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THE GUILD REPORTER EXTRA! ON LINEGR EXTRA! 'Old' uses 'new' media in fight to preserve local nature of newspaper Employees at The Nugget in North Bay, Ont., are using social networking and transit ads to enlist readers and advertisers in their battle to preserve the local nature of the daily newspaper. Dave Dale, president of the North Bay Newspaper Guild, says his remaining 70 members are frustrated by layoffs, consolidations and looming contract clawbacks as Quebecor-owned Sun Media squeezes small-town assets to shore up the bottom line in bigger centres. GR EXTRA! Hearst rapped for unilateral Albany layoffs The Hearst Corp. was rapped on its knuckles by an administrative law judge last week, who concluded that the Albany Times Union engaged in a charade when it laid off 11 employees represented by the Albany Newspaper Guild while supposedly negotiating over layoff criteria. The Aug. 18 decision by Judge Mark Carissimi orders the newspaper to reinstate the employees and to pay them their lost earnings, with interest, plus such other other benefits as "they may have suffered by reason of its unilateral action." GR EXTRA! A contract in Hilo -- after six years and 12 ULPs The Hawaii Newspaper Guild and the Hawaii Tribune-Herald have signed a two-year contract after nearly six years of negotiations, providing employees with their first wage increases since Jan. 1, 2002. During this time the Tribune-Herald was found guilty of 12 unfair labor practice charges by an administrative law judge, including the illegal firing of veteran reporters Hunter Bishop and Dave Smith, both of whom were union leaders. GR EXTRA! Guild members arrested in D.C. anti-Arizona law protest at baseball game Four protesters against Arizona’s anti-immigrant law, including two Newspaper Guild members, were arrested on misdemeanor charges on Aug. 15 for interrupting a Washington Nationals-Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game at Nationals Park in D.C. with an on-field demonstration. “Baseball is our national pastime and emblematic of our national values and identity,” explained Gustavo Torres of CASA de Maryland, whose group was one of three organizing the protest. GR EXTRA! San Juan employees win back pay award, but their newspaper has closed its doors A U.S. District Court in San Juan this week ordered payment of four years of back wages to five employees fired by the San Juan Star -- nearly six years ago. Whether those former employees actually get any money, however, remains an open question, not least because the Star closed its doors two years ago. GR EXTRA! Six explanations of why unions make a positive difference Ten years ago this week, the Toledo Newspaper Guild's executive committee began awarding $500 scholarships annually to members or member’s families. This year it is awarding six such scholarships, and it's particularly gratifying when reviewing the applications to read the section in which candidates are asked for a brief description of how unions have made a difference in their lives. GR EXTRA! El Vocero workers find their voice -- in U.S. District Court There's a storm brewing in the Caribbean that doesn't show on weather radar: a U.S. District Court hearing Aug. 30 into an NLRB petition for injunctive relief that would compel El Vocero to reinstate more than 100 Guild-represented employees. Further strengthening the squall is CWA approval for a six-month extension of lock-out benefits for the Puerto Rican newspaper workers, who were kicked to the curb more than a year ago.
