Senior guild leadership and Wendy, our staff person, just got out of a meeting with HR VP Linda Brooks, and while some of what was discussed was off the record, I can provide a few more details.

First off, Brooks now says McClatchy will provide the pension calculation for everyone age 55 with 20 years of service by the Sept. 5 deadline. If you’re curious whether you’re at 55/20, HR can also provide that. If you don’t meet that age requirement, Brooks can still give you a rough calculation. We might have an online calculator up on this site in the coming days.

We asked again about the reduction number. And without giving away too much, my understanding is the payroll amount we need to drop will be partially based on whether corporate accepts other cost saving and/or revenue generating ideas, including but not limited to closing the zone sections.

Once they have that information, which is just days away, they’ll know how much bleeding we have to do.

The following was sent by our Guild Rep Wendy Mejia to all represented employees in an email Tuesday morning, and is reprinted here in case you missed that. It reveals some of the fine points in the company’s buyout offer that everyone should consider, and explains new contract language that gives the Guild some leverage:

First, the Company cannot offer buyouts to any employee in a Guild covered position until it has the approval of the Guild (your leadership) otherwise it is considered direct dealing and an Unfair Labor Practice Charge. We are meeting with the Company on Wednesday, August 27, 2008.

Second, it depends on your employment history if the buyout offers more than if you were laid off.

Here is what the contract provides (actual contract language below)

1. Four week notice to the Guild and employee or wages in lieu of notice.
2. Two weeks for every year of continuous (BEE) employment, up to 40 weeks.
3. 3 months of Company paid portion of COBRA
4. Rehire rights
5. Guaranteed unemployment benefits the day after your last day of employment

Here is what the buyout offers:

1. Two weeks for every year of uninterrupted McClatchy employment up to 40 weeks, minimum of six.
2. 3 months of Company paid portion of COBRA
3. Or two weeks less pay if you want 12 months of Company paid portion of COBRA
4. In the past there hasn’t been an issue with unemployment, we are looking into it.

So, if you have been a SAC Bee employee for 10 years and don’t need 12 months of Company paid COBRA – you would get the same severance package, plus an additional 4 weeks notice or wages.

If you are a former Neighbors employee you might think of the buyout because your service years will include Neighbors and BEE.

The key here, and thanks to the 2005/06 bargaining committee who pushed for the language is the four weeks notice and COBRA.

SECTION 6 SEVERANCE PAY

6.1 (a) Severance pay shall be paid to regular full-time employees, and regular part-time employees hired on or before March 6, 1987 in a lump sum equal to two (2) weeks’ pay for every year of full-time equivalent service (prorated for fractional years of service), up to a maximum of forty (40) weeks. Such pay shall be computed at the employee’s current rate of pay excluding any overtime, holiday pay, vacation pay, shift or job differentials or any other premium or additional compensation.

(b) Severance pay shall be paid to part-time employees hired after March 6, 1987 in a lump sum equal to two (2) weeks pay for every year of full-time equivalent service (prorated for fractional years of service) up to a maximum of four (4) weeks. Such pay shall be computed at the employee’s current rate of pay excluding any overtime, holiday pay, vacation pay, shift or job differentials or any other premium or additional compensation.

13.4 (a) Layoffs to reduce the force may be made as the needs of the Publisher require. The Publisher shall decide when and how many employees shall be laid off and its decisions on those matters shall not be subject to the provision of Section 9 of this Agreement. The Publisher will give the Guild four (4) weeks notice of any layoff and will meet with the Guild to discuss the layoff at the Guild’s request. When deciding on layoffs, the Publisher shall give consideration to the work to be done and the competency, efficiency, skills, ability, previous job performance, seniority, attendance record, training and other qualifications of employees covered by this Agreement. For former Neighbors employees, McClatchy Newspaper experience before September 1, 2002, will not be recognized for the purposes of layoff seniority. The Publisher is not required to layoff in inverse order of seniority. However, if all aforementioned qualifications are equal, the least senior employee shall be laid off.

(b) Employees on layoff and their eligible dependents covered under the Company’s group health plan will be eligible for up to three months of company paid COBRA coverage. The cost of the remaining months of COBRA coverage will be at the employee’s expense.

