Citizen Tierney, Internet Mayor Clash

As you may have heard already, the Newspaper Guild and management have reached a tentative agreement on non-economic issues, and won’t be striking anytime soon. (Cue long exhales from Byko et al.)

The two sides still have yet to reach an agreement on pensions, but it appears there won’t be a strike. (The photos of myself will return to the newsroom.) Steve Volk is still blogging at The Daily Strike, in case you want to catch up.

But just when you thought that the denouement could somehow be more boring than actual negotiations, who steps in but the Mayor of the Internet, State Rep. Mark B. Cohen!

Cohen sent a letter to management supporting the Newspaper Guild. Dissection of the memo — and Brian Tierney’s incredible sentence — after the jump.

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Leftovers: Breakin’ Up The Strike

• Brian Tierney has criticised the Newspaper Guild for threatening to strike, etc., etc. And, la de dah, they will be publishing in the advent of a strike. Time to find some old-fashioned strikebreakers! [E&P]

• What, Editor & Publisher’s Joe Strupp isn’t enough strikey goodness for you? Fine, here are some more thoughts. [Citizen Mom]

• In addition to free booze, Pennsylvanians are now required to put their headlights on when using their windshield wipers. You’re still not allowed to stock up on free drinks at the casinos and go driving, even if you used your headlines headlights and windshield wipers. [AP/NBC 10]

Workers Edge Closer To Strike?

The latest memo from the Newspaper Guild makes it appear that the workers are headed for a strike. Or maybe the current bargaining situation is currently all rainbows and gumdrops.

The Communications Workers Of America — the parent union of the Newspaper Guild — board has authorized a strike. (No surprise there.) But here’s the weird line:

Our local membership at a meeting attended by over half of our members voted - with only four negative votes - late last month to request the CWA board’s approval for a strike.

Wait, only half the members showed up? Really? Wow.

You can also find more stuff on Steve Volk’s Daily Strike blog. Full memo after the jump.

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Guild Weathers Power Outage, Meeting With Mgmt. Now

A snippet from the latest Newspaper Guild memo, sent this morning at quarter-to-nine:

Sorry we couldn’t communicate with you earlier today. A power outage crashed the Guild’s computer server.

In another development last night, Guild President Henry J. Holcomb addressed AFSCME District Council 47. At the end of his remarks, the council voted unanimously to strongly support the Guild in its bargaining and, if necessary, in a strike.

Thomas Paine Cronin, president of the government employees union council, also spoke for the Guild, saying that his group would not stand by and let the new owners of our newspapers hire scab workers.

Blah blah blah. The meeting was scheduled to begin at noon, so presumably they’re meeting now and discussing whether Tierney can fire the old people at the paper. (Management says yes, the union says no!) Full memo after the jump.

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Papers Not On Strike… Yet?

As you probably know by now, the Inquirer and Daily News are not on strike. Both sides talked throughout the night and the Guild decided not to walk at midnight, letting us have at least one more Big Fat Friday! Hooray!

Of course, the rumors at 400 N. Broad are swinging from “never going back to work again” to “very brief strike,” so a strike still seems likely at the moment. Management is still offering plans for pension, seniority and combining functions of both papers that the union is unlikely to accept. There’s also been talks about a brief, 2-3 year contract, which means they could all be doing this again in just a short time! Hooray again!

As usual, memos and other random bullshit to follow all day. Any updates you can find here (hooray!) or on Steve Volk’s Daily Strike blog (also hooray!).

No Strike Tonight [Daily Strike]

Strike? No Strike? Tune In Later Tonight!

So… is there going to be a strike tonight or not? Hell, I don’t know. All signs pointed to yes this morning, then later in the day the tide seemed to turn the other day, and now it seems like there’s going to be a strike again. So why guess? We’ll all know in a few hours anyway.

I may have some things up late tonight if there is a strike, but if you’re that much of a mediaholic that you really must know immediately, then PW’s own Steve Volk will be covering it on (what else) a blog. He will be updating non-stop, I’m sure, so you can head over there for more strike coverage. I’ll also continue to keep posting Guild memos, funny management emails and the like.

The blog is called The Daily Strike, etc. etc. The latest Guild memo is after the jump.

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Papers’ Other Unions Extend Talks, To Cross Picket Lines?

Nine of the 10 unions that represent workers at Philadelphia Media Holdings — the parent company of the Inquirer and Daily News — have extended talks again, moving the expiration date of contracts back to Saturday, Dec. 9. The Newspaper Guild is right now still planning to walk at midnight.

But here’s the real news, from the Associated Press:

“We think a strike is really going to hurt us,” said Joe Lyons, president of the Philadelphia Council of Newspaper Unions, which represents nine of 10 unions at The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. “Whatever direction they’re going, we totally disagree with that.”

Asked if that means the unions, including the drivers, would cross picket lines, Lyons said: “If we have to, we will.”

Are you ready for a scab Daily News and Inquirer? Either way, it looks like you’re going to get it.

9 unions at Philly papers extend talks, prepare to cross lines [AP/Philly.com]

Exclusive: Last Night’s Newspaper Guild Meeting

Yeah, it was closed to anyone but Guild members, but I worked my magic to get some footage from last night’s Newspaper Guild meeting:

Okay, maybe not. But this was last night’s 6 p.m. Simpsons episode, and I have only this to say: Best. Coincidence. Ever.

Mgmt. Finally Responds To Byko Memo Machine

Yes, it took forever, but Brian Tierney & Co. — or, more likely, a different PR person — drafted a memo to respond to the constant barrage of memos sent from the Newspaper Guild in the past weeks.

Although it contains language that is the textual equivalent of Ambien — for example, “we will consider a lump sum payment that will help offset a portion of the diversions members will need to divert in order to fund an ongoing pension” — it’s also an old fashioned passive-aggressive shot at the union asking them not to strike.

We think a strike would be a mistake, as it would cause long-term damage to our company that would hurt all of our employees, including Guild members…. We are optimistic that we can continue to work with the Guild to resolve all of these issues in the next few of days. Hopefully, the Guild leadership will put a higher priority on resolving the issues than on a strike threat.

Oh snap! Full (pretty boring, though) memo after the jump.

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Union Readies Site Shockingly Not Hosted On Blogger

When I heard that the Daily News and Inquirer were readying their own website in case of a strike, I immediately went out and registered inquireranddailynews.blogspot.com in anticipation of being able to sell it back to the Newspaper Guild for a buck or two.

Shockingly, though, the Guild went out and purchased their own domain and got some free newspaper software and set up PhilaPapers.com. According to a release from the Guild — Byko is churning them out like a machine! — some content will immediately be posted online, with news to follow throughout the duration of the strike. Tom Ferrick is coordinating this whole shebang. (There’s precedent for this sort of thing. Salon.com was founded due in part to a San Francisco Examiner strike in 1995.)

Once again, midnight Thursday is the deadline. Let’s hope they can get this settled. Although, either way, it appears we’re going to get our weekly Faye Flam fix.

Full guild release after the jump.

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