Grievances

Open grievances: none

Settled grievances:

Cellphone reimbursement issue, filed 1-8-24: Since the conversion in March 2023 from expense form filing to automatic payment on the last payday of each month for cellphone allowances approximately half the eligible Editorial employees have not received their $40 per month allowance.
Adjustment sought: No later than payroll week ending 1-21-24, pay each affected employee the $400 owed for 10 months of missing cellphone allowances.
Result: Employees were paid the missing cellphone allowance money.
Advertising cash payments issue, field 11-15-23: Advertising cash payments are being accepted by non-Guild employees.
Adjustment sought: There is a cash payment procedure in place for Circulation cash payments that does not violate Guild jurisdiction. The News/Lee were urged to continue to use this process for Advertising cash payments.
Result: The grievance was resolved by moving this work to Inside Circulation.
Provider network/co-pay issues, filed 3-20-2023: Employees have run into situations where providers that previously were in network are, under Wellmark BlueCross BlueShield, out of network. This is despite assurances from Lee Enterprises and The Buffalo News that the provider networks would remain the same. Further, employees have paid co-pays for services, such as blood work, that previously did not require a co-pay.
Adjustment sought: Make whole any members who paid a higher than necessary co-payment and make sure this doesn’t happen again going forward.
Result: Wellmark corrected the issue going forward and, to the best of our knowledge, made members whole where appropriate.
Paycheck change without notification, filed 3-14-23: A grievance was filed over changes made to employee paychecks without warning, explanation or information on how to dispute the corrections. The adjustment sought is to make our members financially whole.
Result: Lee and The News made members whole.
Payroll deduction issues, filed 3-14-2023: Deductions were made to employee paychecks without any explanation or information on how to dispute the corrections, in violation of state labor law. Adjustment sought: Make our members financially whole.
Result: Issues were fixed and members were reimbursed by Lee where necessary.
Customer service outsourcing, filed 2-16-2023: Lee Enterprises violated the Guild contract by outsourcing customer service work to a hub in the Philippines that is not owned by Lee. The contract allowed for customer service call center work to be outsourced to a “Lee-owned call center.”
Adjustment sought: Bring outsourced customer service work back to The Buffalo News.
Result: Guild resolved this and the classified advertising outsourcing grievance, filed 11-16-22, in a settlement that required The Buffalo News to hire a Group B clerk in Circulation and a Group D reporter in Editorial.
Insurance benefits issues/denials, filed 1-6-23: A host of issues with the rollout of contractual medical, dental and drug benefits coverage, including employees denied proper access to health care and dental insurance; log-in issues; people who are supposed to have family coverage but were listed as having single coverage; Express Scripts not recognizing coverage; and inaccessible Wellmark customer service.
Adjustment sought: Correct all deficient benefits coverage, reimburse any out-of-pocket costs to members as a result of transition errors.
Result: Wellmark went back and corrected issues with benefits coverage and, we believe, made reimbursements where required.
Loss of holiday and premium pay, filed 1-6-23: Pay problems for people who worked Jan. 1 and didn’t receive premium pay and employees who are regularly scheduled to work Mondays and but who didn’t receive straight holiday pay for Jan. 2. Adjustment sought: Reimburse Guild members for premium pay owed.
Flex credits issue, filed 1-6-23: Employees aren’t being credited with unspent, pretax flex credit money in their paychecks, as required under the contract. Adjustment sought: Reimburse all employees pretax flex credits owed.
Result: Employees were reimbursed for any flex credits owed.
Classified Advertising outsourcing issue, 11-16-22: Former Classified Advertising work has been subcontracted to a Lee hub after the termination of the Media Sales Plus contract. The contract forbids the subcontracting to any entity owned by or affiliated with The Buffalo News or Berkshire Hathaway. The language of the MOA continues to apply to Lee Enterprises due to the successorship clause. Adjustment sought: Return all work outlined under MOA #38 that has been sent to the Lee hub to The Buffalo News and re-populated the Classified Advertising Department as necessary.
Result: See customer service outsourcing result.
Former employee benefits denial, filed 1-6-23: Former employees who are supposed to get health care coverage, per their separation agreements, but have been denied coverage. Adjustment sought: Correct all deficient benefits coverage, reimburse any out-of-pocket costs to members as a result of transition errors.
Result: By mid-February, all covered former employees received health care coverage, though they continue to experience the same coverage problems as all other Guild members.
Vacation time for new employees, 10-17-22: A new employee was told that she was not entitled to any vacation time despite having worked more than six months and that if she took vacation time in her first calendar year that she would be entitled to only when week in the next calendar year.
Result: Company agrees that starting 1/1/2022 current vacation accrual records of all first-year employees to reflect they start to accrue vacation time effective with their first day of employment and may receive paid vacation in the same calendar year after six months on the job, as well as their full allotment of vacation in subsequent calendar years. Guild accepts management’s position that, based on precedent, that float days will be granted during the first year of employment.

Updated 5/18/24