A tipster forwarded us an e-mail that Time Inc. freelancers got this week from JPMorgan, which administers the company's invoicing. Under the cheery subject heading "Time Inc - Accelerate payments at year end!", it outlined the company's PayMeNow program, whereby you can speed up payment of your invoice for a fee, kind of like when you get a payday loan at the check cashing place down on the corner so you can afford to buy lottery tickets for the week. Here's how it works, according to the JPMorgan web site that handles the program:

Pay Me Now

Pay me now allows you to accelerate payments on approved invoices in exchange for a nominal discount. Click the Pay Me Now button next to an invoice to see a prompt with a confirmation page that presents you with an analysis of the early payment opportunity. Included in the analysis is the earliest possible payment date and the associated discount amount.

If you choose to actually get all the money Time Inc. owes you, our tipster says, you usually get it within a month. But if you want it faster, here is the payment schedule—on the left are the number of days you have to wait to get paid, on the right is the portion Time Warner will skim off the top for the service.

• 25 days - 0.5 percent
• 20 - 1 percent
• 15 - 1.5 percent
• 10 - 2 percent
• 5 - 3 percent
• 3 - 4 percent

No word yet on whether the payments are in dollars or "Time Incgots" redeemable at your nearest company store.

Given how desperate freelancers are to be PAID NOW, largely because companies like Time Inc. never pay them on time, this is a pretty genius idea. In fact, if you take it to its logical conclusion, Time could just pay its freelances nothing instantly, thereby significantly reducing its content costs.

Here's the full e-mail urging Time Warner's freelancers to take advantage of this amazing offer!

Happy Holidays!

If you are receiving this email, you are the JPMorgan Xign administrator and you, or someone from your organization, is submitting electronic invoices or receiving electronic payments via the JPMorgan Xign solution on behalf of Time Inc. I apologize for the blind distribution but I wanted to protect everyone's privacy while sharing this important information.

As year end approaches I wanted to ensure that you were aware of the PayMeNow functionality, which allows you to _accelerate payment for invoices that have already been approved_ by TIME. This is an excellent tool to help with your cash management at year end! This does not change your payment term on future invoices, it simply accelerates the payment on the ones you specifically request.

* If you are receiving this email, it means you have approved invoices that are pending payment and can be accelerated for payment this week or any day before year end. *

* *

This is a purely optional service that is available to you by following these easy steps:

1) Log into your JPMorgan Xign account at xign.net.

2) Look for the green $$ and click the link.

3) This will display all available invoices

4) Either select the fastest date to be paid, or select "Lower rates" to schedule payment later in the month, but still before your year end.

Thanks very much and please let me know if you have additional questions related to cash acceleration. For all other inquires, please contact our Support Team at 800 485 XXXX.

Sincerely,

Linda Piazza

JPMorgan

Vice President, Relationship Management

[Photo via Flickr by Taber Andrew Bain.]

When it's in the NYT Style section, you know it's true: Wall Streeters are flocking back to working with their hands! Inspired by Shop Class as Soulcraft—a book written by a man with a Ph.D, health care from his wife, and a career in academia to fall back on should he ever get tired of repairing motorcycles (which, by the way, is pretty far towards the "awesome" end of the spectrum of hands-on labor, assuming you like motorcycles)—as well as by Deadliest Catch and shit like that, allegedly, former bankers are flocking to uber-satisfying world of backbreaking manual labor. You people are obviously doing it wrong:

"I am having fun and learning again," [a banker-turned-floor refinisher] said. "Floors are living, breathing things. They expand when it gets humid, and they contract when it gets dry, and every floor is different."

See, a cool and romantic blue collar job would be something more along the lines of "longshoreman" or "race care engine rebuilder" or "flamethrower tester." Don't fuck up the fantasy, guys.

It's not entirely surprising that Jobs wanted to strip his employees of their right to seek market wages; for all his talk of disruptive nonconformity, he has a notoriously nasty and authoritarian management style. And he reportedly had a similar "no poaching" deal in place with Google. What is eye-opening about Bloomberg's report is the frank manner in which then-Palm CEO Ed Colligan pushed back:

"Your proposal that we agree that neither company will hire the other's employees, regardless of the individual's desires, is not only wrong, it is likely illegal," Colligan said to Jobs, 54, according to the communications.

Palm had just hired iPod executive Jon Rubinstein away from Apple and surely knew it would soon embark on an epic Apple hiring spree; Rubinstein's blunt response was no doubt intended to be part of a library of evidence of Apple's behavior, should one ever be needed. But Jobs was not cowed. According to Bloomberg, he stated that "Apple had patents and more money than Palm if the companies ended up in a legal fight."

