirement accounts. The union membership sees the quality of their medical coverage as the critical issue. “That’s why I came to work here,” said one staff writer. “The health insurance is the one thing that made low wages bearable.”

In the event of a work stoppage, writers, bloggers, photographers, editors, designers, and sales staff—as well as former Voice staff members and other supporters—will be publishing an alternate website, TheRealVoice.org, where readers will find the same high-quality writing there that they currently enjoy in the paper and on Voice blogs.

A strike benefit will be held on Wednesday, June 29, beginning at 8 p.m. at Public Assembly (70 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 718-384-4586), featuring the bands Fort Lean, K-Holes, and Alan Watts. The suggested $10 donation will go to the Village Voice Strike Fund. Voice alumni, including many distinguished writers and editors, are expected to attend.

The Village Voice is the nation’s oldest and largest alternative newsweekly and the recipient of numerous journalism awards, including three Pulitzers. It was founded in 1955 by Ed Fancher, Dan Wolf, and Norman Mailer. The Voice, along with the rest of its six-newspaper chain, was acquired in 2006 by Phoenix-based New Times Media, since renamed Village Voice Media. The shop includes workers from all parts of the paper, including Production, Editorial, and Sales.

For further information, please contact:

Maida Rosenstein, president, UAW Local 2110

MaidaRosenstein@2110uaw.org

212-387-0220

Graham Rayman, staff writer, Village Voice

graham.a.rayman@gmail.com

646-651-0914

Photo

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:25:00 -0400