The United Media Guild has filed a "petition to represent" newsroom employees at the State Journal Register in Springfield, Ill., a Gatehouse Media newspaper. A Sept. 4 hearing is set at the NLRB office in Peoria to determine how many of the 35 non-mangerial employees would be part of the bargaining unit. 

A meeting about outsourcing at Standard & Poor's, which was was canceled earlier this month when the company refused to allow the New York Guild to use a room commonly used for union-management meetings, is back on the schedule for Aug. 31. The Guild says management's "about face" was likely the result of the union's grievance and ULP filed with regard to the room's use. In other S&P news, the Guild has signed an inclement weather agreement with the company that returns vacation and personal days that workers lost when the city was crippled by blizzards in December 2010 and January 2011.

First on the scene of an accident, Associated Press photographer and Guild member Gerald Herbert, rushed to help, finding a woman in a burning car screaming for help. He tried to get her out, and flagged down other motorists; nearly 20 stopped. When the rescue of the woman and her sister were certain, only then then Herbert begin taking the magnificent pictures the NBC Nightly News uses liberally in its report.

Bargaining began last week in Hilo, Hawaii, for a new Guild contract at the Tribune-Herald, with the union presenting  a three-year proposal that seeks annual pay raises, better sick leave and mileage reimbursement and other improvements. The company is offering a one-year proposal with no pay hikes and rollbacks in seniority, medical insurance and job security. On Friday, Guild members handed out flyers at a political rally in a city park with the message, "We have a long and sometimes difficult history with our management, but now we hope to begin a new relationship based on mutual respect and problem-solving."