Who leaked these "communications" — emails, presumably — to Bloomberg? The obvious bet is Palm, which has been engaged in a back-and-forth war with Apple to allow its Palm Pre mobile device, which competes with Apple's iPhone, to sync with Apple's iTunes software. Apple's attempts to stop such syncing have been the object of deserved ridicule online, and Jobs' threatening message to Palm might have been leaked to drum up further outrage and put more pressure on Apple to open its platform .

There's also a chance someone involved with the Justice Department's ongoing investigation into Silicon Valley hiring is the source of the leak. That probe involves not only Apple but Google and Yahoo, as well, according to a Washington Post report.

Whatever the source of the information, the bottom line for Apple is that it faces a mounting perception that it is a bully, between this, the Palm Pre issue and the two federal investigations into ties between Google and Apple, to say nothing of its exclusionary policies concerning the iPhone app store. That's not going to dent, say, iPhone sales anytime soon. But it's going to hurt Apple's ability to pose as the Valley's corporate iconoclast, which will have a real, if intangible, effect on the company long-term.

[via Business Insider]

In the past year and a half, we've heard from many former 5WPR employees complaining about how Ronn and his agency treat their employees—sample complaints here, and also here, for example. Complaints we've heard include not paying correctly for overtime, wanton firings, and, of course, Ronn's penchant for screaming at and/or suing his current and former employees. (Not to mention the things 5W does in the normal course of business). So it's not altogether surprising that the Labor department might take notice eventually. We've contacted Ronn and the state Labor department, and we'll let you know if and when we hear from them.

In the meantime, we've gotten a steady enough stream of tips to paint this basic picture: Labor dept. auditors arrive at 5W's office yesterday. Ronn allegedly tries to slip away quietly; then, gets angry—so angry that police have to come to the office to make sure the Labor dept. officials can do their job. This is the most complete account, written by a witness and passed on to us:

Someone from dept of labor showed up yesterday and asked to speak with Ronn.

The receptionist said Ronn wasn't available; then Ronn proceeded to the front,
pretending he was someone else. He started speaking with them and then he asked
them to leave. When they said refused, he started yelling at them and looked
like he was going to start fighting them. Then the cop showed up and escorting
the DOL people into Ronn's office.

Then the new receptionist sent an email "The Department of Labor is doing a random
audit on 5W. If you are asked to sit with one of them please do not be alarmed
and please cooperate."

And they randomly selected people to interview about working at 5W.

That's pretty much all of it.

HEH. Another tipster tells us that a friend who works at 5W put this up as their Gchat status:

"Should I be concerned if BOTH cops AND Department of Labor is in our office right now and our CEO pretended NOT to be the CEO?"

We would say yes but of course we are not public relations experts! And the worst part of all, we hear: "They didn't even get the day off."

UPDATE: A spokesperson for the Labor department confirms the visit and says it was generated by a tip about a workplace violation. "We did go there yesterday, we are investigating, and we encourage all workers in any part of the city or state to come forward if they think they're rights are being violated," she said. She had no further info about what, if anything, they've found.

[Know more? Email us. We'll update as necessary.]

That's probably why ABC News last year agreed to pay wages for BlackBerry time during big breaking news events. But fights involving smartphones and wages are growing, the Wall Street Journal reports, as the devices spread. At least, they are among companies that can afford highfalutin' text-based mobile communication, during a recession. Not all can!

[via Business Insider]

(Pic: Eric Havir)

The deal as it stands would force 670 Globe employees to accept an 8% decrease in pay, as well as reductions in benefits, which would save the paper an estimated $10 million annually in operating costs. More details of the agreement will be disclosed to guild members at a meeting scheduled for later today, and a member vote on the proposal is scheduled for July 20th.

Perhaps most importantly for all parties involved, the agreement helps the Times clear one of the biggest hurdles in their effort to find a sucker to take the Globe off of their balance sheet.

Several potential investors are considering whether to submit bids separately or as a team. The company bought the paper in 1993 from the Taylor family for $1.1 billion, and it was highly profitable for several years, but it has become the biggest drain on the company's finances.

In a deeply troubled industry, The Globe has suffered more than most from the steep declines in newspaper advertising and circulation.

People briefed on the thinking of potential buyers said that winning union concessions, particularly the elimination of job guarantees, would significantly improve the chances of a sale.

