Taking a clever approach to keeping Guild members informed, the Buffalo local is handing out a single, specifically designed playing card each week. By this time next year, members will have a full deck -- and, the hope is, a new contract. The cards were designed by graphic artist and Guild member Adam Zyglis, editorial cartoonist at The Buffalo News. The first card, the ace of spades, asked members a Guild history question, the next featured the Guild's Labor Day parade entry and the latest promoted a general membership meeting.
The Albany Guild served pizza Wednesday to day and evening staffers to reinforce how hard the union is working to see that members finally get the slice of the pie they deserve economically at the Times Union newspaper. But Guild leaders also stressed that they need members to stay determined. "We need your courage to stand up, step forward and be counted," they said.
For the first time, the Chicago Newpaper Guild editorial units that have contracts with the Chicago Sun-Times Company – the Sun Times, Pioneer Press newspapers, Joliet, Waukegan and Gary – have merged their bargaining teams into one, in an effort to create a single contract with the company. Kathy Routliffe, a board member from the Pioneer Press unit, explains how the combined team and Sun-Times management have agreed to try collaborative bargaining through the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Photo: Members of the Guild bargaining team.
For the second time recently, the new owners of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Daily News and Philly.com, have come to the Guild seeking early bargaining for the purposes of concessions. The Guild's contract is up in October 2013. Meanwhile, nine other union contracts expire this year. Guild leaders told the owners that if they're able to reach contracts with those unions, "we will have further discussions with the company at that time." Photo: The new home of the Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com.
Bernie Lunzer —
September 11, 2012— President, NewsGuild-CWA
NewsGuild-CWA President Bernie Lunzer writes that "With the Chicago teachers on strike, we’re going to be hearing a lot more about 'incentivized' compensation – you know, a merit pay system that demands that you 'earn' your raise." The problem is that those systems are inherently unfair whether you're talking about teachers or journalists. Photo by JohnOtterbacher/Flickr.
New York Guild members turned out in force, along with other CWAers, to show off their union pride in the city's Labor Day parade, held on Saturday, Sept. 8. All photos by NY Times Unit Chair Grant Glickson.
The Providence Journal has notified the Guild that it is offering a new round of buyouts, with layoffs possible if enough employees don't leave voluntarily. However, the company hasn't set a specific quote "beyond saying it needs 'significantly more' than the eight-person target of the 2011 offer,'" the local reports on its website.
The Illinois Times reports on the United Media Guild's organizing drive at the State Journal-Register. "This is all about producing quality journalism," veteran reporter Dean Olsen tells the captiol city's weekly paper.
In Buffalo, two dozen Guild members and their kids and spouses proudly marched in Monday's Labor Day parade. In St. Louis, Guild members joined with a huge CWA Local 6300 parade entry. Did your local march on Labor Day? Please send us photos to post.
In keeping with the spirit of Labor Day, the Buffalo Newspaper Guild is once again participating in its city's annual AFL-CIO Labor Day parade and picnic on Monday, Sept. 3. What is your local doing for Labor Day? Let us know, and be sure to take and send photos.
