The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild
TNG-CWA, Local 32035
An electronic newsletter for At-Large members of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild
Summer 2003
Vol. 1, No. 3
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WELCOME TO THE AT-LARGE GuildUNITS FORUM
Will the 'At-Large Unit' Lose Members? The At-Large Units may soon lose some members. Mark Pattison (Catholic News Service) said the Southern District Council--which includes WBNG--learned work is starting on proposals to more rigorously define who is eligible to be a member of an "At Large Unit." The general thinking is that members who are under contracts but whose units are too small to deserve separate seats on local Executive Councils will remain members of "At Large Units." But members who do NOT have contracts will not be members of At Large Units, unless they are in an area where there is no Guild Local at all. That TNG-CWA constitutional change would eject approximately 12 members from the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild's At-Large Unit. These people are Guild members, and not supervisors, but they're also not covered by contracts. The question is, given that they want to remain in the Union, what form their membership would take--and that's still being thrashed out. If you think you're affected, call the WBNG office (202) 785-3650 x10 and ask Nancy Banks to check. If you are, drop a line to Mark Pattison at CNS (202) 541-3263 about the issue. He's our top representative on the Southern District Council of TNG. Click Here to Return to Guild Local Home PageThat's what we call our own Bonnita Spikes, chair of our MCSSE Unit and an At Large delegate to the Executive Council. First, she was elected Secretary of the entire WBNG at the June 10 Executive Council meeting in Baltimore. She replaced Carol Oberdorfer (BNA). To prevent being managed by an unknown--and possibly hostile--outsider when her boss left, Carol unwillingly joined management and had to resign from the Secretary's chair and the Guild. Then, at the July 8 meeting in D.C., Guild President Bill Salganik (Sun) couldn't make it. Neither could Vice-President J. Darlene Meyer (Post). So guess who chaired the meeting? Right…Bonnita. And she took the notes, too! Talk about double duty. Congratulations! Click Here to Return to Guild Local Home PageAs you probably know by now, WBNG negotiated a new contract for its members at The Baltimore Sun. What you don't know is the challenge we faced in beating off a media conglomerate, the Tribune Co., in our first-ever talks with them. Tribune has a century-long history of hostility to workers and unions, and the negotiations were tough. The contract was ratified, overwhelmingly but unhappily, with just hours to spare before the old pact expired. To give you an idea of what the Sun workers faced, the talks opened April 29--seven weeks before the June 24 expiration--and that day Tribune started bringing and training scabs from its other papers in Florida and Los Angeles. It housed them in a fancy downtown Baltimore hotel, taught them the Sun workers' jobs and paid them TWO salaries: Their own and the equivalent pay for the Sun worker whose job they would take. Under the circumstances, the bargaining team negotiated the best contract it could get, including a $1,500 first year signing bonus--but no pay raise--followed by raises in subsequent years. But there were some givebacks, especially in giving management some transfer-plus-pay-cut rights. The Sun workers mobilized, picketed, garnered community support and even had WBNG fly a small plane over Oriole Park, demanding a contract, when the Tribune-owned Chicago Cubs came to town. The bargaining and its outcome gave the unit an even greater sense of solidarity, if only because they now know what they face! But Administrative Officer Lori Calderone points out that all this shows WBNG--and TNG in general--must strategically plan on how we're going to bargain with these ever-bigger media conglomerates. We haven't yet. Click Here to Return to Guild Local Home PageComing Meetings…And Other Issues Speaking of the Sun, what happened there will be a big topic at the next WBNG membership meeting, Sept. 20 in Baltimore. TNG President Linda Foley is tentatively scheduled to attend. And the WBNG Executive Council will meet Sept. 9 at 7:30 pm at the D.C. Guild office. There's one other Executive Council meeting you should know about: The AFL-CIO Executive Council meets Aug. 5-6 in Chicago. The highlight, on the night of Aug. 5, will be a live C-SPAN broadcast of a "Presidential Candidates Forum" from Chicago's Navy Pier, where all nine Democratic hopefuls will answer questions from unionists. (The current White House occupant has been invited to address the AFL-CIO EC, but is not expected to appear). While WBNG and TNG do NOT make presidential endorsements, and never will, the forum will let us know where candidates stand on issues such as the right to organize and overtime pay. OT is very important, because the administration's rules, to take effect in September, could exempt--repeat, EXEMPT--8 million workers from overtime. The Economic Policy Institute says that right now 30 percent of reporters and editors don't get OT, but under the new rules only 30 percent would. EPI adds an average worker who earns overtime would lose $161 a week. Unit chair Mark Gruenberg (202-898-4825/unionnews@hotmail.com) will cover the AFL-CIO for his union media clients. If you want copies of that weekly edition, contact him.
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Washington-Baltimore
Newspaper Guild, Local 32035 TNG-CWA, AFL-CIO/ 1100 15th St., NW,
Suite 350 Washington, DC 20005/ 202-785-3650 /Fax: 202-785-3659
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