Arbitrator rules UAW contract at The Advocate must be honored

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.uaw.org/news/newsarticle.cfm?ArtId=456

Friday, April 13, 2007
Arbitrator rules UAW contract at The Advocate must be honored

The Tribune Company must honor the UAW contract at a Connecticut newspaper by including a successor clause in a purchase agreement before it can sell the publication, an arbitrator has ruled.

UAW Local 2110 represents about 40 editorial staff members at The Advocate in Stamford, Conn. The union has a clause in the contract that requires a successor to honor its contract in the event of a sale.

The Tribune Co. announced on March 6 its intention to sell The Advocate to Gannett, Inc., but the sales agreement did not include a requirement that the new owner honor the UAW-negotiated labor agreement. Gannett took the position that it would not honor their contract, and forced workers to re-apply for their current positions.

“Nothing demonstrates the value of a union contract more clearly than this case,” said Bob Madore, director of UAW Region 9A, which includes Connecticut. “This clause was negotiated so that if the newspaper is sold, the reporters, photographers and other editorial staff members would be assured their working conditions could not be arbitrarily changed by a new owner.”

FULL story at link.

[Solo_in_MD]

1. In other cases I have seen the assets of a company sold but not the company itself.

That negates having to take the employees, pensions, etc. Just watch and see the deal get restructured along those lines. Judgle will not be able to do anything at that point.