No, really.
That IS what you're getting paid.

By popular demand, we've figured medians for most of the job titles for which we already posted the (company-calculated) averages. We didn't do two-person titles because in that case, the median IS the average. (We didn't do one-person titles, because figuring an average or median of one number would be silly.)

A median is the middle number in a series of numbers. That means half the numbers in the series are above it and half are below. As with the other set of figures, these numbers are for post-diversion wages (AFTER medical premiums are removed), and should be equivalent to the hourly wage you see on your pay stub.

Advertising
Outside classified sales, 22.07; outside national sales, 24.26; outside retail sales, 22.53; advertising graphic designer, 23.94; targeted products designer, 22.40; sales associate, 16.46; inside sales, 18.01; inside/territory sales classified, 19.50; advertising marketing coordinator, 20.43; sales support assistant, 15.63; senior clerk, 17.48; clerk, 13.06; customer service sales classified, 14.74; commission sales, 0 (no hourly wage; paid on a commission-only basis).

Circulation
District adviser, 24.79; field assistant, 12.45; circulation marketing graphic designer, 23.26; assistant district adviser, 16.54; circulation new business account executive, 21.05; customer service specialist, 16.95; senior clerk, 17.17; zone clerk, 16.44; clerk, 14.79; collections representative, 13.17.

Corporate marketing
Marketing presentation writer, 22.40.

Editorial
Editorial writer, 34.71

News
Assistant art director, 34.69; columnist, 41.03; desk editor, 31.16; news page designer, 28.10; news resident, 17.74; digital production assistant, 18.25; news assistant, 13.70; news artist, 27.15; photographer, 32.46; reporter, 30.83; zone reporter, 23.75; lead news assistant, 18.04; senior clerk, 19.29; news researcher, 23.66.

Operations
Page layout specialist, 22.87; clerk, 14.94.

Here's the post that had the averages, for easy comparison.
(Never let it be said that I'm not a full-service volunteer.)

More wage data TK

Again, apologies for not being able to respond individually to everyone who's written with concerns about Times pay levels and the proposed wage freeze.

We'll calculate median pay to give you a better idea of what the distribution is within job titles and classifications.

In the meantime, please be sure to express your concerns about wages to your managers and to Times Labor Relations so that they know it's not just the bargaining team telling tales.

Thanks for your patience,
Yoko

Composing: Gathering odds and ends

Who knew “housekeeping” could be so much fun?

Guild and Times bargainers in Composing-unit talks spent much of Wednesday’s session clearing away remaining areas of disagreement.

Highlights include:

• The Times withdrew its proposal to reduce associates’ minimum shift length from 5 hours to 4 hours.

• Both sides agreed on a 2-year term, with the contract expiring on Aug. 15, 2008.

• Guild bargainers agreed to accept the same modifications to the substance-abuse addendum as were agreed to in the main Guild unit (Advertising, Circultation, News). Included in this was the company’s withdrawal of its proposal to lower the prohibited blood-alcohol level from .05 to 04.

• Times management withdrew “union-management cooperation” proposals after hearing that members found the language offensive.

In addition, Times management plans on putting together a proposal that would allow Composing-unit members to join the company’s Long-Term Disability plan, if they so choose. Composing members will have the opportunity to attend a presentation on the plan and would vote (separate from contract ratification) on whether to join.

We also discussed sick leave, but management said that sick leave for Composing members was a no-go unless we agreed to roll the Composing contract into the main Guild contract.

Composing-unit Chapel Chair Rena Mefford reiterated members’ position that we’d prefer to maintain the status-quo practice of having the chapel chair be in charge of initial vacation scheduling.

“It’s worked well for years, and the system’s not broken,” Mefford told management reps.

The next Composing-unit session is at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2.

Since you asked...

Some members looked at recently posted Times wage information and wanted to know who's getting paid more: Times or P-I workers.

We compared wage information supplied by both employers, and found that the variance in most cases isn't all that large. (In one category, average wages at the Times and P-I were just 2 cents per hour apart.)

Because the P-I doesn't have separate Circulation or Advertising departments, these comparisons are for news/editorial positions only.

Which paper pays more?

