WASHINGTON – A Guild Committee on Jan. 27 negotiated a significantly improved buyout or “separation incentive package” for seven Guild-covered Washington Post employees on the commercial side.
The committee included: Ann Marie Ditchey, Darlene Meyer, Barbara Cohen, Stephen Richardson and Rick Ehrmann.
The Post originally notified the employees that their jobs were being eliminated and they would be laid off by the end of February. Subsequently, the company offered a buyout package. The Guild Committee succeeded in getting the company to sweeten the offer.
Rick Ehrmann, a Guild rep for the Washington Post and committee member, said employees now have a choice.
“If they don’t accept the buyout they will get laid off and be entitled to recall rights for up to two years,” he said. Under the contract, they will be entitled to severance pay, which is two weeks for every year of service.
Those who opt for the buyout will be entitled not only to severance pay, but a lump sum of $3,000 to $15,000, depending on years of service; Post-paid COBRA health benefits of 6 to 12 months and transitional counseling, Ehrmann said.
The employees have until March 16 to apply for the buyout package.
Ehrmann said the Post has never laid off an employee before.

Filed under: Guild News