Final Days? A Newsroom Diary
by Ian Lind, Star-Bulletin reporter
Final Days? A Newsroom Diaryby Ian Lind, Star-Bulletin reporter
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**Thanks for visiting. This online diary began as a personal attempt to simply be a witness to the death of a century-old newspaper when the Star-Bulletin's owners, Rupert Phillips and his Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership, announced their intention to close the paper after the Oct. 30, 1999 edition. In exchange for closing down the Star-Bulletin and terminating the JOA with Gannett's Honolulu Advertiser 12 years early, Phillips would receive a cash payment of $26 million from Gannett, which would be left with a monopoly in this market. The diary has grown incrementally as the death watch turned into a struggle for survival, and then a groundbreaking newspaper antitrust lawsuit pitting a group backed by The Newspaper Guild against Gannett, and, finally, the "forced" sale of the paper under court supervision and prospects of survival. It's been quite a wild ride. Please browse and get a sense of what it's been like. For more information, visit the first few entries back in September 1999. Or jump right to today's entry. And, of course, feedback is always appreciated. |
I received a number of messages after last week's announcement that the Star-Bulletin will be sold and continue publishing independently. My favorite came from Los Angeles Times' metro reporter Bob Pool, and I'm taking the liberty of sharing Bob's extended comments. I know all my colleagues at the Star-Bulletin will appreciate them as much as I have. Bob wrote:A year ago I wouldn't have given the S-B the proverbial Vancouver snowball's chance in Kailua of surviving Gannett . But your paper's kick-ass website and your endearing diary changed my mind.Your beautifully written journal captured the personal stakes and starbulletin.com demonstrated the professional ones.
It took balls to document the incest between the S-B's phony handpicked "owner" and Gannett early on like you did. And it took more of the same to talk about the Advertiser's heavy handed attempt to pluck off S-B staffers in its phony expansion a year ago. Thank goodness you were there to disclose Gannett's clumsy marketing attacks (the empty S-B newsracks, etc). And thank goodness you were there with your digital camera to show the outrageous front step steam-cleaning.
I lived in Hawaii from 1968-70 as an Army draftee (an information specialist at Schofield Barracks) during a period when the S-B was the big fish and the Advertiser under Twigg-Smith was the struggling wannabe. Back then the Advertiser was so desperate that it switched to all downstyle heds (only proper names were capitalized) to try to generate some buzz.
I met my future wife in Hawaii in late 1969 when she came to visit her sister and brother-in-law, who was a soldier just withdrawn from Vietnam. He loved Hawaii. After his return to civilian life he moved back to Hawaii to work at the Star Bulletin as a copy editor for nearly 25 years. Joe Barberis is now at the St. Petersburg Times, undoubtedly editing copy about poll screwups.
I've watched day after day (thanks to the S-B's website) how you guys continue to spectacularly cover everything from the Razor scooter invasion (they're here in L.A., now) to the Bishop Estate/Kamehameha Schools scandal to the Xerox shootings (with same-day reporting, photos, maps and graphics that rocked), the North Shore road wipeout of last winter, the falls' landslide and the more recent Big Island flooding.
Your website (which like few others has the look and feel of a newspaper, not to mention generous displays of photos) also forced the Advertiser to belatedly start one, which naturally can't compare and undoubtedly was poised to shrivel the moment that you guys folded and StarBulletin.com faded away.
So I'm dreading the day when you wrap up your diary. Now that my own newspaper has been absorbed and is being reorganized, my coworkers and I feel some of the uncertainty you guys felt this time last year.
You guys put out a first-rate newspaper that regularly beats the the competition on Oahu and (with an overdue fix of the distribution system) will soon be doing the same thing on the neighbor islands. You have a website (starbulletin.com) that captures the feel and color of a community like few others for a huge audience all over. I'm talking here about the site's integrated photos, graphics and newspaper-like look and display of stories that others can't seem to duplicate.