13.5 Within seven (7) calendar days after the employee is notified of his/her layoff, the employee dismissed to reduce the force shall notify the Publisher in writing by registered mail whether he/she wants to have his/her name placed on a rehire list. Rehire lists shall be maintained by department (Editorial and Advertising), by classification within each department and employment status. An employee who places his/her name on a rehire list shall be placed on a list for a period of one (1) year. No other persons may be hired for the jobs vacated until the laid off employee in that department, classification within that department and employment status are offered the job, unless the laid off employee fails to meet the qualification requirements specified in Section 13.3 or the laid off employees fail to accept such re-employment within fourteen (14) calendar days after notice by registered mail to his/her last know address appearing on the Publisher’s records.

6.2 Severance pay need not be paid to an employee discharged for just cause (excepting incompetence), self-provoked discharge for the purpose of collecting severance pay, to an employee who is retired from The Sacramento Bee or who leaves of his/her own volition. The payment of severance in any of these cases shall be optional with the Publisher.

6.3 From severance pay the Publisher may deduct any levy or tax to which the employee is subject under state or federal legislation.

6.4 A person re-employed who has received severance pay becomes a new employee of the Publisher as regards severance pay.

Considering the timing, this may seem like small potatoes, but in the grand scheme of things these potatoes are huge.

On Friday, Melanie announced that Blaine Wasylkiw will join the newsroom, kind of. Her is what she wrote, in part:

We’re pleased to announce that Blaine Wasylkiw has been named Director of Digital Media, a new role in which he will be responsible for enabling and maximizing The Bee’s digital publishing efforts.

Blaine will report directly to Melanie Sill, Editor and Senior Vice President, and will have equal responsibility for serving the needs and strategic goals of advertising, audience development and other divisions.

What she didn’t say, and I came to learn from being an excellent reporter (by going to Benny’s), is that the whole new media/new product development team will follow him to the newsroom. So now it looks like the saclights, sacmom, sacpaws and wineregion are now under the newsroom.

What does this mean? I’m not sure, but I know it’s not small potatoes.

There are 60 reader comments so far on the Bee’s story about employee buyouts. Naturally they run the gamut from those who are glad to see the paper struggle to those who see the truth, which is that the decline of a quality newspaper doesn’t serve anybody:

I dont care if your are from the crazy right or crazy left, the demise of Sacramento’s last newspaper or the start of that process is not a good thing. I grew up with the Bee and the Union as afternnoon papers. What a shame. For those of you who applaud.. shame on you.

And like the post below from Modesto, which now seems prescient for us in Sactown, some of the comments offer a bit of dark humor that helps lighten a burdensome Monday:

What’s next for the shrinking sports page; Kings games covered by AP? Two full pages of Fry’s adds!

Or:

would the last Bee staffer please turn out the lights on the way out the door?

I expect there will be a lot fewer lights on in newsroom cubicles a couple weeks from now. Hopefully there will be enough of us left to do more than rewrite press releases.

Most of you reading this either have or will soon receive a buyout offer. Exceptions are graphics folks, interactive staff, ad sales, the capitol bureau, and columnist Breton and Voisin.

One thing to note, this offer is comparable to what you’d be paid in a layoff situation. That differs greatly from the March buyout offer. This time around, you can choose to take (option 1) two weeks of pay for every 12 months of continuous service, less two weeks of base pay, up to 38 weeks, plus 1 year of subsidized cobra medical benefits. Or (option 2) two weeks of pay for every 12 months of continuous service, up to 40 weeks, plus 3 month of subsidized cobra medical benefits.

The payout in option one is the same as is required through the contract, for guild-covered employees.

In March, the buyout offer capped at 26 weeks of pay.

Another thing to note is that option 1 offers a minimum payout of 6 weeks of pay, while option 2 has a minimum 4 weeks of pay. The move makes the buyout a little more attractive to for folks here less than three years.

Management won’t commit to whether there will be layoffs next.

It’s been a stressful week here. Many of us thought we’d be safe from further cuts because of the press moving. That’s why the announcement about the buyouts was even harder to take.