Reporter: P-I
Photographer: Times
Artist: P-I
Layout editor/page designer: P-I
Receptionist: Times
News researcher: Times
Editorial writer: P-I
Desk editor: P-I (But the P-I has both desk editors and copy editors; the Times has no copy editors. When the desk editor and copy editor positions are combined, average wages for these positions are higher at the Times.)

Some positions weren't compared because they didn't have a clear equivalent in the other newsroom.

Parking blues

An e-mail from Times employee Patti Stanley to her co-workers on Wednesday, July 12, 2006:

A while ago, I wrote to the mayor asking about the "rumored" increase in employee parking fees. Finally, today, I received my reply.

His "plan" is described briefly below and he provided a link to review the plan in detail.

Not only are homeowners being gouged (again), but The Seattle Times will be expected to pay $25 for every employee that drives a car to work (I'm wondering if this will be passed on to us????) AND there will be a 10% increase in parking lot fees.

I wrote to the Mayor and advised - though I would love to be able to take public transportation to work, it's not possible because I am required to drive my car every single day in order to conduct my day-to-day business in outside sales. I was virtually ignored.


I fully believe that he should hear feedback about his proposal.

Patti

-----Original Message-----
From: Mayor\'s Office and CSB (imailagent)
[_mailto:CSBandMayor@crm.seattle.gov_]
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 10:25 AM
To: Patti Stanley
Subject: Parking Tax (Intranet Quorum IMA00346520)


Dear Patricia:

Thank you for your email regarding the proposed commercial parking tax.
On May 22, I recommended a 20-year transportation plan called “Bridging
the Gap.” The purpose of this transportation initiative is to eliminate
the city’s transportation maintenance backlog, pave our city’s streets,
repair our aging bridges, provide better bicycle and pedestrian paths,
and improve transit service. I’ve also included funding to make
improvements to some key facilities to maintain access to downtown
during construction of the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Project.

The City of Seattle’s transportation system is failing. Statewide
initiatives, court rulings and the inability of gas tax revenues to keep
pace with inflation have substantially decreased dedicated revenues for
local transportation over the last 10 years. Faced with limited options
to raise transportation funds, I joined mayors across the state to ask
the State Legislature for more local funding tools. Unfortunately, we
have not succeeded in this request. This has meant that there are not
enough funds to maintain our city’s transportation infrastructure.

By increasing maintenance of our roads, sidewalks and bridges now, we
can avoid costly replacements of these facilities later. As an example,
the cost of reconstructing deteriorated roads is five times greater than
the cost of maintaining them. The sooner we can obtain funding for
maintenance, the more tax dollars we will save in the future.

*This comprehensive transportation package will be funded by three
sources: first through a property tax, which will cost the average homeowner $195 in the first year; second through a business transportation tax, which employers will pay $25 per employee, but exempted for those employees in transit programs; lastly, through a 10 percent commercial parking tax.*

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, each day 238,500 workers commute to jobs inside Seattle from residences outside the city limits. More than half of these commuters drive their cars and park in the city. These cars place significant demands on the city’s transportation system. In
order to capture the impact these cars have on our roads, I introduced the parking tax to help. Likewise, cities, such as Bremerton, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Pittsburgh have employed this tool for funding maintenance and improvement of their roads and bridges.

I invite you to review the details of my transportation initiative at:
http://www.seattle.gov/mayor.

Thank you again for taking the time to write and express your opinion.
Should you have additional questions, please call Doug Wentworth at
(206) 684-0814.

Sincerely,

GREG NICKELS

Mayor of Seattle

Wages: The real deal

Management isn’t offering wage increases, but we thought you might want to know what people are making (average, highest and lowest pay in each category). Actual pay rates are different from wage scales, after all.

These are post-diversion wage rates. To get actual hourly compensation, add .9976 per hour to what we have here. (That 99 cents an hour is diverted from wages to pay the employee’s share of medical premiums.)

We’ve left out rates for one-person job titles so as not to individually identify any particular person’s pay rate. Small (two- or three-person) groups are reflected as averages only for the same reason.


