All: This Is My Last Day - Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

The 1990 35 percent pay cut debate

In 1990, the farewell messages were interrupted — but not halted — by an energetic debate over whether the employees should accept another pay cut requested by the company. Six years earlier, in 1984, the company hit us with a 25 percent pay cut and the layoff of 200 employees. At the time, management had told us that conditions were so bad that the company would have to lay off 300 employees and slash salaries by 10 percent. This time, the company was seeking a 35 percent pay cut for 90 days, saying it was the only way UPI would survive and once we were in better condition we would recoup what we gave up. The company was asking us to “vote for seemingly instant death or for yet another chance at life.” The company also stated that it had at least six possible buyers of all or parts of UPI.

UPI had buttons made sporting the UPI logo to advertise the company. The guild members had buttons of their own. One read: HIRE THEM CHEAP. USE THEM UP. THROW THEM OUT. Another showed Wire Service Guild loyalty: WSG HERE TO STAY. UPI. And another read: Undaunted Proud Insulted. The guild had voted one strike in the company's history. That was in the spring of 1974. It lasted 23 days.

The internal message wire became a forum for Unipressers from all ranks to express their views on the matter. No punches were pulled.

Unipressers:
In the next few days, those of you that are members in good standing of the Wire Service Guild will be receiving ballots for the most important vote in UPI’s history.

The company — with the union now agreeing to submit the request to you — is asking union-covered employees to assume a temporary wage reduction of 35 percent for a period of three months so that, during that period, we may operate UPI on revenue solely from outside the Infotechnology family. You know, of course, that exempt employees already took the same cut as of this past Sunday, and that they also lost their rights to notice and severance pay under company policy, something we are not asking from Guild-covered employees.

In the next few days, I will be traveling to UPI bureaus around the country to speak to the greatest possible number of Unipressers to try to explain the issues in the yes-or-no vote and to address your concerns. Because of the time constraints, I will not be able to reach all of you, so I want to provide a few thoughts in advance.

A “no” vote to the company’s request will simply mean that after Nov. 16, 1990, when the ballots are counted, we cannot ensure that we will have enough cash on hand to meet the payroll and other life-and-death obligations for the next two weeks. Therefore, we will have to take the once unthinkable step of putting UPI into liquidation. In such a scenario, it is virtually certain that there will be no assets left to satisfy obligations such as severance pay, because we all know UPI is a franchise service company, not an enterprise that has acquired physical assets over the years. It means we will not have time or opportunity to pursue to the fullest the possibilities that have arisen to find a new owner for UPI that understands our tradition and values our work product.

Your “yes” vote doesn’t guarantee UPI will be successfully sold. The only thing it guarantees is that we will be able to take the process to its conclusion, giving us vital breathing room to find the best possible home for UPI.

I realize full well it’s an impossible choice. We’re asking you to vote for seemingly instant death or for yet another chance at life, but no one can assess those chances at this moment. Meanwhile, engaging in public speculation as to the likelihood of any sale prospect and the desirability of various potential buyers is the best way to make sure that NO deal can ever be struck.

I understand that you’re probably angry. It’s a natural reaction for us who have emotionally invested so much into UPI to vent our frustrations and to feel that it’s got to be somebody’s fault. Those of you who have been around a long time may feel that it’s all the fault of Scripps-Howard, people who tried valiantly to honor the tradition of UPI founder E. W. Scripps, the best way they knew how — leaving the stewardship of UPI only to in-house management.

Some may feel it was all the fault of Doug Ruhe and Bill Geissler, who tried to do the best they could. Doug is selling jewelry in Connecticut and Bill is about to go down for the third time in his life in a business venture. They have paid a great deal.

Mario Vasquez Rana is back in Mexico where he knows how to run his business, after pumping more than $50 million of his personal money into UPI.

Earl Brian did the best he could to fit UPI into a grand information strategy and lost operating control of his empire in a chain of unfortunate events. The financial restructuring team of Alan Hirschfield and Allan Tessler are left with no choice but to mandate that the operating companies come immediately to cash flow self-sufficiency in order to buy the time to find a purchaser.

UPI in its last few decades never had a real chance at taking its rightful place among the successful giants of the growing information industry. It is up to us now to make sure we get a real chance.

