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.