Over Five Years Without a Pay Raise; Over Four Years Without a Contract. Now the Post Wants More!

The 400 production workers at the Washington Post have not seen a wage increase in five years. Five years.  For much of that time, since May 2003, the workers have been fighting for a fair labor contract.  But the Post has been holding things up.  And now the Post is after the workers’ employee-funded pension plan.

What do Production Workers Do?

At the Washington Post, it is the production workers who assemble the papers and prepare them for delivery.  Production workers are the last link in the production line. They receive the printed sections of the paper from the press room and bundle the final product into the paper you get on your doorstep. Some workers feed and operate heavy collating machines and inserters that combine the various advertisements and sections of the paper into a neat package. Others stack, lift and transport bundles of papers from one area to another.

Without production workers, there would be no newspaper. The Post would be sitting in huge jumbled piles at the end of the presses in the Post's plants in College Park, Maryland, or Springfield, Virginia. The work is hard, dirty, heavy and demanding. Production work mostly nights, weekends and holidays—times when most other people are home with their families.

What Is The Main Issue Holding Up A Contract?

Right now, the production workers have a national pension plan administered jointly by a board of employer and union trustees. But the Post is now demanding the right to withdraw from that plan, as well as requesting the unilateral right to decide what to do with the money in the plan. That money has been diverted from the workers pay raises over the last 30 years.  It belongs to the workers.  That’s right - the Post is asking to take pension money that has been coming out of its workers’ paychecks.

Update: The Post claims the production workers’ pension plan is under funded.  Is that true?

No, the production workers’ pension plan is not under funded and has not suffered any loss in earned benefits. 

In fact, as of January 1, 2007, the plan had over $1 billion in assets.  This amounts to 101% of the necessary assets to pay beneficiaries, under standards established by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

So simply, there is no shortage of funds in the pension plan.

You might say, “But times are tough. Everybody's got to tighten their belt. Right?”

But times aren't tough for the Washington Post. In 2006, the company reported $324.5 million in profits, and Post executives rewarded themselves with millions in bonuses.  

Let's Review: $324.5 million in profits for the Post, millions in bonuses for Post executives, — and absolutely nothing for production workers.

No raises. No parity. No help on health care. No improved benefits. Is this the same Washington Post that claims to be a watchdog against corporate greed? We don't think so.

Take action now!

Click here to read the SEC Filing about Executive compensation at the Post.