I believe we share a dedication to the future of UPI. For my part, after 22 years as a Unipresser, I will not rest until this struggle is settled. On behalf of UPI, I ask your support and pledge continued efforts to be worthy of it.
Pieter VanBennekom
Executive Vice President
5 Nov. 1990

Coincidentally, the following moved on the UPI wire the day before VanBennekom’s plea:
iraq-paycuts 11-4
Arafat orders pay cuts for PLO bureaucrats, fighters
CAIRO (UPI) -- Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat ordered his officials and troops Sunday to take cuts in pay of up to 30 percent to compensate for the halt in Gulf Arab aid to the organization, Cairo Radio said.

waforn
eye note the Palestinians are only getting 30 percent pay cut. how do we join their union? Chiz.
Schweisberg-beijing

The next day an anonymous writer produced the following attempt at humor, which didn’t make the wire, but did the rounds of the Washington newsroom
WASHINGTON, Nov 5 -- United Press international today unveiled a new wave of action designed to bring the troubled wire service to cash self-sufficiency.
UPI 2001, as the new program is known, goes beyond previous policies, because, UPI spokesman Milt Capps explains, "our previous actions apparently were not stern enough."
This time UPI is cutting staff in half, reducing the length of stories to 150 words, and relying more heavily on outside sources for news.
"Basically we will rewrite CNN," Capps said.
In addition, hearing rumblings that Wire Service Guild personnel might not vote to accept pay cuts, UPI is making a stronger threat than before if this happens.
"Originally, we said that we would declare Chapter 11," Capps said. "But many employees enjoyed our previous bankruptcy and remember, the judge in that receivership ordered the company to keep operating and pay salaries before other bills."
Accordingly, the spokesman announced, "we are now saying that if employees do not vote to accept pay cuts we will send Ann Kott to visit each of them in person!"
Similarly, since clients have responded less than enthusiastically to calls for them to pay higher fees for reduced services, "We are now saying that if they do not pay more, we will shoot Helen Thomas!"

All
Once more into the breach. I hope and pray that all Unipressers will vote to give UPI another chance to survive. I have never lost faith that we could make a comeback and I know the sacrifices everyone is being asked to make are very tough. But I also know that none of us want news agency journalism to be a monopoly in this country. We have never let the UPI down in our work or dedication. I am appealing to all to vote to keep us in business. The alternative would be a tragedy. Thomas-wa (Helen Thomas, UPI White House bureau chief)

All
A voice from overseas folks: eye’m not affected by tt 35 percent cut, but volunteering myself for tt. If there is need, eye’m also willing to sacrifice my paycheck for a month. Let’s save UPI. Let’s not let a great tradition of journalism die. Otherwise, next generation will never forgive us for letting down UPI — a company for which we hv worked so hard and a company tt has given us so much. Eye hv met so many local staffers, stringers overseas and all of them want UPI to survive. Let’s have faith, faith, faith, faith. Rgds.
Mishra-mexico city

All
Say no to the pay cuts. Enough is enough already.
We’re not signing the death warrant to UPI
We’re not putting the last nail to the coffin.
Goddamn it. They have bled us to death for years and now they’re trying to tell us that it’s up to u and me to save the company.
We have done our shares for veterans, you should be proud of the illustrious careers for the young turks, move on from this magnificent chapter of our lives
Chrs
Hai-do-ktp (Albany pictures)

All
I am echoing my colleague Bill Harwood’s message. Suicide is not painless. I possess no false illusions about UPI’s future. But a simple call this morning to my unemployment office provided me a sobering dose of recession economics. A gamble on UPI’s future is, in my opinion, preferable in the short-term than a long wait in an unemployment line for about $225 a week of taxable income. I will only say that ballot decisions should be based on facts, not on emotion. Best wishes to all.
Navias-mh (Miami)

Navias
U guys down in fla got it made. In virginny, it tops out at $178/wk.
Grant-rv (Richmond)