GR EXTRA! SI settlement gives big win to Guild-covered employees An arbitration win in New York, in which the Guild challenged Time Inc. for improperly cutting hours and pay for copy editors and photographers at Sports Illustrated, demonstrates an enduring truth: while your union will stand up for you, you've also got to stand up for yourself -- and then you can win. The case occurred only because an employee, for the first time in unit history, refused to sign a severance agreement. GR EXTRA! Chronicle members summon tropical storm Dozens of Guild members at the San Francisco Chronicle gathered in the middle of the newsroom last Friday to eat cake, commemorate the loss of two weeks of vacation over the last five years and to support the bargaining team's efforts to get at least some of it back. The Guild declared the day "Aloha Friday," and members wore Hawaiian shirts -- some loud, some tasteful -- and leis to work. At least one wore a tropical flower in his hair. GR EXTRA! Not content with a wage freeze since 2008, Detroit papers seek immediate 12% wage cut Contract bargaining between the two Detroit dailies and the Detroit Metropolitan Council of Newspaper Unions, which includes the Detroit Guild, began last week with management demands for an immediate 12% across-the-board pay cut, followed by a two-year wage freeze. The company also is demanding that unionized benefits be the same as those provided to non-unionized employees, subject to the company's unilateral changes. GR EXTRA! When Marc Ash, the former director of Truthout, departed that online publication following a successful union organizing drive, his legacy was an annual salary of $212,000, piles of debt and a string of broken budgets. Since then everything has changed: the new director is paid one-fourth as much, there are no more independent contractors, most content is now generated internally -- and, not least, Truthout and its Guild-represented employees have their first tentative contract agreement. GR EXTRA! Plan to cut jobs at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sparks walkout About 50 reporters and editors at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette staged a brief noontime walkout yesterday to protest management's plan to cut 30 newsroom jobs. "This was a demonstration to the company of what the newspaper and the newsroom would look like if they do indeed cut that many positions from the paper," said R.J. Hufnagel, associate business editor and president of Communications Workers of America — Newspaper Guild Local 38061. The union represents 180 of the approximately 200 newsroom employees. GR EXTRA! Union primer a good ice-breaker An illustrated pamphlet explaining the basics of unionism and why new employees at an organized workplace should get involved in their union has been published by Union Communication Services. "Welcome to the Union" is designed for use by stewards and union officers as an icebreaker. It offers a concise explanation of what unions are, how they function, and the vital role every employee can play in improving the workplace for all. GR EXTRA! Guild prompts NYC to reduce Thomson Reuters tax breaks After two months of pressure from the Guild, its members at Thomson Reuters, the CWA and some New York City officials, a city agency on Tuesday gave the company a somewhat watered down extension of the once lucrative tax credit deal it won 12 years ago. Even in its more modest state, the company's tax deal survived by only the barest of margins. GR EXTRA! Three-year contract at Time Inc. settled The Guild and Time Inc. have agreed on final language for a three-year contract that extends through Feb. 1, 2013. The new contract provides for guaranteed yearly raises of 1.5%, 2% and 2%, to be given upon ratification, on Feb. 1, 2011, and on Feb. 1, 2012, respectively. The contract will be voted upon at 1 p.m. on Thursday, with ratification unanimously recommended by the negotiating committee. GR EXTRA! New York labor leaders join Guild in Reuters fight Letter seeks Bloomberg's help in blocking tax breaks The New York Guild has obtained the support of nearly a dozen top city labor leaders in its fight with Thomson Reuters, in the form of a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg asking him to block a Thomson Reuters application for tax breaks. The tax benefit was conditioned on Thomson Reuters creating new jobs for New Yorkers, but as the labor leaders point out, the company has "failed miserably to follow through" on its end of the bargain. GR EXTRA! New York Guild members voted overwhelmingly Thursday to ratify a new three-year agreement with Standard & Poor’s. The ratification vote marked the culmination of 20 sessions that spanned five months of difficult negotiations that were brief compared to prior contracts. The new contract calls for a 2.25% general wage increase retroactive to April 1, followed by a combination of increases and merit pool raises in subsequent years. GR EXTRA! Cohen: Labor's struggle 'not hopeless, just hard' Saying labor’s current struggle “is not hopeless, just hard,” CWA President Larry Cohen this week laid out a long list of challenges in the months and years ahead. From declining numbers due to the Great Recession to lack of labor unity, from Senate GOP filibusters bringing government to a halt to the apparent death -- for that very reason -- of the Employee Free Choice Act, Cohen warned his union convention’s delegates they and other unionists have a hard row to hoe. GR EXTRA! Guild delegates steer more frugal course Delegates to back-to-back conventions of the Newspaper Guild and its parent union, CWA, approved several measures this past week that will affect how the unions govern themselves, communicate with members and allocate resources. Driven largely by declining revenues because of continued membership erosion, the new measures promise greater efficiency and cost-savings, but at a possible loss of membership involvement.
