REGRETTABLY, The Blade today finds itself in a labor dispute with the people who traditionally have mattered most to the company: our employees and their families.
We wish it were not so. We wish that it had not become necessary to utilize a management prerogative with an unfortunate sounding name - a lockout. So we believe it is instructive to explain for our readers, and indeed, for our own workers, why we are at this point.
The simple truth is that The Blade is bleeding financially and cannot continue to operate indefinitely under such circumstances. The company would not be proposing wage reductions and other concessions if our economic situation were not so severe. Our unions, in fact, do not dispute that our financial condition is dire. One of them, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, has already accepted a new contract.
Part of the problem is human nature. When economic times are good, it could be argued that management has little incentive to settle, because costs will only go up when they do. Conversely, when times are bad, unions have no real motivation to accept a new contract that will reduce wages because delay means they can keep getting paid at their old levels.
That is where we find ourselves, and it is why we have initiated a lockout of some of our employees. The company considers a lockout to be the management equivalent of a strike by labor, and we believe it to be a legitimate tool in collective bargaining.
Here's a fact: Blade employees are paid extremely well. Over the years our labor contracts have provided our employees with outstanding pay and fringe benefits, and many have spent their entire careers here as a result. But though these contracts procured labor peace, they kept our profit margins relatively small.Eventually, when the economy - and our industry - changed, the profit margin evaporated.
Even with the concessions the company seeks, we believe our workers will still be amply compensated.
Like most of our readers and hopefully all of our employees, we want this unfortunate situation to be resolved soon. It is not in The Blade's best interests, nor is it in the best interests of our workers or this community, to perpetuate the unsustainable.
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