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Journal, Guild to talk Tuesday

The decision to resume bargaining -- the 20th session and the first since Nov. 14 -- came after Administrative Law Judge William G. Kocol asked the Journal and the Guild for an update on negotiations, shortly before the trial began.

Elizabeth Vorro, the attorney for the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that brought the charges against the Journal, explained that the Journal made an offer last week, but then "declined the union's invitation to negotiate."

Richard A. Perras, the Journal's lawyer, said that the offer was "structured to evoke acceptance or rejection," and "it was neither accepted nor rejected."

Upon receiving the company's offer last Wednesday, the Guild had proposed to postpone the trial and negotiate around the clock. The company described this proposal for talks as a "rejection of our offer" and refused to meet. But yesterday, after a brief, private conference with the judge, the Journal agreed to negotiate tomorrow morning.

Then, the trial began. In opening arguments, Vorro said that the company improperly declared impasse and imposed some -- but not all -- of its contract proposal. The company had already implemented unilateral changes in health benefits before declaring impasse, Vorro said.

"The company has engaged in a pattern of bad-faith bargaining,'' Vorro said. "The company has barely moved since bargaining began in 1999."

Perras said the matter has come to trial because the company has legally refused to arbitrate grievances from the expired contract.

``The Guild called an up or down membership vote on the entire company proposal,'' Perras said, referring to the February 2000 vote at which Guild members overwhelmingly rejected the company's contract proposal. "Impasse was reached when the Guild called that vote."

Judge Kocol asked Perras how an impasse on Feb. 4 would allow the company to impose conditions on Jan. 1. Perras then said that an impasse had occurred by Dec. 31. He said the company made unilateral changes in benefits and working conditions as a "defensive" move. Otherwise, he said, the company would have suffered "economic liabilities from which it would never have recovered.''

He said the Guild was "engaged in a pattern of delaying these negotiations."

Daily reports on the trial will be posted here on www.journalontrial.org. The Web site also has directions and a map to Pawtucket City Hall, 137 Roosevelt Ave. The trial starts at 11 a.m. on Monday and at 9 a.m. on the other days. Here's how to get there:

From Providence and points south: Take Rte. 95 north to School Street exit. Turn left at bottom of ramp onto School Street. Pass Apex on the left and go through one light (one-way right) to next light, bearing left. Go to light at Slater Mill and Visitors Center, making a right onto Roosevelt Avenue. City Hall will be on your right, with parking on left. Trial is on third floor.

From Boston and points north: Take Rte. 95 south into Rhode Island. Take exit 29, Downtown Pawtucket. At end of ramp, merge onto Broadway. Go about two-tenths of a mile and turn right onto Exchange Street. Turn left on Roosevelt Avenue. City Hall will be on your left, with parking on the right. Trial is on the third floor.

Felice J. Freyer is the Providence Journal's award-winning medical writer. She joined the paper in 1982 and was assigned to the medical beat in 1989. A member of the Guild's Executive Committee since 1994, she has taken a leave from the newspaper to cover the trial.

There is much more information about the dispute at the Guild's main website, www.riguild.org. E-mail the Guild at png@riguild.org. The union's mailing address is: The Providence Newspaper Guild, 270 Westminster St., Providence, RI 02903. Telephone: (401) 421-9466. FAX: (401) 421-9495.