All
Since we seem to be having a flurry of First Amendment writing today let me add a few thoughts for what they are worth. And this is from someone who came into this place back in 1966. The only way I can ask us to keep UPI on life support any longer are the following:
1. no employee is paid more than top scale for the duration of the crisis. And I mean no one. If we’re all going to be in this sinking lifeboat together then we should truly be in it. Nono favorite deals for consultants, buddies, old friends, or anyone else. Nono cushy expense accounts, etc. let’s even this playing field now, once and for all. It is about time all of the top managers get down to the bomb shelter with the rest of us. And I don’t mean the middle managers who have faithfully helped the rank and file hold the place together all these years. It’s put up or shut up time, folks.
2. if there is to be any pay cut it is to be considered exactly as what it is, a loan from the employees to UPI. And it is to be repaid, and I mean repaid, as the first item of any proceeds from a sale. None of this “cooking the books” accounting, please. Up front and all in one piece. Everyone else can hard-scramble for their share of whatever pie is found, but the employees are going to be first in line. After all, we are the ones who are going to have to tell our families why the holidays are going to be less festive then they have been in the past. If you’re unable to accept these two items, then at least let us go out in the same style that has always represented UNIpress. Honor, dignity, heads held high, pencils sharpened and ready for the use, and more honesty than the next person. chris graham, uprfin (national radio, Chicago, financial)
all
gee, there must be an election the way the campaigning on the msg (message) wire is rolling. Eye hesitated to do this, but graham-uprfin’s msg inspired me. Eye urge all of you to read it.
Eye can only say eye wholeheartedly agree with his msg in total. To say that the guild employees’ fingers are on the trigger is completely unfair to those out there in the countryside who have worked many extra hours for free, overlooked expenses, differentials, suffered medical cuts et payment delays, holiday cuts, vacation cuts, additional workload, having our work turned over to stringers, etc, etc, etc. If all of these concessions made no difference, why shud the next concession be any different? In all honesty, what motivated us in the idealistic sense to take a pay cut in ’84 is not there today. Eyem sure eye don’t have to spell it out. Eye do not like being put in the position of executioner, unless there are others with UPI — from top down — who will make the same sacrifices.
Rgds-paul-wasports (Washington sports)

Navias
Fyi, unemployment in the District of Columbia is $291 a week — which makes UPI pay cut look a lot less attractive. P.S. payments come via mail.
Danderson-wa

All
To my dear colleagues, union members and non-union members: dignity is a 7 letter word, which my kids can’t eat. The only reason to vote “no” on the 35-percent pay cut is if you believe the top management at UPI is telling a lie about the situation … and given the track record there is a strong chance of that. However, if you would like a couple more weeks to look for work elsewhere, if you would like to use all the means at your disposal to do that, and if are interested in putting off your own creditors a few more weeks, then your best interests are served with a “yes” vote. Just weigh the options while looking at this with a logical eye, rather than a “take this job and shove it” emotional eye. I pay union dues, although this union has done little over the years. In fact, it’s ironic that the union is taking a “no” vote stance now. It’s getting tough about two years too late.
Brill-hca (Los Angeles audio)

All
As long as the msg wire is being used to promote 35 percent pay cut plan, eye would like to say, Unipressers have repeatedly given up economic benefits in past efforts to bail out the company. Nothing has changed except the monetary position of employees — for the worse. If the current situation is so bad Chapter 7 was a real possibility by wed. then 35 percent pay cuts won’t save us. We earn our pay and should maintain every penny. Our jobs are not hobbies, they are hard work and deserve compensation.
Maclean-sxc (San Francisco)

All
We’re all loyal unipressers. We all take pride in the tradition of journalism that is UPI. And we all have worked hard under skeleton staffing, long, often unpaid hours and no real recognition for our efforts … except givebacks.
We’ve had cuts in pay, benefits and staff time and time again with no positive results.
We’re asked to sympathize with previous owners whose efforts to keep us afloat were often shady and left us with nothing but less staff, less wages and more work.
Now — when we have the best picture yet of UPI’s financial condition, when we have lost so many clients we’re hardly regarded as a serious contender — we are asked to give again. 35 percent. With no promise of a real future. With no promise of getting that 35 percent back again.
I love this place, but I think we’ve given enough. And we’ve had nothing in return except anxiety, uncertainty and false promises.
I think we should all vote in our own long-term financial interests because that is what is really at stake. The fate of the company seems — in every scenario — out of our hands.
Rgds, Wilson-bh (Boston)

Unipressers
I just can’t let it go.
When I walked out of the bureau yesterday afternoon, I was full of anger that there are those who are threatening to liquidate “this thing of ours.” My mind was to vote against the salary cutback; let them shut us down and end the pain and let us all get on with the rest of our lives. My resolve was totally supported by my family.
After 30 years, I was told it was time to get out, find something else, make some money for a change.
I considered the choices: unemployment, going over to rox (the Associated Press) (uggh), working for a daily, p-r, the ski business, tourism, making furniture, painting, etc. I am confident that somewhere, somehow, I could survive.
I considered what brought me into UPI in the first place. They are the same reasons why you all have stayed despite repeated attacks on our paychecks. Those reasons are still valid, perhaps even more so.
Everyone has to make a choice based on their own needs and beliefs.
Our company may indeed come to an end in the very near future.
Our company may yet survive.
Whatever the outcome of this current crisis, so be it.
I remain dedicated to trying to save UPI. I cannot bring myself to vote no on the pay cut, as painful as that may be. Our union leaders urge us to reject the pay cut. It is NOT their company.
UPI must survive.
Rgds
Haskell-bh (Boston)