And whatever Black spends to position the Star-Bulletin in a more visible leadership role will pay off big-time, I suspect. He's gonna benefit from the economic rebound that seems to be coming your way. And remembering how the airlines have tapped into Hawaii-Pacific Northwest tourisim in the past, I'd say there's gonna be all sorts of "synergy" popping up along part of the Pacific Rim. You guys are gonna have fun.
For now, lots of people are happy they can continue reading the S-B. And your diary.
One more thing. Your sunrise pix are so great. I drive home at sunset (in the summertime) along Pacific Coast Highway toward Malibu and the canyon road I take each day. When traffic slows I glance out toward the west, toward Hawaii and the setting sun. And I've never seen a green flash. Whatzup with that?
-- Cheers,
Bob PoolThanks, Bob, and to everybody else who sent greetings!
Suddenly we're back in limbo. Perhaps the celebrations were a bit premature.On Friday morning, there was an announcement in the newsroom that there are significant differences between Black and the Guild committee on contract terms, but that negotiations are continuing.
Meanwhile, Black has apparently returned home to Victoria.
The committee is carefully guarding the confidentiality of all specifics, leaving staffers to guess at the actual status of the contract talks.
However, delays are not good news at this stage of the game. Despite initial optimism expressed by both sides, the fact that a quick agreement didn't emerge has everyone on edge.
It's not much of a vacation for me, trapped in the San Francisco area while trying to track down news about the contract talks or, in the absence of news, at least the sense of the newsroom. Not simple at a distance. The cell phone has been getting a workout over the last several days.
Meanwhile, it's grim business turning on the television to get bombarded by pretty people posing as reporters, whose only apparent job is to goad representatives of the Gore and Bush campaigns into making every more snarling statements aimed at the other side. Who can blame the public for being turned off by those claiming to provide "News"?
"Enjoy the rest of your vacation," one of my colleagues said yesterday.Right. Now that all the warm and fuzzy feelings about the Star-Bulletin sale have drained away, and we're back to the nail biting uncertainties, it's pretty much impossible to enjoy much of anything.
Pondering the possibilities is difficult without some additional information about what is holding up the contract talks.
One thought: If Black is serious about competing with Gannett and the Advertiser, his contract proposals can't be draconian, as that would almost necessarily undermine the Star-Bulletin at the most crucial time.
The critical difference between the Star-Bulletin and Gannett's Advertiser, and the one which explains our ability to win competitive awards despite being outspent and outgunned, is that our newsroom has been "reporter driven". There's been lots of freedom, which has made up for a lack of resources. It has given room to imagination and initiative on the part of individual reporters.
A move by Black to push us to the wall in order to obtain a contract would undermine this intangible edge that we've had, and would therefore undermine his own investment.
Black has to be aware of that as well as we are, especially since the Star-Bulletin's staff is it's biggest asset.
Hopefully that reality will temper any temptation that Black may have to push his obvious advantage in these negotiations.
Meanwhile, we're left wondering, and worrying. Again.
Being away from home always brings conflicting feelings. Cat withdrawal wars with the pleasure of sleeping through the night without feline interruptions. I'll confess to staying in contact with our primary cat sitter and other cat-caring neighbors concerning welfare of all the "kids" just about as closely as I've tried to keep in touch with folks in the newsroom for word on whether or not the newspaper will survive. Overall, though, I'm very happy to be heading home first thing Monday morning despite dreading the reentry into the whole contract mess.The deadline for settling any contingencies, including the Guild contract, is November 30, so there isn't a whole lot of time to get a tentative contract and present it to the staff for a vote. Everyone is, of course, hoping for a reasonable contract. It's hard to say how the majority would react to something less than reasonable.
A year ago, unemployment was the greatest fear, but after staring that prospect in the face for more than 14 months, everyone's had a chance to mentally try out alternatives, and most folks now have at least some idea of what their fallback will be if the Star-Bulletin folds. I hope that translates into enough mental space to seriously evaluate the proposed contract, rather than accept whatever is placed before us.
Monday will be lost to travel, so my next entry will be Tuesday morning.
"The Daily Ian" banner was Burl Burlingame's little contribution to the cause. Thanks, Burl!
