NewsGuild and our New York local are calling on the NYPD to fully investigate the circumstances, and publicly release the findings, of the Aug. 4 arrest of freelance photographer Robert Stolarik, who was photographing police breaking up a street fight in the Bronx. Stolarik charges that police assaulted him and took his camera equipment.
After 18 months of negotiating a unified print and digital contract, the NY Guild on Monday reiterated its desire to continue on that track. But when the union asked if the company would join in that effort, Times' lead lawyer, Bernard Plum, said that even though management also wants one contract, he has to be prepared to proceed on dual tracks. What’s not being said, the Guild reports, "is that The Times wants to be able to go to impasse, which would allow it to impose its 'last, best offer' on Guild members, which would certainly would lead to a pension freeze, financial trouble for the health care plan and drastic changes to work rules."
The Pacific Media Workers Guild has selected 10 students to receive scholarships thanks to the generosity of retired Guild members who donated to the fund. The scholarships range from $500 to $100. Recipients were selected based on their academic records, service to school and community, and financial needs.
A meeting to discuss outsourcing at Standard & Poor's was scheduled for Monday, but S&P is refusing to make a meeting room available, even though the Guild booked it much earlier. The NY Guild explains the back-and-forth, including information about Guild members who are being asked to train their replacements -- in India. The Guild is attempting to negotiate the terms for such training, but right now the company won't even agree that is, in fact, training. A company manager told the Guild it's a "knowledge transfer." Photo: S&P members protest outsourcing.
With an ice-cream truck visit set up by Albany Guild leaders this week, members showed they can be in 'Good Humor' even when they're getting "the scoop" about the latest in their five-year battle for raises at the Times Union.
With their strike against MBS radio entering its sixth week, Canadian Media Guild members -- known as the Saint John 7 -- are building public support through Radio Free Saint John, a web-based station providing local coverage. "The Saint John 7 are in inspiration to CMG members across the country," union leaders say. The Guild and the local labor community are urging advertisers to suspend business with the three struck stations, where employees have gone 12 years without an across-the-board wage increase despite solid profits for the Halifax-based company. Follow strike news at cmg.ca. Photo: Two of the Saint John 7 are joined on the picket line by CWA/SCA Canada Director Martin O'Hanlon, middle.
The vote was unanimous: After a quarter-century, members of the Dayton Newspaper Guild have a contract, breaking one of the longest labor standoffs in the nation's history.
Leaders from the California Federation of Interpreters, part of the Pacific Media Guild, appeared at a state Judicial Council meeting Friday to fight a proposal to shift $6.5 million of interpreter funds to cover other court costs. The council deferred action. Photo: CFI Steward Mary Lou Aranguren, President Michael Ferreira, Representative Brandon Scovill and Legislative Advocate Ignacio Hernandez outside the meeting.
Guild members at Thomson Reuters are being both overpaid and underpaid in a payroll screw-up -- the apparent result of outsourcing payroll functions. "Be aware that TR has gone the cheapo route, paying forl what is described as a 'low level of service,'" the New York Guild tells members in a memo about the problems, and what they should do when contacted by human resources.
A tribute to the late Gil Bailey, a Mercury News reporter and guild activist whose reporting in the late 1960s helped save the San Francisco Bay from environmental devastation. In July, friends and family sprinkled his ashes at the Bay's National Wildlife Refuge. As for his activism on behalf of Guild members, he once said, "I helped negotiate six contracts without a strike. Only one of them was a mistake. We should have struck."
