july 22 - july 28, 2004 :: v3n30

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Page 13
Pressed Out of Service SEDUCED BY
The Buffalo News leaves veteran pressmen
out of work and out of luck.

Page 22
THE ATKINS DIET
After following the fat, normally healthy Americans
Behind The Scenes like Jody Gorran may now be at risk for a nasty fall.
of Pepper Park BY FRANK ETHERIDGE > PAGE 16 <
july 22, 2004 | | 1
news feature www.ultimaterestaurants.com

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> BY PETER KOCH

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henever you look at ��������������������

PHOTO BY ROSE MATTREY

the front page of The
Buffalo News’ Sunday
edition, you are al-
most sure to find a
EveryTuesday ���������
��������������
human interest story.
Displayed prominently below the fold, �������������������
these stories are designed to show the
impact that everyday news events have �������������
on specific people and places—how a
car accident brought an alcoholic to
sobriety, the way a store opening saved
a neighborhood, the alienation of a
loyal worker who’s been laid off.
� � �� �
That brings us to a story that the News 617 Main Street @ THEATRE PLACE 854-YAYA [9292] �����
forgot to cover: the story of Tim New- � � � � �� ��
ell. Had they covered his story, it would � � � �� �
have gone something like this...
For the past 16 years, Tim has been
faithfully following in his father’s foot-
steps as a pressman at the Buffalo News.
He started work as a junior apprentice
in April of 1988 and, like his father and
every other pressman, slowly worked
his way up the ladder—nine years as a
junior apprentice and four years as an
apprentice, before finally earning his
journeyman’s card and joining the
top tier of printers in 2001. “How can they get away with
Tim’s father, Bill, put in over 30 yearssaying there’s no work for
as a pressman, first at the Courier Ex-
us when we know damn well
press and later at the News, before retir-
ing in 1999. Tim’s career as a printer,
however, may already be over.
there’s work to do?”
In May, the News completed work on —former News pressman, Tim Newell
its new, state-of-the-art presses—twin
Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) Coloras,
each six stories tall and weighing 680 extra time,” says Tim, “you get kind of stir
tons. These require only eight to 10 men per crazy worrying about the future.” Tim has
shift, rather than 50. As a result, Tim was already done the calculations and knows
laid off from his job—with no compensa- that his unemployment runs out around
tion. Thanksgiving, and unless he is hired back
As a journeyman, Tim was mostly work- by the News, he will be moving his family out
ing the “third shift,” starting at 10 pm and of town soon thereafter.
working through the night loading reels of Late last year, full-page ads began popping
paper, manning color plates, operating the up in the News, touting their new presses. At
folder mechanism or managing one of the the top were those cute little Dalmatians
News’ five aging presses. Then sometime we’re now so familiar with, one sporting
around six am (or later, if the paper wasn’t colored spots and sunglasses. Each ad had
finished), he would drive to his Hamburg a small box across the bottom that read,
home, another day’s work complete. This is “Your newspaper… investing $40 million in
a routine he’s repeated thousands of times, Downtown Buffalo.” This slogan is mislead-
including most weekends and holidays. ing, at best. The News invested at least $25
Now Tim is trying to get used to a new rou- million in Wuerzburg, Germany—KBA’s
tine. Off for his first summer since high headquarters. That’s how much the presses
school, he is keeping himself busy with actually cost, including delivery and instal-
work around the house—completing the lation. On top of that, according to a News
baby’s room (his daughter was born four article that ran last June, the News was plan-
days after he was laid off), catching up on ning to claim $1.75 million in investment
house painting between rain showers and tax credits under the state’s Empire Zone
fixing the everyday leaks and squeaks that program. Created in 1986, the Empire
plague all houses over time. “With all the
> CONTINUED ON PG 15
july 22, 2004 | | 13
> CONTINUED FROM PG 13
Zone program is supposed to create busi-