There's a lot of time between now and July 20th, and if any collection of saps can figure out a new and innovative way to screw themselves over, it's the employees of the Boston Globe.

So today union leaders filed a complaint with federal regulators challenging the unilateral pay cut and called on the Times and the Globe to resume negotiations to avoid having it instituted. Union members, many of them apparently believing going into Monday's vote that the Times was bluffing with their threats of a 23% cut if the proposal wasn't ratified, were delivered the bad news at a union meeting on Tuesday night.

Union members tried to absorb the prospect of a steep drop in salary, and many of them emerged from a guild meeting Tuesday night resigned to the idea that it would happen, at least for a while, until their case is heard by the National Labor Relations Board. Many guild members had said before the vote that the company was bluffing about the pay cut, or that the union could stop it from taking effect.

"People went into the meeting hoping to hear there was a way to stop the cut from going into effect, and we came out pretty doubtful," Maria Cramer, a reporter, said.

As pointed out yesterday by our Hamilton Nolan, the Globe's union members seemed to have royally screwed themselves by rejecting the Times' proposal, leaving them with little more now than a) having to swallow having a quarter of their pay taken away from them, or b) handcuffing Times' management with extensive legal proceedings which would force them to close the paper altogether, putting them all out of work.

According to the Times, the mood at Tuesday night's meeting was bleak.

Guild members' reactions were subdued, and many of them said the mood was more of fear and anxiety than anger.

Any feelings of "fear and anxiety" in Boston on a night when the Red Sox shut out the Yankees says quite a lot.

UPDATE: The Boston Globe is reporting tonight that the Times has hired an investment bank to solicit bids from potential Globe buyers over the next couple of weeks, a move they'd reportedly been planning long before Monday night's union vote.

Boston Globe Union Files Complaint Over Pay Cut [New York Times]
Times Co. Seeks Globe Bids [Boston Globe]

The union voted 277-265 to reject management's proposal—about a 10% pay cut, the end of "lifetime employment" guarantees and retirement contributions, and other small cutbacks. Therefore, the company plans to immediately institute 23% pay cuts.

Those in the newsroom that voted against the deal appear to be under the impression that the NYT Co. is "bluffing" when it comes to that 23% pay cut. That does not appear to be the case though!

Best case scenario, for the union: The company decides it's too much of a hassle to fight out the huge pay cuts (which will be legally challenged) and goes back to the bargaining table and offers the union a better deal. Doubtful!

Medium case scenario: Everyone's pay is cut by 23%. Pretty likely!

Worst case scenario: The union turns the pay cuts into a lengthy court battle that paralyzes management's ability to cut costs and ends up forcing the NYT Co. to close the paper altogether. Quite possible, now!

Newspaper life's a bitch these days. But it won't take too long before the Globe newsroom starts to think that the deal they just rejected doesn't sound so bad, compared to what's coming.
[Romenesko. Pic: AP]

The Justice Department is investigating whether large tech companies illegally conspired over employee poaching. It's an open secret in the Valley that tech companies have agreements not to actively recruit one another's workers; Kleiner Perkins partner Randy Komisar called these "gentlemen's understanding[s]" in the New York Times today. It appears the Justice Department may have finally decided to make an issue of the practice on antitrust grounds.

If that's the case, some of the largest tech companies are at risk. The Times quoted a former Google recruiter saying the company distributes a list of companies whose workers cannot be approached. Then there's the email:

A December 2007 e-mail message written by a Google recruiter and obtained by The New York Times suggests that the company might have had an agreement with Apple on recruiting.

Laura Sheppard, a contract recruiter at Google, sent the e-mail message to a job candidate asking him to put her in touch with another potential candidate. "It is a bit touchy since he works for Apple," Ms. Sheppard wrote, adding that Google had "a nonsolicit agreement with them."

Google declined to comment on its hiring practices or on the e-mail message, whose authenticity could not be independently verified.

There you have it: When it comes to immigration controls or the taxation of stock options, tech honchos are all about the free market. But when it comes to the sort of competition that most benefits your average Silicon Valley worker — competitive hiring — suddenly they turn into feudal lords. Is that really so "gentleman"ly?

[Times]

The Washington Post's anonymous sources said the Feds are investigating whether the firms illegally negotiated "the recruiting and hiring of one another's employees," in violation of antitrust law.

Silicon Valley companies have been known to compete fiercely for top talent, including immigrant engineers. When Google hired computer scientist and former Carnegie Mellon professor Kai-Fu Lee away from Microsoft, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was famously said to have thrown a chair across the room in anger.