Meanwhile, contract talks with Mr. Black are ongoing. Staffers have been told to expect a tentative contract, and a vote whether to accept or reject, by early next week, although it could come sooner.
The committee is mum on specifics, but the mood seems a bit more optimistic than on Friday.
There's bad news from contract talks in other parts of the country. Guild members rejected a contract proposal in Seattle, and staffers from the Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer are walking picket lines this morning. They're also putting out a strike paper, the Seattle Union Record. The first issue is already online, with a report on the midnight meeting where the contract, and a proposed strike delay, were hotly debated. The first print issue is expected within a week.
Meanwhile, Gannett's been accused of "union busting" at the Indianapolis Star, where there have been layoffs and take-backs since Gannett took over the paper earlier this year. One familiar demand, which Gannett has also laid on the table here, would ban any staffer from freelancing for a publication that would appear on the web, effectively eliminating much freelance work--and income--previously allowed under Guild contracts.
And this note came in from Gannett's Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:
A quick footnote on Gannett's anti-union activities at its newspaper in Rochester New York - once the very headquarters of the same empire that now argues a First Amendment right to shut down a newspaper:The Rochester Guild chapter has been fighting for a contract for eight years. A recent attempt at decertification appears to have come and gone without generating much enthusiasm, but it was sparked by a union-busting tactic Gannett has used effectively elsewhere. Gannett withholds a 401K from represented members in Rochester, hoping to whip up anti-union fervor. The corporate leaders will claim that they treat the 401K as a benefit subject to bargaining, but, in short, they're lying. They won't give it up, because they know then they have to battle on a level playing field.
If any folks know of any federal lawmakers who'd be interested in taking a look at the law that allows Gannett - and apparently a very small number of others who operate without morals - to withhold the 401K, please pass on v their names.
Meanwhile, congratulations in Hawaii on keeping a good newspaper alive, and for staving off Gannett's attempts to silence your voice.''
Eight of nine cats have showed up for the head count since we got home late Monday afternoon. Number nine, Lindsey, is known to hang out with several neighbors, so I'm not worried...yet.
And the kittens, Harry & Lizzie, are incredibly happy to have human company again, and they've added to the morning excitement with repeated passes over the keyboard. I've had to battle for my small bit of turf in order to get this written.
Lindsey made his royal appearance around 6 a.m. yesterday, so I was able to head off for town with all the cats accounted for.The week started with a letter distributed to Star-Bulletin staff on Sunday in which managing editor Dave Shapiro announced that he will not be returning to his position, citing health reasons. This ends a three-decade career with the Star-Bulletin. Dave will continue to write his column, Volcanic Ash, until March 15. We may have feared that this day was coming, but it's arrival is a blow nonetheless. Dave's been a key part of our success, both generally and, in so many cases, individually. According to the letter, Frank Bridgewater will be taking over as M.E. immediately.
Members of the bargaining committee waited Tuesday afternoon for further word from David Black, including text of several contract provisions previously only discussed in general terms. With the Thanksgiving holiday, timing is a bit tricky, and it appeared that these materials would have to arrive by the end of the day in order for a contract to be voted on this week.
Quiet discussions and debates over Black's proposals were taking place in hallways and offices throughout the day. One of the operational changes is drawing the most concern, and most staffers see potential dangers in the cost-cutting measure, although only a minority have stated direct opposition. However, it looks like there will be no full staff discussion until the contract is in hand and ready for a vote, which doesn't won't allow much time for the issues.
Rumor has it that Gannett and their shill, Rupert Phillip's Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership, have ordered Star-Bulletin Editor John Flanagan not to assist Black in the contract negotiations. In addition, Gannett has apparently raised another barrier by attempting to bar Black from the newsroom until March 15, and to prohibit any move of equipment before that date, despite the fact that we're supposed to be up and running in a new location by the 15th.
While Gannett's pressing this rearguard action, they've reportedly circulated their first weekly shopper consisting of some rewarmed materials from past Advertisers wrapped around ad inserts and designed for mass mailing in direct competition with MidWeek. The latter is published by RFD Publications, which will be printing the new Star-Bulletin beginning in March.
