It's been a tumultuous year for the media overall, and for the Monterey Herald. There have been layoffs and retirements, the outsourcing of some jobs to Chico where parent company Digital First Media has an office, and selling the old building in exchange for a smaller space. Meanwhile, about 50 union members went for more than a year without a contract.
Since November 2013, the Pacific Media Workers Guild had been asking for a raise—the first in four-plus years.
During the past year of negotiations, there was a byline strike, when reporters refused to attach their names to their stories; a petition with 38 signatures calling for a pay increase; an online petition that collected dozens more; and joining in a national campaign organized by the Newspaper Guild to seek new owners for Digital First Media, the Herald's parent company.
They finally signed a new contract Wednesday.
The one-year contract expires in September 2015, and it doesn't give workers a pay raise—but it does give an additional paid vacation day per year and boosts personal cell phone reimbursement from $50 to $60 monthly.
They also got a cap on employee contributions to health insurance, which under the Affordable Care Act, could go from the current 34 percent up to 40 percent.
“We’re all pretty happy, relieved, excited," says reporter Phillip Molnar, chair of the guild bargaining unit.
"We are disappointed we don’t get a raise, but we are glad to keep the health care cap."
Publisher Gary Omernick did not immediately return a request for comment on the agreement.
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