Gannett, furloughs and a $177,000 error. What happened when the @azrepublicguild bargaining team sought the company's calculations on payroll reductions. They said "trust us." We decided to verify instead. Good thing.

Since Gannett announced it was going to resort to furloughs we asked the company for transparency in how it decided each employee needed to forgo three weeks of pay over the next three months.

On Thursday, the team pressed that point, only to be told we were not entitled to the information. We were berated for not assessing the economics by looking at our own newspaper, as if we could calculate ad and subscription revenue out of thin air.

The company did reveal the amount of savings Gannett wanted to achieve: $115,000. The company repeated that number numerous times and affirmed it again on Friday: $115,500 in salary reductions over three months.

When we asked how the company decided on the number, we were told only that it was what the company thought was "fair." We were told to trust and not verify. Instead, we checked the math.

Turns out Gannett is either bad at simple arithmetic, disingenuous, or both.

Our calculations show the company underestimated the amount it plans to take from our paychecks by about 150 percent. The actual amount we will lose from three weeks of furloughs is nearly $300,000.

When Guild representative Darryl Sclater presented this fact at the bargaining table on Friday, the company took a two-hour break to discuss privately, only to admit they had made an error.

Put another way: Gannett seems to have picked an arbitrary amount of furloughs. The company’s original estimate would equal about 6 days out of work over three months for each employee. We believe the company should adhere to that.

Furthermore, Gannett’s overall furlough proposal leaves much to be desired. The company refused to guarantee that employees would be reimbursed if they were recalled from furlough in an emergency and thus were unable to collect unemployment.

The company refused to guarantee no layoffs or additional furloughs or pay cuts during the second quarter. The company refused to allow PTO to roll over to next year if we are unable to take our full vacation time by the end of 2020. The list goes on.

Friday's episode shows that our insistence on verification was well-founded. But as journalists, you already knew that.

We told Gannett we could not reach an agreement without full financial transparency, which is the company’s legal obligation, and a fairer approach to furloughs. We are happy to discuss further when the company provides both.

Gannett said it will move forward as planned next week, even though the company will put itself in legal peril. You should work with your manager to take furlough as scheduled.

We are not giving up. We can achieve transparency and fairer furloughs. But it will take all of us.

United, Arizona Republic Guild Bargaining Team:
Robert Anglen, John D’Anna, Rachel Leingang, Lorraine Longhi, Richard Ruelas, Rebekah Sanders, Shelby Slade and Alden Woods