All
Spurred on by Dave Haskell-bh’s poignant and sincere missive, allow me to think out loud. I too am angry. How many times are we going to pay the price only to find out we have to pay it again, only steeper? I don’t know. We don’t know. “They” don’t know. This year has been extremely painful as we have said goodbye (not goodby or good-bye — stylebook page 70) to many friends, many of whom were forced to pay a much stiffer price. Simple math will not provide a solution. Weighing the difference between unemployment checks and staying the course with a 35 percent pay cut doesn’t provide much incentive either way. The only alternative left is to take unemployment while searching for another job, or bring in about the same and try one more time to breathe life into this company. I tend to side with Dave, but I’ll argue with myself right up to the moment I have to make the decision.
Rosso-wa

Haskell-bh
ii. eye’m with u: voting “yes” fer the same reasons.
Dias-nxf

Haskell-bh
You and a few others have made my day. I felt the same way as you did. Fuck the union, (excuse the French) but they do not give one good shit what happens to us as long as they continue to draw their blood from us.
I listened to keane’s (wire service union president) bull on the phone monday, and told him to go and shoot his mouth off at his new wife at his new house.
I am not going to let somebody else shoot my family at UPI. If we have to die, let’s die with a smile on our face and take the 35 percent less. 65 percent is a lot better than unemployment for the holidays. You got my yes
Schnaue-nxf (New York financial)

Unipressers
Lets keep talking to each other about this decision … good, bad, otherwise … and we’ll come to the right decision.
Eye don’t know if UPI should survive or not … my heart fights on valiantly with my head today. My head keeps insisting my heart consider …
1. if we approve, are we saving UPI? Or are we saving “something” to sell for “somebody” to make a profit and get out of a whole mess of trouble?
2. given the fact UPI’s nuked so many, many bureaus and states is there a UPI to save??? Is the damage too severe to be Undone? What exactly is UPI right now?
3. we have NO guarantees a sale is the salvation of UPI. It could just as easily spell the end.
4. are we being told the whole truth … there are so many Unanswers. Do not forget the hassle over the last contract.
I agree with rosso-graham … wholeheartedly. Nobody hates the idea of having a ROX-world more than eye. But nobody likes being played for a fool … so, if we’re going to put up our Christmas presents, our rent, our car payments, our food budget and everything else that this cut entails … lets make sure we’re going to come out of this with more than bad memories. Let’s demand more than just a casual “maybe.”
Chrs-zyduck-hx (Chicago)

All
I want UPI to survive et I am willing to bite the bullet once more. But the operative word here is “UPI”—not the bastard child it has been turned into. I think the guild should issue a statement in support of the pay cuts—with the proviso that any 9th floor denizen associated with “I” content and “journalistic overlay” (ie vanbennekom et al) immediately resign at conclusion of the vote. I refuse to have my vote interpreted as support for his-their ethical corruption. Fasbinder-hc (Los Angeles)

All
Eye’m voting yes, but tt shudnt come as a surprise to those of u who already kno how insane me et the biker babe truly are. After all, we jes got married on Halloween knoing full well wot cud be coming down the pike alongside tt 18-wheeler. So maybe it’ll mean me postponing buying tt new 8-HP stihl chainsaw; the biker babe’s got plenty of spike heels eneway. Eye aint trying to convince enebody wot to do; eye jes foloing my own star toward wotever lies ahead.
What ho!
Dias-nxf

Unipressers
You may have noticed that the message traffic the past two days on the proposed 35 percent wage cut for guild-covered employees has been decidedly in favor of a “yes” vote. While I appreciate the feelings outlined by some of my colleagues, I think the message wire is an inappropriate forum for discussing this issue. The reason is simple: those who might be in the “no” camp may feel they risk being penalized by management or criticized by their colleagues if they state their position for all to see. The message traffic, therefore, would tend to lean toward the management position. As journalists, we are all interested in fairness. I humbly suggest that as a professional courtesy such comments be kept off the message wire. This is just my opinion. I want UPI to survive as much as the next person, but ultimately this vote is a personal decision that should not be clouded by unbalanced appeals over our internal mailbox. There are other forums for debating the important arguments on both sides of this issue. Besides, we have work to do. Rgds, snyder-wa