We talked and talked until there was nothing left to say. Then one of our colleagues thought we could make a Top 10 list describing the bright side of buyouts to laugh at the week. We couldn’t stop at 10.

Yes, we’re losing our press and we’re on our second round of buyouts this year.

But …

• 3.2 staplers per employee.
• Less chance that the Bee’s second floor will collapse under the weight of so many newsroom bodies.
• More interest - competition even - to cover job fairs
• No more hunting for parking spaces  
• Mark doesn’t have to shout so loud in meetings in the middle of the newsroom.
• Always plenty of TP in the ladies’ room
• Renewed contact with old friends who call to see if you still have a job.
• Finding an open table in the Beestro: No problem!
• The constant excitement of shuffling desks and beats.
• It takes much less time to plough through birthdays and anniversary dates in the publisher’s newsletter.
• Condensed newsroom means we can all hear Jeff’s interviews.
• Copy editors don’t get stuck in numbing routines, like having the same days off each week. How dull would that be?
• Resume never looked better.
• Sympathetic sources giving out more information … and job offers.
• We don’t have to replace the water bottle as often as we used to.
• You’ll know everybody at the company picnic, if we ever have another one.
• A-1 is all yours.
• At long last, I’m next in line to play Scoopy.
• With an empty pressroom, we can finally put in a trampoline . Yippee!

Given the fresh round of buyouts offered at the Modesto Bee, there is understandably great concern and/or excitement about buyouts here. At this point, management has not given us any indication if there will be similar “early transition” offers here.

As for the salary freeze, we’ve formally asked for a meeting to discuss alternatives, but that meeting has yet to be scheduled.

It looks like McClatchy Corp. has put its big-shot shuttle on the market. And heads up: this might be the only chance you get to see inside Gary Pruitt’s warbird. See the ad listing, which is loaded with photos.

Take a look at that wet bar, willya?

The plane bears tail number N57MN, which is registered to McClatchy Corp., according to landings.com (an excellent aircraft & pilot research site, btw).

The 2005 Dassault Falcon 2000EX jet was purchased new by McClatchy. It has logged 804 hours so far on its twin engines, and 572 landings, according to the ad.

The plane features two large flat-panel TVs, “townsend blue” leather on the 10 passenger seats, and “quarter fig mahogany” cabinetry.

You will also be interested to know that the amenities include “convenient tie downs for golf bags or skis.”

No price is listed. As a new model, the basic Falcon 2000EX started at $23.5 million, according to this reference from 2003.

And no word on whether McClatchy is cutting costs or simply clearing the hangar for a new jet. The plane, however, is subject to several recent FAA airworthiness directives that look like they involve pricey repairs.

4.11 It is understood that the wages of employees covered by this Agreement may be subject to freezes, delays or reduction of planned increases if the non-bargaining unit employees and Management of The Sacramento Bee also experience any of these wage control actions due to economic reasons. It is understood that these wage actions will be at no greater magnitude than those experienced by non-bargaining unit employees and Management of The Sacramento Bee. The Publisher agrees to give the Guild at least thirty (30) days notice of the wage action to allow Guild and Publisher representatives to meet to discuss alternative solutions. The Publisher will make the final decision and has the sole authority to determine whether or not economic reasons exist.

4.12 The Guild shall have the right to verify any freeze, delay or reduction of planned increases through a mutually agreed upon independent auditor who will be allowed access to payroll records. It is understood that the independent auditor will only have access to Sacramento Bee payroll records.

Guild leaders got the salary freeze news just as you did, with 10 a.m. smack in the face.
We’re still determining our response and trying to get some questions answered. The most pressing question to most is: Does mean you get a double raise when this is over?

The guild contract requires they give us 30 days notice of a wage freeze. As such, the freeze doesn’t start for Guild-covered employees until Sept. 15. It ends Sept. 14, 2009.

The contract also requires that they meet with us to discuss alternatives, which we intend on doing, so send us your ideas. One idea I’ve already heard: sell the parking lot and corporate jet. The contract also allows The Guild to hire an independent auditor or examine the Bee’s payroll in the event of a salary freeze.