THE REST OF THE STORY

p.2: How the Sun-Times got here

Lynne Stiefel, President, Chicago Guild

01 Dec 2009

The Newspaper Guild

[Although the Chicago Sun-Times has emerged from bankruptcy, the transition was far from bloodless. The following chronicle was presented at the Midwest District Council meeting in early November.]

In “That Thing You Do”—the sweet 1996 film chronicling the meteoric rise of an Erie, Pa. garage band in the 1960s—bass player Lenny looks back at drummer Guy, as their appearance on the fake Ed Sullivan show is about to begin, and asks, “Skitch, how did we get here?”

When asked to write about the frenzied last months of negotiations with the dying Sun-Times Media Group, I can’t get that phrase out of my mind.

“Here” is Sun-Times Media, owned since Oct. 26 by an investment group of “colorful characters” that include Mesirow Financial’s James Tyree, liquor distributor and Blackhawks owner “Rocky” Wirtz, failed casino bidder Kevin Flynn and auto insurer brothers William and Robert Parillo.

“How we got here” was a tortuous journey through uncharted territory for Chicago Newspaper Guild veterans who thought they had some experience negotiating tough deals. We’d never seen anything like it.

It began with an invitation in August for CNG Executive Director Tom Thibeault and myself to meet with the man who wanted to buy the company. Meeting with us, as representatives of the editorial units at the Sun-Times, Pioneer Press, Lake County News-Sun and Joliet Herald-News, was the last part of his due diligence.

We left that meeting with little inkling of what was ahead. Tyree described himself as pro-labor. Along with salary concessions, he said he wanted to work with us on ways to allow him to set up a universal media desk. It would be tough, we thought, but we’d work out something.

As we voiced concerns during subsequent meetings or communications, one of which included Bernie Lunzer, head of the Newspaper Guild, we were continuously told we were being heard.

So a few weeks later, Sept. 11, our jaws dropped as we received the list of concessions Tyree wanted: the continuation of 15% compensations cuts; elimination of seniority, jurisdiction and transfer rights; and acquiescence to anything else that might impede the financial success of the new company. And he wanted it by Sept. 29 or he would pull out.

Our units acted swiftly. We overwhelmingly voted no.

Further off-the-record meetings went nowhere. We were continually rebuffed. Tyree needed complete flexibility. Period. End of story.

We held out, even in the face of a despicable campaign by management to pit non-union employees against unionized ones. Debates raged on blog sites. Others of the 17 unions representing Sun Times employees conceded. We were all tense and worried.

Looking back, the turning point came Sept. 25 in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware. That’s the day Tyree’s threat to walk away from the sale unless all unions approved significant concessions by Sept. 29 was labeled by the judge as “posturing.” There was nothing attached to the date, and the company’s empty threat was publicly exposed.

We began making headway Oct. 2, but those daily meetings were torturous. In traditional bargaining, representatives sitting at the table have some familiarity with what their respective constituencies will accept. In this case, the company’s representatives were answerable to a man who wasn’t there. In fact, he was separated from the action by layers of attorneys and advisors.

All of us were aware of two real deadlines approaching: the looming insolvency of the company, and the Oct. 8 auction at which the only bidder—Tyree’s group—would want to have concessions in hand to win the judge’s approval.

With the chairs/officers of the four units now involved in the talks, we met until 3 a.m. Oct. 7. At that point, they were prepared to ask their members for continued approval of the 15% in wage concessions, but nothing more.

A last-ditch meeting at noon that day yielded as much as Tom and I thought we could get: language that returned some of our contracts to us and an arrangement to tie some of the severely diminished severance to longevity, at least for a few months.

There was nothing to be happy about in this heavy-handed package of painful concessions, which was approved later Oct. 7 by the four editorial units. But, as we so often say in the labor movement, we live to fight another day.

“Here” is an unknown future for Sun-Times Media and the newspaper business in general. We have to trust that the new owners will invest in their purchase, make wise decisions, recognize the experience and dedication of their union workforce and rely on us to help make this business succeed.

But trust, as I said on the television news show Chicago Tonight, is a scarce commodity for editorial workers who have been used and abused by a long line of former owners and managers. We’ll see how it goes. And we can start by planning how to restore to our contracts in three years the rights we’ve sacrificed.