With all the attention on various executive fiascos and staff reductions at the Star Tribune, the situation at the Pioneer Press has received relatively little coverage lately. My apologies there. But last night saw a brief (one-hour) and reasonably cordial opening round of contract negotiations between the Newspaper Guild and new owner, MediaNews, headed by Denver tycoon, Dean Singleton.
In visits to St. Paul since buying the paper from McClatchy last year Singleton — when he wasn’t fielding questions about what Par Ridder did or didn’t steal as he jumped over to the Star Tribune — made no secret that he was going seriously impact if not wages, his employees’ benefit packages, starting with a freeze on pensions.
The Guild has a post up on its website laying out the specific issues to be fought over this summer. The post it includes an eloquent opening statement from Jim Ragsdale, a former reporter, for a long time at the capitol, and now the sole inhabitant of the Pioneer Press editorial department.
In the statement Ragsdale says this:
“The people before you, and the people we represent, are hardy survivors of these dramatic changes. We’ve been through waves of cutbacks. Decades of experience have been lost. A large part of our corporate personality is gone. We grieved those losses … and moved on. And we have chosen to stay and fight for a newspaper we believe in. Just like (MediaNews) is fighting for the newspaper we all believe in.
“We have already paid a price for our company’s decision to make itself smaller.
“Many of us are doing several jobs or have been moved to previously unfamiliar turf. That’s a challenge we’ve willingly taken on. I’m the lone editorial writer in an office that had five writers a few years ago. I’m doing the work of several people. I love my job and am proud of what we have done. I alone have helped the company save hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in salary and benefits. My salary and benefits have not improved.”
Ragsdale is right, of course. But it is hard to see where the Guild has any leverage at all with Singleton. With the very murky, deep background entanglements MediaNews and (Star Tribune owner) Avista have over the Par Ridder law suit, Avista’s short-term interest in newspaper ownership in Minnesota and the increasing likelihood of a merger of the two papers, (where Singleton could just as easily gain overall ownership as anyone else), every indication is that the Guild will have to take even further hits to its compensation package.
Caught on the way into work this morning and asked if the Guild was prepared to stand adamant on any specific issue, or if everything was up for negotiation, (I didn’t have the heart to use the word, “concession”), Ragsdale said, “Look, all we want is a fair and valid contract. We don’t pretend these are great times. And we see in some of their demands, [like removing a dozen or so “Team Leaders” from the Guild], things they’ve wanted to do for a long time. But at this point nobody has seen their finances. So its hard to say what their situation really is.”
The next negotiating session will probably come after the 4th of July holiday.
Oh, in case you haven’t got the time to click through to Ragsdale’s full statement. Here’s another choice bit, as Ragsdale began by commending MediaNews for its aggressive pursuit of young Ridder.
“We’d like to begin with the Par Ridder case,” said Ragsdale, “which was an important event for us. We thank you for standing up for the Pioneer Press after Par’s defection and thefts and lies. This legal battle could turn out to be one of our newspaper’s finest moments.”
To say Par Ridder left few friends and fewer admirers in St. Paul would be a significant understatement.
I’m just not betting that Singleton and MediaNews will leave town — whenever they do — with any more than Ridder.
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