GR EXTRA! Nancy Trejos’ Book Signing Kicks Off Guild’s New Outreach Program Guild member Nancy Trejos kicked off the Washington Post Newspaper Guild’s new Outreach program with a book signing July 21. Trejos, a long-standing Guild member and veteran Post reporter, talked about her book, “Hot (broke) Messes: How to Have Your Latte and Drink It, Too,” and the struggle with her own personal finances that prompted her to write on the subject. The Outreach program was created to promote the talents of Guild members and to raise the Guild's profile. GR EXTRA! A First Amendment hero remembered When Daniel Schorr died last week at age 93, I lost a friend, the public lost a trusted news analyst at National Public Radio, and the First Amendment lost one of its bravest defenders. Back in 1976, when the House Ethics Committee threatened to hold him in contempt of Congress and send him to jail if he did not disclose his source regarding some CIA scandals, Schorr let it be known he would not -- and the Guild was right behind him, with petitions and a nationwide campaign. GR EXTRA! Guild Certified at Pagemasters July 15th, 2010 The newest unit of the Canadian Media Guild - Pagemasters North America – was certified by the Ontario Labour Relations Board on July 15, 2010. Launched in late 2009, Pagemasters is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Canadian Press providing a range of editorial production services to newspapers, from copy editing and headline writing to design and layout. GR EXTRA! Guild reaches agreement on three-year pact with S&P The New York Guild and S&P came to a tentative agreement Wednesday on a contract that calls for a 2.25% salary increase in the first year, retroactive to April 1. The tentative agreement was the culmination of 21 difficult negotiating sessions, five of those “off-the-record” and those five dealing almost exclusively with the subject of salary increases. The Guild is attempting to set ratification meetings for next Thursday. GR EXTRA! Women “Talk Union” Across Generations Ten recommendations about what unions can do to attract and retain a new generation of young workers, especially women, appear in an unusually candid report just released by the Berger-Marks Foundation. The activists’ recommendations ranged from adopting term limits for elective union offices to creating "safe spaces" for women and younger activists so they can discuss their concerns.
GR EXTRA! From laptop to cook top, thanks to a Union Plus mortgage When the Seattle Post-Intelligencer closed its print edition and went online-only, cutting most of its staff in the process, sports reporter Michael McLaughlin, a member of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, was suddenly without a job. Yet because of his union benefits, including assistance from his Union Plus Mortgage, he was able to transition to a new career without fear of losing his home. GR EXTRA! ‘Father of CU Pension Plan’ passes away at 84 Ralph Petrucelli, known as "The Father of the Pension Plan" at Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, died Thursday, after a lengthy illness. He served for more than 25 years on the Local Executive Committee and, during his first term as unit chairperson, was instrumental in negotiating the defined benefit pension plan that still exists today. GR EXTRA! First Amendment defenders 'must sometimes share their foxhole with scoundrels' The Newspaper Guild-CWA is among 22 media groups that have signed onto a "friend of the court" brief supporting the Westboro Baptist Church's right to picket service members' funerals, offensive picket signs and vituperative outbursts notwithstanding. Members of the Topeka, Kansas church have been picketing service members' funerals with such signs as "Semper fi fags" and "Thank God for dead soldiers." GR EXTRA! Guild, CWA, NABET argue against relaxing of media ownership rules The Newspaper Guild, CWA and NABET formally entered the debate over media concentration this week with a joint submission to the Federal Communications Commission, which is conducting a quadrennial review of its media ownership rules. Of particular concern to the Guild are the FCC's cross-ownership rules, which limit ownership of both broadcast and newspaper media by a single owner, while NABET also is concerned about the merging of broadcast newsroom operations. GR EXTRA! NY Guild reaches tentative agreement on new contract The New York Guild reached a tentative agreement Thursday with Time Inc. on a three-year contract that includes pay increases in each year of the pact, as well as some other changes. The parties are working on developing language for a memorandum of agreement and, as soon as that is accomplished and the document is signed, details of the agreement will be announced. GR EXTRA! Staff lay-offs, bi-weekly publication leave Michigan Catholic future uncertain An announcement by the Archdicoese of Detroit to lay-off five full time Michigan Catholic employees, including three Guild members, is a serious blow to the venerable