ness in distressed areas by giving tax credits
to companies that are creating jobs. That
means that the News, owned by the second
richest man in the world, Warren Buffett,
took $1.75 million from the pockets of tax-
payers to help pay for the new presses. So
now the News’ “$40 million investment” is
beginning to look like $13 million, much
of which was (to their credit) actually spent
paying local construction groups to work on
the modifications to the press building and
other projects.
For a point of comparison, the Moore Wal-
lace printing plant in Tonawanda recently
closed, forcing 85 pressmen out of work. De-
spite the company (R.R. Donnelley & Sons
Co.) posting a $58 million loss during the
first quarter of the 2004 fiscal year, each of
the 85 men was given 60 days worth of sever-
ance pay. Why is it, then, that a mega-corpo-
ration like Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (which,
according to Forbes magazine, makes close
to $3.5 billion annually) can let 31 guys go
without giving them anything?
When the News pressmen realized that
they would receive no severance, their
union, Graphic Communications Intl.
Union (GCIU) local 261, decided to hold
an informational picket to coincide with
an employee picnic the News was holding
to celebrate the new presses. The News got
wind of the picket and hired private secu-
rity to keep their former employees off of
the sidewalk and away from the celebration
(which cost employees $2 per person … re-
member, the News makes $1 million a week
in profit). However, the local news stations
also made it to the picnic and covered the
picket. When asked for comment on the
issue of severance, the News claimed that
it had extended the workers’ health care
through the end of the year and mentioned
a bonus workers had received in March. As
for the health coverage, the News didn’t
have a choice in that matter—the benefits
were guaranteed by contract to anyone who
worked a minimum of 150 shifts in 2003. So
what appeared, on local news broadcasts, to
be the News throwing the printers a bone
was actually just the News taking credit for a
contractual guarantee. As for the bonus pay,
the printers who were laid off each received
approximately $300—hardly a substitute
for decent severance.
Tim feels alienated. “I feel like I’ve just
been replaced by machinery.” While the
fact that new presses would mean fewer jobs
was no secret, it wasn’t known who exactly
would be laid off, or when. “I was working
overtime shifts right up until they sent me
home,” Newell says. “It’s just the way the
whole thing went down,” he says repeatedly.
No severance, picketing, arbitrations—all
after 16 years of loyal service. “How can
they get away with saying there’s no work for
us when we know damn well there’s work
to do?” Tim refers to the fact that, during
the transition period to the new presses,
the remaining workers are being extremely
overworked. That way, none of the laid off
workers will reach the magic 150-shift mark,
forcing the News to extend their health care
for another year. One man recently had to
be hospitalized for heat exhaustion. “They
have some of those guys pulling 10-hour
overtime shifts!” Newell exclaims.
But Tim is not alone in his frustration and
sense of helplessness. According to reports
by the News itself, 30 other men were also
laid off. Several of them described their
situation to Artvoice, and the picture they
painted of the News was less than flattering;
in fact, it was one of a penny-pinching cor-
porate bully that freely sacrifices workers’
rights for the sake of the bottom line.
“There are guys who are in danger of losing
their homes,” says Darren Lloyd, another
journeyman of 16 years. “People have really
had to cut back. I mean, there’s people that
are going to food stamps that I used to work
with.”
BUFFALO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
That’s not the way it’s always been, though.
Traditionally, most problems between the
union and the News could be worked out
with simple face-to-face negotiations. Re-
cently, however, the printers say the News
has been purposely committing contract
violations. In such cases, the union is forced
to go through arbitrations before the Labor
Board, a costly and time-consuming process.
“We’ve had more arbitrations in the past
year than I’ve seen in my previous twenty
years,” says Jim Spyer, president of the local