In another move all too typical of Gannett, the Advertiser announced it had signed up cartoonist Daryl Cagle. But they apparently made this hire without even giving a courtesy notice to their longtime editorial cartoonist, Dick Adair. So far, it doesn't look like Cagle will actually be joining the staff or relocating to Honolulu for this assignment, at least not at this time. Instead, he will apparently be creating custom cartoons for the Advertiser, as he does for lots of other publications. But this remains to be clarified.
Additional private guards have reappeared around the news building, a move interpreted in our newsroom as a Gannett effort to prevent us from removing equipment from the newsroom, although the actual motivation isn't known. It could simply be a delayed reaction to real security issues, including the recent break-in out in the parking lot. But at this point we're ready to believe the worst when it comes to Gannett.Small groups debated apparent contract issues throughout the day. Members of our negotiating team were stopped repeatedly by staffers wanting information or seeking to express their own views. Editors appeared resigned to the necessity of the process and didn't attempt to limit these informal discussions.
Copies of the draft contract were distributed late in the afternoon, without sections dealing with several key provisions where proposed language is still not in hand. Absent sections include the ESOP, 401(k), and a couple of others.
With the proposed contract in hand, it's clearer than ever that even if the Star-Bulletin survives, things will never be the same. It's going to be a different newspaper, and a very different working environment. There are good and bad elements among what's being proposed that have prompted debates for days, but many are saying the bottom line for this vote has little to do with the content of the contract and a lot to do with a basic question: Do you want the Star-Bulletin to survive? Yes or No?
After the recent sale of the Maui News, the Guild accepted a contract with a two-tiered salary scale, one tier for existing employees and another scale for new hires. Under that contract, new hires are initially paid substantially less, but the scales merge after five years. A similar salary structure has been proposed here, which some see as simply allowing management to paint big targets on the backs of current staff. I'm more concerned about our ability to recruit, especially at this critical juncture, although these are minimums that can always be increased by management fiat. But the impact on the quality of the paper, and our ability to compete, appears obvious.
We'll all be poring over the contract proposals today. It isn't clear whether a vote could come tomorrow. It is perhaps more likely that it will be scheduled over the weekend, or early next week.
Things have been a bit thin in the sunrise department over the past several weeks.
The most spectacular sunrises require a certain layer of clouds that can capture and magnify the natural colors. Instead, it's been either too cloudy, choking off the light entirely, or too clear, giving only minimal reflections and colors.
Thanksgiving sunrise, 2000. Kaaawa. Debates over proposed contract terms are sure to dominate the day. There are parts of this proposal sure to choke many staffers. And since any agreement we approve will impact Advertiser and HNA staff in their continuing talks with Gannett, the whole building will be buzzing.
We should at minimum find out when a vote on the contract has been scheduled. Whether that vote could come today is unclear at this time.
Word was going around earlier in the week that Gannett has suddenly canceled its planned renovation of the news building. This is being interpreted as a move to funnel available resources into the upcoming war with the Star-Bulletin, although it could also reflect the corporation-wide cutbacks which have led to Gannett layoffs in other cities.
It was early afternoon on Thanksgiving when assistant city editor Diana Leone fielded a call from the concierge at a North Kona resort. According to the caller, Gov. Cayetano was staying at the hotel and wanted to read the Star-Bulletin. He couldn't find one. So he called the concierge, who also struck out. That's not really a big surprise, given Gannett's disinterest in marketing Star-Bulletin's on the neighbor islands in recent years. If you haven't picked this up already, our circulation is handled exclusively by the Gannett-controlled joint operation, the Hawaii Newspaper Agency, which appears to have actively choked off our distribution to add to the illusion of a failing newspaper.Diana pointed out to the concierge that this situation would change in March -- ahem -- and then said she'd see what she could do.
She faxed copies of a couple of stories to the hotel, then mentioned the problem to webmeister Blaine Fergerstrom, who galloped off with two copies of 2nd edition, headed straight to the airport, and put them on the next flight for counter-to-counter delivery to Kona. If all went well, Cayetano should have them in hand in before dinnertime.
