St. Louis Post-Dispatch Slammed for Terminating Retiree Health Care

St. Louis Post-Dispatch retirees and workers protest management move that eliminates employer contribution to retiree health care.

Active and retired St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper employees, members of the St. Louis Newspaper Guild/CWA Local 36047, are protesting the company's action to eliminate its contributions to retiree health care.

That means a bleak holiday for about 100 retired workers, plus dozens of management employees, who will be on the hook for as much as $1,200 a month as of Jan. 1, if they want to continue their health care coverage.  

Lee Enterprises, the newspaper's owner, encouraged many workers to retire before they were Medicare eligible by promising to continue support for retiree health benefits for life. But many retired workers just won't be able to afford health care, the local said.

Retirees and workers marched outside the newspaper's St. Louis office this week to focus public attention on management's action. "Lee wants to increase its profits on the backs of the sick and elderly," said Shannon Duffy, the locals' business administrator. "The greed and venality of this profitable corporation know no bounds," he said.

Meanwhile, Lee Enterprises' executives continue to rake in cash. CEO Mary Junck received compensation worth $2.5 million in 2008, and CFO Carl Schmidt got $1.2 million.

"For executives to enrich themselves while cutting health care for the elderly is morally repugnant," said Duffy. Lee owns 53 newspapers around the nation and reported a profit of $1.75 million in the third quarter. The Post-Dispatch also made a profit. The Guild already is suing the company for reneging on a contractual agreement to cover the full cost of retiree health care.