All
Eye intend to vote no to the pay cut and eye’m doing it with economic realities in mind. Eye don’t want to “just leave” as some have suggested because eye’d like to at least have unemployment while eye look for other work. But eye do have some pride and refuse to willingly lean over and get kicked again by a management that has repeatedly lied to us. If they really intend to liquidate why did they refuse during eight hours of negotiations to compromise with the union? Eye also don’t enjoy the thought of us taking yet another bite so that yet another management team can walk off with the money in their pockets while leaving our company devastated. Eye’m particularly upset by tuesday’s mistaken (we meant to do it a week later) firing of Billy Ferguson. Do we really want to have dealings with a group of people who axe someone several months from retirement with no severance … when just one week ago he would have had something in the neighborhood of a year? Wherez our pride? Kate Gibson-upr
Haskell-bh
Kate not here. But yes they did. By puralator, then called him and said sorry, you’re not fired till next week. Guess what he told them. Rgds-mcnally-upr
Mcnally-upr
I certainly hope billy gave them an earful. Yda I msgd around my reasons for voting yes, but after hearing this and others express their opinions, I’m reconsidering my position. Rgds. Haskell-bh
Haskell-bh
I think you should. A yes vote is a vote to save infotech, not UPI. Rgds. Mcnally-upr

Unipressers
An informed decision about wages and unemployment benefits is important if you are to cast an informed vote in the upcoming election.
The first thing you might do is call your state unemployment agency and ask what your benefits would be if UPI goes under. Find out how long you would receive those benefits and if you get more for dependents.
Compare that figure with 65 percent of your current salary. Ask yourself if you would be willing to show up and work for 40 hours a week for the difference between the two or whether you would prefer to let the government subsidize your search for alternate employment. Also ask yourself what kind of atmosphere you would be working in for those 40 hours a week.
UPI has had no problem firing managers with 40 years of experience without severance pay. Is this a company that deserves your loyalty? Think about it carefully. Vote boldly, but not out of fear. Mvw-wap

All
If you need to know, and according to bankruptcy lawyer:
Chapter 7 gives a company the option to file for liquidation proceedings or can be forced into liquidation by its creditors when bills remain unpaid for more than 90 days.
Many creditors, however, are reluctant to quickly push for a chapter 7 filing with companies such as UPI which have virtually no assets except their receivables.
Under the proceedings, management surrenders total control of the company to a bankruptcy court trustee whose main task is to list assets and claims.
As usual, first in line is the IRS.
Then comes the secured creditors, which in this case could include Infotech, if the parent company, as previously said, has in fact lent money to UPI under a secured debt structure.
Follows priority creditors, mainly the employees owed any money for work already done, expenses, medical claims, benefits, vacations, etc. …
Payments to employees, however, are prorated on whatever money the trustee can collect or raise TO A MAXIMUM OF $2,000 per employee, regardless of the amount owed to any individual employee.
Chapter 7 benefits a company to the extent that it wipes out its liabilities, while the ones picking up the loss are the creditors and employees.
In the particular case of a parent company with little prospects of selling its assets for a good price, chapter 7 is a better deal, because not filing for chapter 7 would mean the company remains liable for what it owes and could also be the subject of various suits or class actions.
Clary-nxf

All
A quick prayer for our folks overseas and a quicker vote no. there are differences between excuses and reasons, and reasons for a no abound.
Anybody else see comparisons with S&L bailouts? We’ve got charges of stock fraud, embezzlement and cooked books (see Barrons) from a company tt has a higher priority than us when it comes to getting chapter 7 money. Now we’re being asked to balance books we’re not allowed to see.
Anybody else think it sounds like our money is needed but we aren’t? we’ve had no input on how this company is scaled back (wouldn’t pay cuts have made more sense than sending half our talent base out the door?) and in return for a yes vote, we get no say in how the company is run or how it is sold. We don’t get priority for repayment. We don’t get stock. We get a chance a buyer can be found, but let me ask you this — what does this company have to sell besides a name and a computer system, and how does a pay cut affect the value of those items in any way?
If there’s a buyer, sell it. If there’s no buyer, liquidate it. The pay cut does more than buy us time to look for work. It buys Infotech time to get a higher price, a price at our expense.
Eye love this old dog et thru it all it’s been a great nine years. But it’s also 584 years old in dog years, and even when you love those old hounds, sometimes you gotta put ‘em down.
my tnx to management for letting these msgs fly freely the last few days. Rgds et gud news to you.
Gl-marshall-rv