publication, which has been a fixture in Detroit since 1872. The church followed the Guild contract by laying off staff members by job classification and seniority, but among those lost is unit chair Walt Warren, a graphic designer. GR EXTRA! Union review: Seattle Times revenues still sliding The Seattle Times’ advertising revenue continues to decline, falling 10% between the first quarters of 2009 and 2010, according to a union review. But the company’s cost-saving measures -- including concessions agreed to by its union employees in 2009 -- are helping, as is a new five-year agreement that the company reached in January to refinance its debt. As a result, total operating expenses were down 11% year over year. GR EXTRA! Radio ad attacks Thomson Reuters' New York tax breaks The Newspaper Guild of New York today launched a radio ad as part of its campaign to stop the attempted grab by media giant Thomson Reuters Corp. for scarce New York taxpayer dollars by amending a 12-year-old tax break agreement with a New York City agency. The radio ad (see podcast button above) highlights Thomson Reuters’ job creation projections, which it has yet to show that it has achieved. GR EXTRA! Philadelphia Guild outlines three-year TA "The bargaining committee of Newspaper Guild/CWA Local 38010 has reached a tentative agreement on key economic elements of a new three-year contract that guarantees no layoffs in the first year. Talks continue on other aspects of the bargaining agreement, but we did not want to keep you waiting on details that will most directly impact your pocket." GR EXTRA! Editorial workers at Canwest daily reach 3-year deal CWA Canada members who work at a Canwest daily newspaper in Saskatchewan have ratified a new contract just ahead of a change of ownership. Members of the Saskatchewan Media Guild, which represents about 40 editorial workers at the Regina Leader-Post, voted 97% in favour late last week to ratify a new contract that gives them wage increases of 4.5% over three years. GR EXTRA! Why these G20 media arrests should concern us all On the day after a weekend of mayhem, it's important to focus on those who’ve been detained, arrested or imprisoned this weekend at the G20 summit just for doing their jobs: the journalists who were in the wrong place at the wrong time or looked the wrong way. GR EXTRA! Executive Committee endorses merger outline Members of the Executive Committee of the Media Workers Guild have endorsed a merger uniting the San Francisco-based Guild, the Hawaii Newspaper Guild and Oakland-based CWA Local 9415. The tentative outline suggests the merged local be called the Pacific Communications and Media Guild. The diverse alliance would have more than 5,000 members drawn from newspapers, language services, broadcasting, cable TV and regional, long-distance and cellular telephone service. GR EXTRA! Guild-NABET video training unleashes torrent of interest Here's how it usually goes in our newly slimmed down, multi-purposed newsrooms: a newspaper editor who has never pinched a pixel gets his or her hands on a couple of really cheap video cameras and unloads them on the staff. Four reporters to a camera, or maybe five or six, each suddenly responsible for shooting, editing and uploading three stories a month. Or four. Or five. There's some old editing software floating around, but it can't be too hard to figure out -- okay? GR EXTRA! The effects of the rapidly shrinking newspaper industry on Guild finances were underscored this week in a message from TNG-CWA President Bernie Lunzer to local officers, in which he disclosed that next year's budget is being cut 13.9% . The $415,000 cut follows a 12-cent reduction in monthly per capita dues paid by locals to TNG-CWA, the first per capita reduction in Guild history. GR EXTRA! Arbitrator rules Time Inc. can't turn full-timers into part-timers An arbitrator has ruled that Time Inc. violated the its contract with the Guild when it unilaterally reduced the hours and pay of full-time Sports Illustrated employees and has ordered company management to meet with Guild representatives to "ascertain the appropriate damages.” Time in 2008 reduced the hours and pay of every full-time copy editor from 35 hours to 24 hours and every full-time staff photographer from 35 to 17½ hours, transforming full-time work into part-time. GR EXTRA! Hearst ordered to submit to arbitration Dues check-off at stake for Albany Guild members A sometimes bemused U.S. district court judge has rebuffed a unilateral decision by Hearst Corp. to stop dues check-off at the Albany Times Union and then refuse to submit to arbitration with the Albany Newspaper Guild. The company's misguided attempt to throw up a legal smokescreen prompted the judge to observe that he was "at a loss" to understand Hearst's interpretation and application of cases it cited to bolster its case. GR EXTRA! T&G union ratifies 2-year pact Members of the Providence Guild voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new two-year contract with