Advertising

One-person titles: Advertising Special Projects Editor, TMC Outside Sales, Targeted Products Design Specialist, Advertising Design Intake Coordinator, Advertising Training Coordinator, TMC Preprint Coordinator, Classified Front Counter Associate,

Direct Marketing Sales Specialist average: 22.30; Outside Classified Sales average: 21.15 (high, 24.26; low,16.69); Outside National Sales average: 23.58 (high, 24.26; low, 19.76); Outside Retail Sales average: 21.78 (high, 24.26; low, 16.69); Advertising Copy Writer average: 22.03; Advertising Graphic Designer: 24.35 (high, 27.48; low, 22.40); Targeted Products Designer average: 21.63 (high, 23.75; low,18.73); Sales Associate average: 16.05 (high, 18.52; low, 15.21); Inside Sales average: 17.75 (high, 19.50; low, 15.43); Inside/Territory Sales average: 18.24 (high, 20.33; low, 15.43); Advertising Marketing Coordinator average: 21.22 (high, 22.82; low, 20.43); Advertising Preprint Coordinator average: 19.26; Direct Marketing Production Coordinator average: 21.68; Sales Support Assistant average: 15.02 (high, 15.63; low, 14.09); Senior Clerk average: 16.69 (high, 17.48; low, 15.09); Clerk average: 13.06; Customer Service Sales Classified average: 14.60 (high, 15.63; low, 12.83); Commission Sales average: 0 (no hourly wage; they’re paid commission only)


Circulation

One-person titles: Circulation Marketing Copy Writer, Circulation Marketing Production Coordinator, Project Support Coordinator, Statistician, NIE Specialist,

District Adviser average: 24.75 (high, 26.54; low, 23.34); Field Assistant average: 12.06 (high, 12.45; low, 10.95); Circulation Marketing Graphic Designer average: 22.94 (high, 24.76; low, 20.80); Assistant District Adviser: 16.99 (high, 19.54; low, 14.67); Circulation New Business Account Executive average: 20.65 (high, 21.05; 19.45); Sales Development & Promotion Coordinator average: 19.89; Alternate Product Administrator average: 16.31; Customer Service Specialist average: 16.44 (high, 18.03; low, 14.01); Senior Clerk average: 17.68 (high, 20.25; low, 15.04); Zone Clerk average: 16.72 (high, 18.62; low, 15.63); Clerk average: 14.83 (high, 16.20; low, 13.54); Collections Representative average: 13.31 (high, 14.62; low, 12.53)


Corporate Marketing

One-person titles: Copy Writer, Marketing Production Coordinator, Traffic Coordinator

Graphic Designer average: 24.18; Marketing Presentation Writer average: 21.15 (high, 23.75; low, 17.28); Research Analyst average: 22.58


Editorial

One-person title: Editorial Cartoonist

Desk Editor average: 29.06; Editorial Writer average: 34.73 (high, 35.97; low, 33.76)


News

One-person titles: Book Editor, Pacific Northwest Art Director, Pacific Northwest Associate Editor, Newsroom Aide, News Marketing Coordinator, Computer-Assisted Reporting Specialist, Home Economist, Listing Coordinator, Resale & Permissions Specialist II, Receptionist

Assistant Art Director average: 32.02 (high, 35.14; low, 26.22); Columnist average: 41.74 (high, 48.83; low, 35.10); Desk Editor average: 30.16 (high, 34.83; low, 21.02); News Page Designer average: 28.23 (high, 37.56; low, 23.86); News Resident average: 17.33 (high, 17.74; low, 16.52); Resale & Permissions Specialist I average: 19.67; Digital Production Assistant average: 18.79 (high, 22.84; low, 15.27); News Assistant average: 14.40 (high, 18.74; low, 13.38); News Artist average: 27.94 (high, 34.27; low, 23.26); Photographer average: 31.19 (high, 37.19; low, 23.26); Reporter average: 30.82 (high, 44.51; low, 22.40); Zone Reporter average: 24.09 (high, 25.94; low, 23.26); Lead News Assistant average: 18.31 (high, 22.42; low, 15.50); Senior Clerk average: 18.89 (high, 21.03; low, 16.36); News Researcher average: 23.67


Operations

One-person titles: Ad Services Lead, Statistician
Page Layout Specialist average: 23.34 (high, 26.70; low, 21.05); Clerk average: 15.06 (high, 15.63; low, 14.94)