Unipressers
Not surprisingly, emotions are running high over the latest management offer to gouge employees’ paychecks. But consider one or two stubborn facts.
1. management claims there are several expressions of interest in UPI. Do you believe ‘em? I don’t. banks all across America think they’re a bum risk, and for good reason. The most likely eventuality, even WITH the pay cut, is that UPI will still be liquidated. And Unipressers will need every bit of cash they can get their hands on between now and then to carry us and our families through the job search.
2. there IS a rumored offer of $10 million for the UPI name alone, which may or may not be true, but which could mean discarding all of us. If something like that happens in a situation other than Chapter 7, we would want our severance at its CURRENT level, not at 65 percent. Even in the event of Chapter 7, there are provisions in the tax law to write off compensation you should have received but didn’t. It’s another reason to keep your rate of compensation as high as possible.
3. Management says the pay cut would last only 90 days. Ridiculous. If by some miracle someone actually does buy UPI, do you REALLY think they’re going to immediately boost salaries by 35 percent?
4. The emotional issues of two-agency journalism (you know; the old “we’re-needed-to-keep-ROX-honest”) and the survival of what once was a great journalistic institution (yeah, us) were decided some time ago. The publishers and broadcasters who left us in droves stated quite clearly that our services are NOT needed; and the idea that the kind of coverage to which we’ve been reduced would cause the slightest concern to the AP is laughable.
5. Finally, let’s be realistic. UPI is not a shrine. It’s a business. We’re supposed to work here, not worship here. We are dedicated professionals who have spent years being the targets of gross personal and professional insults by our employers, who have grown weary of the constant battle to maintain life support systems that are continuously ripped away by UPI’s callous and inept owners. Enough is enough. Vote against the pay cut.
Small-waradio

Unipressers
I’m not sure I want to get involved in all this hand-wringing over the upcoming vote, but I do believe your vote should be informed. Bill Small’s note about tax benefits could be misleading. According to a tax expert — Wally Head, the chief of tax practice at Arthur Anderson and co. — there’s no way to deduct severance pay you didn’t receive from income you did receive. The provisions are for deductions of legitimate expenses uncompensated as a result of bankruptcy, and in some cases for compensation packages funded in part by the beneficiary. The provisions also would apply if a severance settlement was declared as a lump sum for tax purposes and for some reason paid out over time — and the full payment was not made. But he could think of no circumstances where those provisions would apply in our case.
Also, the note related, you should remember that unemployment benefits are taxable. There will be no withholding, but the payments must be declared as income and are taxed as ordinary income. I forgot to ask about social security taxes but will presume that it wouldn’t apply, as we’ve probably already paid in more than enuf to cover what our income would be if we folded and lived out the rest of the year on unemployment. In fact, I suspect there mite be some tax credit for overpayment of social security but can’t be sure. Cheers. Lesar-hxf

All
To those of you who want to reject the pay cut (and I count myself), there may be an alternative. From what we’ve been able to determine in BH, staffers in Massachusetts are free to quit and still collect unemployment, even if the pay cut is accepted voluntarily, because the loss of 35 percent of your pay is considered a major change in your working conditions. I suspect the rule is the same in many of the states where we still have bureaus.
In such states, that would allow staffers who have had it with UPI and its empty promises the freedom to accept the pay cut, or at least abstain from voting, and then leave and start looking full-time for another job if they so wish.
It would also allow the people who need to stay on for financial reasons, at least for a while, to do so.
I understand everyone’s anger and disgust with the company, but personally I find it hard to vote to shut UPI down immediately — if indeed that is what a rejection would do — when there are so many who desperately need to hang on for a few more months in hopes of finding another job.
Especially when there may be an alternative in your state. At least, I think it’s worth checking into.
In the end, I guess I would only urge that we vote in our own financial interests and those of our colleagues, and not allow our rightful rage at the Bozos who got UPI into this mess to lead us into doing something which might only cause more harm to ourselves or those we’ve worked with for so many years. I realize it’s a no-win situation, but I’d be interested in hearing what people think. Best regards to all
Reed-bh

Graham-upr
Eye endorse ur point one. They put it into effect et eye’ll vote for tt sucker. It wasn’t my writing tt got us into trouble, it was their management. A 35 percent pay cut from $10 leaves them with $6.50. a 35 percent pay cut from $1 leaves us with 65 cents. Tt’s the difference between belt tightening and real hardship. If there are people with contracts who are not not taking the cuts, their names should be on the msg wire so we will kno who they are. If u haven’t spoken to the guild about this, do so. Have them open talks immediately. After all, u have come up with a way to convince the most skeptical of us tt mgt mite be willing to share the pain. Tnx for thinking of it. Rgds-sab-miller-sxr

