Pursuant to a Voluntary Compliance Agreement signed on March 27, 2023, the GCC-IBT Local 406C will conduct a new election and installation for the office of President under the Secretary of Labor’s supervision in July 2023. The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) of the U.S. Department of Labor is responsible for assuring the election is conducted in accordance with Title IV of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA). Under the OLMS General Rules of the supervised rerun election for Local 406 president, incumbent President Mike LaSpina and challenger Mr. Ted Phillips can email members through the Local 406 website.

Greetings, Local 406 members:

            My challenger has put out another letter that I feel I have to rebut so you have accurate information.
            The note rightly praised the contract recently signed by the New York Times and its employees represented by the News Guild as “model contract negotiations” while dismissing the work and product of our negotiations team as “mediocrity.” While I applaud the Guild for its efforts, it is unfortunate that their hard-won gains came at a significant price in legal fees and time. But comparing the contract Local 406 reached with Newsday last year with the new NY Times contract reached this year is like comparing apples to oranges for a number of reasons. The NY Times contract took more than two years of very contentious talks and was extremely expensive to the Guild, which has millions of dollars in assets. The Guild was fighting one of the richest and most powerful media companies in the world. So, we would expect their contracts to be more generous since the employer has more money to spare and it is compensating workers at a much more prominent and profitable media company. 

            For comparison, check out these numbers:

The NY Times has a paid worldwide circulation of 750,000 print subscribers
Newsday has a Long Island subscriber base of 85,000 daily and 105,000 on Sunday

The NY Times has 8.9 million digital subscribers
Newsday has 56,000 online subscribers

The Guild’s membership at the NY Times is 1,500.
Local 406’s membership is 148.

The Guild has a staff of many full-time employees, several of whom the union pays over $100,000 a year
Local 406 has three people on salary whose combined annual earning is less than $90,000 a year,
            So, I speak up on behalf of the team of experienced and dedicated negotiators who produced the contract we have now. Newsday employees still enjoy some of the top salaries and benefits packages in this industry. That is because we have a tried-and-true process that has worked for us for many decades. 

In Solidarity

Mike LaSpina 

CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT