January 20, 2022
The Guild and AP met Thursday to continue discussions of the company’s proposed reorganization and merger of the Customer Support and Global Help Desk staff within the Technology Unit.
During the last meeting on Dec. 20, the AP announced a change a change in the company’s lawyer due to a retirement and provided an outline and proposed schedule for the cross-training of GHD and CS staff. This time, the AP asked if there were any further questions.
The guild told the company there hasn’t been a contract proposal to address the new position as it is tied to job security. The AP responded it would provide language the next time TU is discussed.
The guild also acknowledged seeing postings for three jobs and again expressed there was concern among staff that they were so busy they were uncertain how the training would get done. John Braunreiter, a customer support specialist from Milwaukee, pointed out that some global help desk staff have previously worked on customer support and expected the curve to be steeper for CS staff learning GHD duties. The AP acknowledged that.
The guild and AP agreed to renew Article 14 (General Wage Provisions) for the TU.
The next bargaining session was scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 24, to discuss the Editorial Unit.
Representing the guild were: Braunreiter; Vin Cherwoo, a sports writer from New York; Kim Kruesi, a newsperson from Nashville, Tenn.; Ed Morsett, a global help desk specialist from Phoenix; and administrator Kevin Keane.
The AP was represented by: Teresita Seeberger, senior director of global human resources; Keisa Caesar, human resources manager; Helen Fridman, senior director of global technology support; and attorney Patrick Collins.