All
Voting to save UPI at the expense of our paychecks is not a realistic proposition. Those of you who have been around UPI for a long time should know that it already has ceased to exist. Ask yourself if you still feel like you are providing clients with what they need. Are you proud of the compromises you are forced to make daily? It is a real tragedy to have owners who try to lay the fate of a once-great company on the desks of those who have kept it going all these difficult years. UPI still exists only because its owners want to make one more withdrawal from the company bank by trying to dump UPI off on some other owner. Haven’t we had enough? UPI already is lost. It has been ruined by years of mismanagement and gouging. Let’s preserve our dignity and self respect by not allowing ourselves to be raped again by this set of owners, and the next if there are to be more.
Voting for these pay cuts may gain you a few more weeks of pay, or it may get you many more months of misery. In the meantime, it will be more and more embarrassing for UPI and the memory of what it once was. Follow the example of howard beal and say “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.”
Rgds. Mcnally-upr

Sab-miller-sxr
ii. if the jerks who ran this place (past tense) into the ground don’t have the guts (read any other body part u want) to join the rest of us in the fireboat drill then to $?&_/** with them. Keep the faith. Keep in touch. Ur great.
$$$$

All
I recommend a vote to keep our “one-lung” news agency breathing for a few more months. I’d hate to be on the breadline at Christmas time. Let’s wait till valentine’s day to take the bullet! Delgiudice-wa

Unipressers
As I look at all these messages encouraging us to accept the 35 percent pay cut, I can only say that I have never seen so much affirmation of p.t. barnum’s wisdom in my life. When the horse dies, get off. Chrs et fond rgds. Schweers-ta (Tallahassee)

Unipressers
Now is the time to face reality and say no to the current salary proposal
Earl Brian and his management team hve bled this company for far too long and now we are being asked to finance his economic errors with our paychecks and our reputation.
All of us deserve better than this! Are times tough out there? You bet they are, but unemployment checks are better than nothing. In WA unemployment is worth close to $300 a week. New top scale would be about $400. is it worth it to labor in a company where morale will never be lower — if that’s possible — for not much more than $100 a week? I think not.
The old UPI died years ago — all that remains is people with talent and a management team that has no idea what a wire service is. They have squandered opportunities and make us a classic case study for the Harvard business school in how to mismanage an organization. Hold your heads up high and in words of Nancy Reagan, “just say no!”
Von wehrden-wap

All (who are left)
Eye’d like to add my two cents worth in support of a “yes” vote — not to take UPI on life support, but to keep those with no immediate job prospects warm a little longer this winter. Even if eye had a new job paying zillions a year all lined up (which eye don’t) eye could not press the button on my colleagues. the guild can’t endorse a 35 percent cut because it is a collective bargaining organization — and probably because it happens to be in contract negotiations with rox. Sure, there’s a slim chance UPI may survive; it has overcome some pretty incredible odds in the past. With all the recent layoffs, eye suppose the veterans who have helped keep this concern breathing will make the choice. But it makes absolutely no sense to sign the death warrant now. For those hell bent on voting ”no,” vote another way — leave.
Zverina-ducars (Detroit auto writer)

Allpoints
The following is not meant to interfere with anyone’s right to vote his/her will, or anger, or conscience in the upcoming guild ballot on whether to toss the wire another lifesaving line or the baby out with the bathwater. (there’s much anger on the message wires these days about the pickle we’re in — again — and I share it) no, this is meant only as a reminder to stateside staff from one on the international wires that: outside the continental united states there are score upon score of full-time staff — editors, correspondents, computer technicians, etc. — and score on score more stringers. They cannot vote. Outside the states, they’re outside the guild. How they would vote if they could, I cannot say. But from those who have talked with me on the matter, I get the impression they would vote for life support if they could (eye blv their pay already has been cut by 35 percent, without any vote, thank you very much). Some have phoned the I-slot. Others have messaged. One signed off tonight: “chinupkeepingly.” They show lots of pluck out there, and I thought all of us back here in the U.S. ought not forget them, whatever our feeling about the proposed cuts, about the wire. That’s all. Thnx et rgds. Miller-wai (Washington international)