The upshot of competition for immigrant workers is higher wages. Free marketeers who advocate for more H1-B worker visas, like the American Enterprise Institute, should know that better than anyone.

Logically, then, if tech companies suppressed competition for H1-B visa holders, they were retarding immigrant income growth. By treating workers like so much property, they would have inhibited the very prosperity they claim to support.

Tech companies wouldn't talk to the Post about the investigation. But they should reverse that chance as soon as they can: The Valley's image as a center of immigrant wealth and opportunity is among its strongest political assets.

(Pic via)

Lent his fist for a healthy pump in support.

From: NEWSPAPER GUILD MAILING
Date: Mon, May 4, 2009 at 8:03 PM
Subject: Guild UNION TIMES: 5% Pay Cut OK'd
To: NEWSPAPER GUILD

(Embedded image moved to file: pic00041.jpg) Union Times

Published By The Newspaper Guild of New York

For The New York Times Unit

Times Guild Unit Office – Ext. 1030, 1751

Visit the New York Guild's Website at WWW.NYGUILD.ORG

May 4, 2009

5% PAY CUT OK'D

Members approve temporary pay cut

to avert immediate threat of job cuts

Guild members at both Times units, newspaper and digital, voted
overwhelmingly on Monday to ratify a 5 percent pay cut through the end of
the year, the centerpiece of a package Guild leaders negotiated in
response to a management proposal in late March.

Times Guild members at the newspaper voted 377 to 36 (with two
abstentions) to ratify the pay cut agreement, which includes 10 additional
paid days off, while members of the Guild's digital unit ratified the
agreement by a 50-0 vote. As a result, pay rates of more than 1300
newspaper and online employees will be reduced starting Tuesday, May 5.

Times management representatives had proposed the cut, identical to the
one imposed on nonunion employees on April 1, as a way of saving up to
$4.5 million without layoffs, which they said would have numbered around
80, including 70 in the Newsroom. But they refused during negotiations to
assure employees that there would be no involuntary job cuts for the
duration of the pay cuts, which expire on Dec. 31.

"Because our members know these are extraordinarily tough times for the
news business, they were willing to pitch in to help the company cut costs
without layoffs," said New York Guild President Bill O'Meara. "But if
management comes back in a few months and cuts jobs despite the
cooperation of our members, I think they will find that the reservoir of
goodwill will have run dry."

The Guild notified Times management of the ratification vote early Monday
evening immediately after the second of two New Yorkmembership meetings of
each unit at which votes were taken. A separate vote was taken in the
Washington Bureau. Other members who are based neither in New Yorknor
Washington, or who are on out-of-town assignment were asked to call in
their votes.

"The turnout for voting was held down somewhat by bad weather and the fact
that the TimesCenterwas unavailable for our meetings this week," said
O'Meara.

Guild leaders and bargaining committee members, who reached agreement with
Times management on April 27, did not take a position either for or
against acceptance of the package.

The agreement modifies the two existing collective bargaining agreements
covering newspaper and digital employees with highlights as follows:

n From May 5 through Dec. 31, 2009, all salaries will be reduced by
5 percent from their May 4 levels. Overtime and differential pay, which
are based on salaries, will be reduced likewise.

n If there are any job cuts, severance pay will be computed on the
basis of the unreduced salary of each employee.

n Company contributions to the Guild-Times Benefits Fund, which pays
the health insurance claims of newspaper and online members, will continue
to be made on the basis of the unreduced salaries of employees.

n Each employee will receive 10 paid days off, which The Times will
treat as vacation days that can be carried forward into 2010 if not taken
in 2009. Times management has said it will make every effort to schedule
the time off this year.

n A joint Guild-management committee will be created to explore
other cost-saving opportunities and the potential use of voluntary buyouts
instead of involuntary job reductions.

