United Media Guild members at the St. Louis Review ratified a new five-year contract that maintains strong jurisdiction language and provides increases to the pay scales.
A Scale Senior Journalists with five years of experience got a 3 percent increase with the ratification of this contract. They will also get 3 percent increases on the first two anniversaries of the contract, pushing the top weekly minimum salary to $1,447.73.
The pay scale for reporters with less than five years of experience increased by 3 percent upon the ratification of the contract and a each of the five anniversary dates.
For instance, in the fifth contract year, a reporter in his or her first year of experience would earn at least $1,252.45 per week — up from a minimum of $1,048.91 in the previous contract.
This contract also introduced a new classification: B Scale Journalist. This eight-year experience scale features minimum salaries ranging from $800.00 to $937.33 upon ratification to a range of $927.42 to $1,086.62 in the final year of the contract.
(Negotiations between the UMG and the Review defined the distinction in duties between A Scale Senior Journalists and B Scale Journalists.)
The contract also capped health insurance premium cost share increases to 5 percent during the length of the contract.
Given the constant change in the media industry, the UMG believed it was paramount to have strong jurisdiction language. If weekly Review publication is moved to or is replaced by another publication format within the Archdiocese, the contract says “the employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement will continue to be the primary producers of the work.”
Thanks to UMG Second Vice President Joe Kenny, Review Unit Chair Lisa Johnston and Review negotiating team member Stephen Kempf for their excellent work on behalf of their fellow members.