In the newsroom on Friday, frustrated negotiating committee members waited for the final contract details to arrive back from David Black or his attorneys. There also appears to be some friction between Guild staffer Wayne Cahill and committee members over control of the negotiating process, timing, and tone.
Several staffers have been urging the Guild to schedule a general staff meeting to discuss the contract prior to the meeting where we'll have to vote. If all discussion and questions are delayed until immediately before the vote, they really become meaningless, but now the vote has been tentatively scheduled for Tuesday afternoon without any prior opportunity for staffers to ask questions. Committee members shrug and say the requests have been relayed to Cahill.
It looks like another one of those situations where a the union relies on a touch of manipulation in place of organizing to push towards its desired outcome.
I'm a backer of the Guild, and fully appreciate what they've done for the Star-Bulletin, but these little slights still grate on me.
Burl Burlingame, Star-Bulletin writer and Guild rep in our newsroom, responded to my comments yesterday about the Guild and the contract process. Here are a few of Burl's observations:The guild has given the staff everything we have from Black. The guild isn't holding back on information -- those sections of the contract simply haven't arrived from Black. And Black is the one pushing for an early vote! Cahill has already been in the newsroom twice to discuss and answer questions based on the information that is in hand, and anybody is free to call him and ask any questions they want. So it's not true that no one on the staff has had an opportunity to ask questions.It's also true that Cahill doesn't want to answer questions about contract sections he has no knowledge of. People seem to think he knows exactly what Black's attorneys are drafting, but it ain't so. Cahill is no mindreader, and there's also a reason Black doesn't want us to see these particular provisions until the last possible moment. We might not approve!
Note that the Tuesday vote is tentative. Nobody in the Guild wants members to vote without having the whole thing in hand for at least a day to analyze and discuss it. And we certainly can't vote on something that's incomplete. Black knows this and it's part of his brinksmanship. The Tuesday date is based on the assumption that the full contract proposal will be available by Monday.
A general staff meeting was proposed for this Sunday, but the same staffers who were demanding such a meeting nixed that idea because they don't work on Sunday and didn't want to come into town. (Sigh)
You must recognize also that there are a fair number of our staff who want to vote on the contract RIGHT NOW and don't care what it reads. Their minds are made up and they want to vote Yea or Nay and get right on to the next step. Cahill was yelled at by some of the staff for not holding the vote on Friday, even though only a partial contract was in hand. As for myself, I don't want to be bullied into such a quick decision.
By the way, Gannett labor negotiators are furious with Cahill at the moment. They're in town to negotiate the current contract and Cahill responded he's tied up this week completely on Star-Bulletin issues and can't meet with them. He told them he has to spend 100 percent on the Star-Bulletin. Well, it was Gannett who set the timetable, so they should have known better. You should have heard Jo Kerns screaming at Cahill!
Anyway, short answer: This is Black's game, not the Guild's.
Another staffer sent along these musings:
I seriously believe that the Star-Bulletin we have loved and have loved to hate is passing away.The name will still be there. But not the essence.
There are some people in the newsroom who are eager to run to the future.
But when I look at them, I see that they are running toward their own vision, rather than seeing what is actually happening.
What is happening, I fear, is that a very intelligent person has come to the conclusion that there's a lot of fat in the Bulletin way of life. Media people, considering their education and their level of general knowledge, are grossly underpaid.
Now it's going to be even less.
That is totally unrealistic.
The Star-Bulletin employees with credentials will leave.
And the resulting Star-Bulletin will be a mindless cry.
I don't really know whether such pessimism is justified, in part because we haven't had any general staff meeting or other opportunity to discuss the contract. There have been a couple of unannounced Q&A sessions which folks got to attend if they happened to be around at the time, but all other discussions have taken place in small groups, hallway meetings, personal conversations, and other private spaces. We haven't really had an opportunity to hear how are our colleagues are feeling, or to test those reactions in an open sharing of ideas, so it's hard to say whether those will alternatives will leave or be held here by the excitement and opportunity that the new Star-Bulletin will provide.