261. One laid off journeyman guessed that
This
Week’s
Peking Acrobats
BPO Friday, July 23 &
the union had spent $500,000 on arbitra- Performances
tions in the past five years. “I believe that at Artpark Saturday, July 24, 8:00pm
Conducted by Ron Spigelman
they’re certainly on a mission to destroy our Tickets: $15, $28, $33, $38
local [union],” says Spyer. “There’s no way
that anybody has enough money to go up
against the News.” 30th Anniversary
Why such bad blood, suddenly? The print-
ers attribute the stressed relations to admin-
Concert
istrative changes at the News—changes that Sunday, July 25, 8:00pm
brought in business school graduates to run Conducted by JoAnn Falletta
the show rather than negotiators who un- Tickets: $15, $28, $33, $38
derstand the blue collar perspective. They � Free post-concert party and fireworks!
BPO
named such people as Dan Farberman and
Bob Cassell as being strictly anti-union
“sharks.”
2 0 0 4 - 2 0 0 5 S e a s o n
They aren’t alone, though. The printers say
that other unions are also having problems
Opening Night is September 18th!
The Pops Season Opens on October 8th!
with the News. Jim Spyer, who also repre-
Great seats are still available. Call 885-5000 today!
sents workers from other departments at
the News, agrees that it’s not just the press-
men that the newspaper is after.
Tickets are on sale now! For performance details and ticket
Jay Bonfatti, a vice-president with the Buf- information, contact us at (716) 885-5000, or visit us on the web at
falo Newspaper Guild, told Artvoice about www.bpo.org. Tickets are also available through Tickets.com
their stance on the News’ management. “Peking Acrobats” sponsors: “30th Anniversary Concert“ sponsors:
“The culture at the paper changed when the
Butler family sold it,” Bonfatti says. “Corpo-
rate-oriented people came in and the atmo-
sphere now is colder. They are more focused
on the bottom line than before.” It is a story
HOGAN &WILLIG, PLLC
that rings familiar, though the Guild is not
in as bad a situation as the printers. Accord-
ing to Guild president Pat Gormley they are
going through the regular ups and downs.
However, Bonfatti stands by his claim that
“if the News had its druthers, the Guild Attorneys at Law
would have a much diminished presence at
the paper.” On the Guild’s Web site, a writ-
ten statement says, “The News … has made
its position clear: there may be a lot of un-
certainty in the newspaper business these
80 DEDICATED EMPLOYEES
days, but whatever future there is doesn’t
involve the Guild—or if it does, it’s only on
their terms.” 30 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
The News is a perfect example of corporate
greed rearing its ugly head in our city once
again. While sporting the community pil-
lar image, the News simply doesn’t do nice
25 ATTORNEYS
things for free. Like the employee picnic
6 LOCATIONS
that was two bucks per person, or the Kids’
Day benefit, where the News doubled the
price of the newspaper for a day, maintain-
ing its normal take and giving the other half
to Cradle Beach (Hey, it doesn’t cost us a
thing!). At the same time, the News is down-
sizing its distribution, customer service and
1 PURPOSE. . . .
classified departments, while increasing the
price of the newspaper. And remember this:
the News’ $50 million-plus in annual profits
don’t stay in Buffalo. They are sent off to
We practice law for your peace of mind.
Berkshire Hathaway’s corporate headquar-
ters in Omaha, NE.
Bankruptcy • Corporate Law • Criminal Law • Elder Law • Estates
At press time, Dottie Gallagher, vice presi-
dent and spokesperson for the Buffalo News,
Personal Injury • Malpractice
Matrimonial & Family Law • Real Estate
had not yet returned Artvoice’s phone calls.
Back on the front, GCIU local 261 will soon
be bringing seven charges against the News
Office Locations:
before the Labor Board. Their case will be One John James Audubon Parkway, Amherst � 2430 North Forest Road, Getzville
heard on August 11. In the meantime, the 155 Summer Street, Buffalo � 102 East Avenue, Lockport
pressmen continue to feel their backs are 345 Third Street, Niagara Falls � 904 Center Street, Lewiston
to the wall in a David-and-Goliath battle,
while the News goes on conducting business Please contact us at (716) 636-7600
as usual. www.hoganandwillig.com
july 22, 2004 | | 15