Besides O'Meara, members of the Guild Bargaining Committee were:

Art Mulford (Newspaper Unit Chair)

Erik Piepenburg (Digital Unit Chair)

Grant Glickson (Times Grievance Chair)

Anne Mancuso (Newsroom)

Nancy Bachrach (Advertising)

Stephen Labaton (Washington)

Mindy Matthews (Newsroom)

Peter Szekely (Guild Secretary-Treasurer)

Anthony Napoli (Guild Local Representative)

######

5/4/09

From: NEWSPAPER GUILD MAILING
Date: Mon, May 4, 2009 at 12:01 PM
Subject: REMINDER: Guild Vote Today
To: NEWSPAPER GUILD

Union Times

Published By The Newspaper Guild of New York

For The New York Times Unit

Times Guild Unit Office – Ext. 1030, 1751

Visit the New York Guild's Website at WWW.NYGUILD.ORG

REMINDER:
May 4, 2009

Meetings to be Held Today

for Votes on 5% Pay Reduction

The Guild will hold meetings today, Monday, May 4, for members of The
Times' newspaper and online units to vote on whether to accept a 5 percent
pay cut for the remainder of 2009 as a way of averting layoffs during a
difficult financial period for the company. If approved, the pay cut will
take effect tomorrow and expire on Dec. 31.

There will be an opportunity for members to ask questions of the Guild
leaders and bargaining committee members who negotiated the terms of the
temporary pay cut and the accompanying 10 paid days off. Voting will be by
a show of hands...the same way contract settlements are voted on...(or by
phone for members who are not based in New Yorkor Washington). No proxy
voting is allowed. You must show up to vote. If you cannot stay for the
meeting, you will be able to record a vote and return to work.

SCHEDULE OF TODAY'S RATIFICATION VOTES

NEWSPAPER EMPLOYEES:

NEW YORK

WHERE - Hotel workers union benefits fund office, 305 West 44th St.Walk up
one flight of stairs to Mezzanine Level. Directions from Times: Go north
on 8th Avenue. Go left on 44th Street. It's on the northwest corner of
the intersection. (Times Center was unavailable).

WHEN –1 p.m. and 5 p.m. EDT TODAY.

WASHINGTON

WHERE/WHEN – Contact Stephen Labaton.

OTHER OFFICES OR MEMBERS AWAY ON ASSIGNMENT

WHERE/WHEN – Call 212-556-1030 with your name, work location and vote
anytime between 1 and 6 p.m. EDT TODAY.

DIGITAL EMPLOYEES

NEW YORK

WHERE – Conference Room No. 02E3-250 and 251 on the 2nd floor.

WHEN –Noon and 4 p.m. EDT TODAY.

OTHER OFFICES OR MEMBERS AWAY ON ASSIGNMENTWHERE/WHEN – Arrangements will
be made to dial into the noon and 4 p.m. EDT meetings in New York TODAY.

Maxwell is a labor activist, a "community organizer" (CACKLE CACKLE SNORT OF DERISION), and this is a sign of her union cred: both the moderate old AFL-CIO and the splinter progressive SEIU-backed factions support her! As does Human Rights Campaign, who amusingly sent Obama a letter endorsing Maxwell a week after they sent a letter endorsing Rep. Linda Sanchez for the position.

Of course, there's no indication that Obama's Labor Department will be much of a power in the Obama administration, and also Maxwell shares the shortlist with two much more famous ladies, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius (still the favorite) and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (Michigan is something of a union stronghold).

So let's not get too excited about an out lesbian getting to be in charge of the department that tells the nation how many jobs its lost each month. If it doesn't happen, you can at least be grateful that Arizona Governor and lifelong bachelorette Janet Napolitano (we're not saying! we're just saying...) will be our new Secretary of Homeland Security.

Jeff Hermanson, an assistant executive director for the Writers Guild, said the four writers — Kellie Griffin, Christopher Moore, Teri Brown-Jackson and Lamont Ferrell — had sought a union contract because they felt they were underpaid and lacked benefits. Matt Johnson, a Los Angeles lawyer representing Mr. Perry, above, said the firing of the writers was related to “the quality of their work.” The writers are planning to picket this weekend at the opening of Tyler Perry Studios, a 28-acre production complex outside Atlanta.

[NYT]

Fired from a TBS sitcom over the "quality of their work"? Come on, guy. Even an entertainment lawyer can't get that one out with a straight face.

Ms. Gatling reiterated statistics released this spring that found that five of the 16 ad agencies that signed on have not met all their minority-hiring goals in the first year of their diversity pact with the New York City Commission on Human Rights. However, the remaining agencies either met or exceeded all their 2007 goals...

The average goal was 18% for minority hiring and the average result was 25%, Ms. Gatling said.

Eleven out of sixteen means a majority! And this is certainly progress from two years ago:

During Advertising Week 2006, Mr. Seabrook had called hearings decrying minority-owned media outlets' lack of advertising, and nobody turned up. The agencies, Mr. Seabrook said at the time, "ran like chickens with their asses plucked clean."

If the ad industry can take care of this, then it can turn its attention to the gays. [Ad Age]