the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, nearly three years after the previous contract expired. The new pact provides a lump sum settlement but no pay increase, although it does include a wage reopener after the first year. The Guild represents more than 110 employees in the newspaper's news and circulation departments. GR EXTRA! New health care rules will change bargaining strategies While the full implications of recently adopted health care rules may not be obvious for some time to come, enough new wrinkles have become evident to cause agita for employers heading into contract negotiations with unions. It's therefore prudent for Guild locals to likewise start paying attention to the new rules -- the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- and how they may affect bargaining strategy. GR EXTRA! Sector conference: a lot of heavy lifting and not much time TNG-CWA delegates to this year's sector conference will be doing some heavy lifting -- and will have only one day in which to do it. The agenda includes a proposal to redirect part of the mobilization and defense fund to general operating expenses, as well as constitutional changes to have centrally administered Guild elections, no minimum publication schedule for the Guild Reporter and a possible change from annual to biennial national meetings. GR EXTRA! Progressives have a problem revving up the troops If there was one thing that was clear from the America’s Future Now! conference, held in Washington June 7-9, it was that progressives are having trouble revving up the troops. And that in turn could spell trouble for labor’s agenda after the November election. Unlike past conferences, this one had many poorly attended sessions and fewer attendees overall. Rousing speeches got polite applause. The mass march on the Treasury Department drew dozens, not thousands. GR EXTRA! Guild members ratify new 3-year contract in Sacramento The Sacramento Bee unit of the California Media Workers Guild on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a new three-year contract that allows some outsourcing “We’re pleased to have a new three-year contract that treats workers with the respect they’re due,” said Unit Chair Ed Fletcher. “The contract reflects the still-unstable nature of the newspaper industry. It isn’t perfect, but we can live with this contract.”
GR EXTRA! Gasbag Stephen Colbert 'investigates' TNG-repped Consumers Union Tries to wash a KFC meal -- what does he know about fast-food chicken that we don't? Emilio Gonzalez was a little nervous when he sat down in front of his television late Tuesday night, not knowing quite what to expect after the goofy day, a few weeks earlier, when comedian Stephen Colbert had invaded the dishwasher testing lab at Consumers Union. After having some fun with microwave ovens, Colbert moved on to Gonzalez’s dishwashers, where he decided to put an entire KFC meal in one of the machines.
GR EXTRA! Underneath the facelift, it's still the same old racket There's a bunch of wise guys out there with a can't-miss pitch: buy a full-page ad in "America's Leading Labor Newspaper" and you'll reach 5,000 of the most-important union members in the U.S. and Canada. Plus your ad will run next to copy generated by a 28-year-old with no union experience who expects her freelancers to work for free -- all this to help a 72-year-old hustler live a comfortable retirement. You got a better idea for that 18 grand? GR EXTRA! Santa Barbara News-Press gets a public spanking The Santa Barbara News-Press is once again making news instead of reporting it—and as in the past, the news is that an objective hearing has found that the newspaper willfully and repeatedly runs roughshod over its employees. The latest salvo in a years-long battle between multi-millionaire owner Wendy McCaw and her unionized workers was fired May 28, in the form of an unusually lengthy 159-page decision by administrative law judge Clifford H. Anderson that amounts to a public spanking. GR EXTRA! Same scores, different raises; what's fair about Reuters pay? Having illegally imposed new work rules, Thomson Reuters has tried to portray its new pay system as a goal-oriented appraisal process that sets a level playing field for all. But in fact, company data -- turned over to the Guild in response to an information request -- reveals the imposed system as a zero-sum sham, in which an amount equaling 1% of employees’ total pay was carved up and redistributed to some at the expense of others with identical appraisal ratings. GR EXTRA! New Memphis contract accepts unlimited outsourcing Memphis Guild members have voted 43 to 7 to approve a new three‑year contract. That number includes absentee ballots and those who voted at the Saturday, May 22 meeting. A message to the public, put out via Facebook and on the local's web site, explains why the union accepted unlimited outsourcing; a separate message to union members explains what was preserved and why it matters. |
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