Nov. 9, 1990
Unipressers:
i believe there are compelling reasons to reject the latest scheme by yet another UPI management – a 35 percent pay cut that will apply to most of us, but not to some of the senior managers who are its champions. the decision, to be sure, is very personal, as it should be, but i believe a reasoned, careful examination of the facts argues strongly for a "no" vote. there are at least five key reasons to vote "no."
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fairness
not everyone will take the 35 percent cut if it is approved. some senior UPI managers have been shifted off UPI's books, sparing them the pay cut. one of them reportedly includes anne kott, the labor relations aide who helped engineer many of our highly regressive contract provisions -- including only 10 days of sick leave a year, not a penny contributed to the union pension fund since 1987 and drastically reduced severance pay.
some foreign personnel also will not suffer the pay cuts, for legitimate legal reasons.
during a staff meeting in washington last week, pieter vanbennekom conceded there would be "some exceptions." what exceptions? well, he didn't say. just who is taking this pay cut anyway? and what are their salaries and job responsibilities?
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accountability
this pay cut proposal is being sold by the same failed, discredited senior management that has disembowled UPI, throwing hundreds of our colleagues out of work and closing bureaus in some 35 states. UPI is essentially unsaleable because of what they have done. this senior management has lurched from one bad idea to another, always claiming there was "a plan." in fact, the senior management has never produced a single consistent, cogent, sensible idea -- much less "a plan."
now, in an effort to save their own highly paid jobs, members of this senior management have spent a great deal of time, and UPI's money, trying to sell this pay cut. approval would certainly position them as "heroes" in the eyes of a new buyer. that may be fine for them, but should we use a significant portion or our pay checks to save the jobs of a failed management?
the guild has not even been allowed to see UPI's books. employees have no way of knowing the salaries of top executives -- or even if those salaries were quickly inflated in anticipation of the pay cut campaign.
i have also been disturbed by heavy-handed management lobbying for this scheme. i believe those managers, and UPI, may have federal legal problems because of how far they have gone, using UPI money, by interjecting themselves into a union vote. i anticipate exploring that issue in the near future with the appropriate federal agency.
i also believe this pay cut is a clever attempt to absolve the parent company, Infotechnology, of severance and other contingent liabilities related to a shutdown.
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pragmatism
i believe the only "buyers" for UPI are a few fringe "cherry-pickers" who want UPI's name and, perhaps, a few isolated assets. those assets do not include UPI's employees, in my opinion. at any rate, management's refusal to identify any "buyers" to employees or the union -- or to involve us in the process -- raises serious suspicions.
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something for nothing
the idea of a 25 percent pay cut in 1984 made sense. there was an organization to save and sell, not to mention almost 900 union jobs. the company has since been eviscerated. the 1984 wage-cut deal also contained legally binding incremental salary increases, in 5 percent segments, that culminated with a 5 percent pay increase.
employees got 6.5 percent of the stock of the parent corporation -- although management reneged and the stock was never turned over to unipressers. the union also got a significant package of concessions from the company that enabled it to ultimately become the most powerful part in federal court during the subsequent bankruptcy in 1985.
this time, the company offers nothing to employees in return for the pay cut. not a single guarantee or sign of good faith. UPI management even refused to allow employees on the board of directors to monitor the fairness and adequacy of attempts to find a buyer. why?
why does the senior management of this company want to wring more money out of the employees, without even a minimal stock guarantee in exchange? the stock would undoubtedly be worthless, but such a move would show a glimmer of good faith.
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deal only with a buyer
it is utter folly to give a 35 percent pay cut to a management on its way out. if a deal is to be made, it should be negotiated with a buyer, if there is one. otherwise, a new buyer will regard a 35 percent pay cut as a given -- and then demand more concessions.
why make two deals instead of one? why cut down your negotiating base? are you willing to take a 45 percent pay cut? a 50 percent pay cut? give up all vacation or severance pay?
regardless of your view, such decisions should be made on an informed basis. we all should know who the buyer is, what he has in store for UPI, and for us, and then make a decision based on those facts. we certainly should know, also, where all UPI's money went -- something reportedly being examined by the securities and exchange commission and at least one u.s. attorney.
a pay cut also is premature. because any sale of UPI is contingent on a new audit, we could take a pay cut and then find out the company cannot be sold under any circumstances.
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ultimately, you must make your own decision. there have been many eloquent messages on the wire on both sides. many of you have talked it over with your loved ones and will take that into account.
it is a personal choice and i urge you to consider my viewpoint carefully.
i have invested 20 years of my life in UPI -- 10 of them as secretary-treasurer of the guild -- although i eventually quit in disgust, warning publicly about many of the things that have since transpired with almost frightening accuracy.
i suggest that a vote for this pay cut is a new march down a never-ending trail -- that is, concessions inevitably beget more concessions and it will never end until there is nothing left in salaries or benefits.
sincerely, dan carmichael, washington
11-09-90

The Guild members voted by 62 percent to accept the pay cut. According to the Wire Service Guild, the pay cut reduced top-scale weekly salary from $690 to $448 ($17.25 to $11.20 per hour). First-year journalists' pay was cut from $360 to $234 a week ($9 to $5.85 per hour).

Dan Carmichael left the company shortly thereafter and shortly after that, he left his colleagues.