We also haven't heard much of anything about Mr. Black's plan for the kind of journalism the new Star-Bulletin is aiming for, beyond the generalization that he intends to compete with Gannett.
It may be that none of this matters and that we have no choice. But even people without apparent choices need to know where they're headed.
Gannett is still up to its tricks aimed at curtailing Star-Bulletin circulation. Distribution managers were told at a meeting last week to avoid overtime by just cutting out stops if the S-B night final is late coming off the press. They were also instructed to cut corners if they increase the number of street hawkers selling the paper. So a district manager who does the job properly and recruits more people to sell the paper is supposed to eliminate other sales locations. So Gannett reduces its costs by arbitrarily cutting our sales. Just one more "overt act" in Gannett's antitrust "conspiracy".Plans are underway for a final meeting in our newsroom after 2nd edition deadline midday today to discuss the proposed Black contract.
As of last night, no further contract details had been received from Black or his attorneys over the weekend, perhaps a "tit for tat" move following the Guild staff reportedly being "unavailable" the weekend before.
This is Ms. Lizzie, who has been helping me with this diary every morning for the last week. Somehow lap with a laptop is irresistible for her in the very early morning.
She's here now, quite a bit less alert than in this photo, draped across my lap between the computer, which is balanced on my knees, and my stomach. The purring is probably an aid to concentration, or so I hope.
She and her sister, Harry, are now about 4 months old, and each weighs in at just over 4 pounds.
Monday's contract meeting started late but lasted over an hour. The mood was tense. With the Star-Bulletin's long-term survival now within reach, there's more dissensus and disagreement in the newsroom than at any time since this whole adventure started.There appear to be two overall problems. This contract is clearly a step back on many fronts from the current HNA contract. We're losing a number of things which will cut costs for Black, although current salaries and medical benefits won't be cut. The overall assessment yesterday: it's a bad contract compared to recent Hawaii contracts. It's an OK contract compared to other newspapers nationwide. And it's a good contract compared to several newspapers which have changed hands in the last couple of years, such as in Monterey, California.
In terms of process, the bargaining didn't start from scratch. Instead, it started with the current contract, with Black proposing a series of deletions or changes in what was essentially a "take it or leave it" bargaining situation. The circumstances aren't conducive to good feelings among those of us on the weak side of this relationship.
What brought the most reaction yesterday, though, is that the contract is incomplete. Specific details are still lacking in several key areas, where language is still being drafted. There's been an agreement in principle on each point, and Black or his attorney have made representations during bargaining sessions as to their plans, but those have not been put in writing, at least not as of yesterday. Whether these "understandings" would be enforceable later if the written version doesn't match earlier promises isn't clear. As Guild rep Wayne Cahill put it yesterday, under normal circumstances this contract would never be put to a vote, but these are not normal circumstances. We're dealing with external circumstances, including the November 30 deadline, at which time Black will have to decide whether to go through with the deal or head back to Victoria.
A significant number of staffers feel the contract vote should be delayed until Thursday's deadline or until the last details are received from Black. Others say none of these details really matter, and that the vote is a simple one: Yes, the paper survives. No, and Black walks, and the Star-Bulletin closes.
My sense is that concerns about the journalistic integrity of the new Star-Bulletin are in the background, since immediate practical issues of the contract and the termination of the JOA have pushed back any talk about the direction of the paper in the future. Some worry, looking at Black's business background, that we'll be reduced to a glorified weekly shopper. Others take at face value his assertion that he wants to compete, and understands the value of news as a weapon in such a competitive situation. But the bottom line is that we don't know, and won't know until the deal happens. And, if for some reason the deal doesn't happen, none of it will matter because the paper will die.
These are difficult differences to deal with interpersonally, and we don't have the luxury of time to work through them adequately.
Despite the disagreements, the contract vote will proceed today as scheduled. It promises to be quite a day.
I received several indirect messages yesterday taking exception to my characterization of Gannett's handling of the hiring of a new cartoonist (see entry for Nov. 23, above), which reflected a version of the story that was being told and retold on our side of the building. Advertiser staffers say our version was absolutely untrue, and that the hire had been fully and appropriately disclosed. I'm glad to hear it.
Newspaper Guild staffer Wayne Cahill
summarizes the proposal before the vote.We've got a contract. The contract was ratified by a lopsided vote after a meeting attended by most of the Star-Bulletin's unionized employees.
Before the vote, key provisions were explained, and there were several questions seeking to clarify how certain provisions of the contract will work in practice, and how the transition to new ownership will impact practical matters like vacation scheduling.
There were only a few substantive comments urging votes for or against the pact.
The most criticized section provides that paid sick leave will not kick in until the 2nd day of an illness, requiring an employee to take one day of unpaid leave during any illness.
The most debated provision over the last several weeks is the move to require about half the staff to work from home. It's seen as a cost-cutting move by Black, but one which will obviously change the dynamics of the paper. It poses challenges to all of us to build new communications structures between reporters, as well as the obvious problems for editors in managing a decentralized and dispersed staff. Some like the idea, some hate it, but we'll all have to cope with it.
In the most emotional moment of the meeting, a longtime reporter recalled the 40-day walkout in 1963 triggered by an attempt to reimpose the same sick leave provision described above. As a result, she said she couldn't vote for this contract, but at the same time couldn't vote against it because she wants to see the paper survive.
A neighbor island correspondent expressed the view we take a collective hit in this contract, but that we owe it to the community to show that we are willing to sacrifice to keep the newspaper alive. And that's what we would be doing by ratifying the contract.
We all recognized that, under the circumstances, we had limited leverage and, as a result, these negotiations were extremely one-sided. Under these conditions, the contract is much better than it might have been.
Guild local president Lucy Witeck and S-B bargaining committee member Stephanie Kendrick count the ballots.
The webmeister, Blaine Fergerstrom, leaves no doubt which way he voted. He displayed a resounding "Yes".
In the end, it didn't take long to count the ballots. In the end, ballots cast were 54 in favor of the contract, 7 opposed, with three blanks.
Lucy Witeck announced the tally, and the meeting was over. Now we're ready to do what we really want to do--put out a paper that continues to make waves.
Earlier in the day, Gannett struck again, this time when a technician arrived unannounced to extend the building's security system to the shared library. That's the library door, up the stairs to the left in this photo.
In the future, we'll have to swipe a computerized key to get through the locked door to the library, which is located within the secured newsroom.
Our staff saw this as just another silly attempt at corporate intimidation, especially since the security system doesn't really work very well and has been of virtually no help in preventing or solving actual crimes in and around the building, including car thefts from the parking lots and at least one computer theft from a S-B office.
Wires were run Tuesday to secure
the entrance to the library.
Today is just another deadline, this time the deadline for Black to bow out of the deal if contingencies haven't been met. With the Guild contract wrapped up, however, there doesn't appear to be a deal killer on the horizon.Word was going around on Wednesday that office space at Restaurant Row close to a done deal, with a scaled down newsroom on the 2nd floor, and management/administrative offices on the 5th floor, all on the South Street side of the complex. Apart from being a bit inconvenient by bus, it sounds like a great location.
Meantime, more on the circulation woes. An empty Star-Bulletin sales rack was spotted mid-afternoon on Tuesday at the Honolulu Medical Group, just a block from the state capitol and across the street from the city's office complex, and just around the block from the news building. The adjacent Advertiser box, featuring much older overnight news, had lots of available papers. Add this to the growing list of problems that could violate the federal court's injunction, which prohibits Gannett from doing anything to harm the Star-Bulletin.
And here's a puzzler for the week: Several Prodigy subscribers have reported that they are unable to access the current entries in this diary. When they enter this URL, they are shunted off to an old page dated back in September. They report that "refreshing" appears to make no difference. At least one reader tried to work through Prodigy's customer support without success.
I'll try to come up with an appropriate prize for the first person to solve this problem, or who at least comes up with an explanation of why this is happening that will allow Prodigy to troubleshoot. Just email me your suggestions.
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