In This Issue:

President's Perspective:
Connie Knox bids farewell as she ends her 12-year tenure as local president.

Feds Tell BNA It Can't Restrict Guild's Use of E-Mail System
The Bureau of National Affairs agrees to rescind its e-mail policy in response to a National Labor Relations Board "directed settlement" of an Unfair Labor Practice charge filed by the Guild. The settlement was the result of negotiations between the federal board and the company.

Post's Curious Posture on Freedom of Speech
A representative of long-time freedom of speech proponent The Washington Post calls on Local 35 members and staff to "immediately cease distributing Guild literature to Washington Post employees by e-mail."

Kamber Unit Gains Big in 3-Year Pact
With each employee set to receive three 5.5 percent "anniversary date" raises, Kamber Group Guild unit members unanimously ratified a three-year bargaining agreement Oct. 27. The vote came two days before the most recent pact was set to expire.

Six-Pack of WBNG Pacts Expire in 2001
Three Guild units are still re-negotiating contracts that expired this year, while members at six other Guild-represented workplaces prepare for bargaining on pacts expire in 2001.

Guild Loses Unit in IUE-CWA Merger
With 10 months to go on a collective bargaining agreement, about a dozen Guild members at the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers no longer were represented by the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild as a result of IUE's merger with CWA.

First Call to Honor Members' Work in 2000
This is your first notice to get your entries in for the Front Page Awards contest sponsored by the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild. The prizes honor Guild members' work for publications in 2000.

By-laws: Units Must Hold Annual Elections
The WBNG by-laws require Guild units to hold annual elections for unit office. Here are the requirements and timeframes.

Transitions & Transactions
All the latest news and gossip from the local's units.

Presidents' Perspective

As you read this, my 12th term as president of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild is drawing to a close. It is my last term.

For much of that time, I have used this space to rail and rally, protest and praise, to argue, and to urge you to stand strong and make your voices heard in your shops, in your union, in your community.

I have done that because I think it's critical if we want to change our work environment -- that is to say, our pay, our benefits, our protections -- that we work together. Good bargaining isn't enough. Not these days. Good contracts come from the solidity, the solidarity, of an organized, mobilized workforce.

Our local -- among the largest in all of The Newspaper Guild -- has come far in these last 12 years. It has much more to accomplish. It will face difficult issues, from organizing in a developing industry, to deciding its role in politics, to maintaining its leadership standing in the Guild as a whole. The new leaders will need your help in setting the goals, in determining the priorities and getting the job done. So get involved, stay involved.

I must say that my decision to step down isn't made without much sadness, for I have enjoyed the privilege of being your president. Even so, I will not step back from being a union activist. For as the song says, I know --because I have seen it in action -- "that the union makes us strong."

Cue the singers.

-- Connie Knox
President, Local 32035

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A BNA labor relations officer verbally ordered Unit Chair Reza Namdar (above) to stop e-mailing Guild bargaining bulletins to employees at their BNA.com addresses. (Photo by Calvin Zon, At-Large Unit.)

BNA Told It Can't Restrict Guild's Use of E-Mail System
NLRB Tells BNA to Back Off on E-Ban

By Lori Calderone
WBNG Staff

The Bureau of National Affairs agreed on October 31 to rescind its prohibition of "non-business" use of the company's e-mail system.

The company action was in response to a National Labor Relations Board "directed settlement" of an Unfair Labor Practice charge filed by the Guild on March 1. The settlement was the result of negotiations between the board and the company.

The Guild made the case after a BNA labor relations officer verbally ordered Unit Chair Reza Namdar to stop distributing bargaining bulletins to employees at their BNA.com addresses. The order came on Feb. 9; the grievance was filed a week later. Although there was an initial grievance meeting on the matter, BNA never responded in writing.

Negotiations over a new pact to replace the one that was to expire at the end of February had begun in late January. So the BNA directive was seen by the Guild as a pointed effort to stifle unit members' efforts to communicate with each other at a particularly crucial time. Meanwhile, BNA itself was in a very timely fashion e-mailing all employees the company version of contract talks-often just minutes after a session had concluded.

The Guild unit has been using the BNA e-mail system for years, with the company's full awareness. In 1997, BNA reached an informal understanding with the unit leadership that the Guild could distribute information to members electronically as long as it didn't use the "group address" that reaches every employee of the company, regardless of their relationship to the Guild. By the time bargaining over a new pact was to commence, e-mail communication had become as routine as hand-distributed bulletins and newsletters, telephone calls, and on-site membership meetings.

In its promptly filed grievance last winter, the Guild reminded BNA about the well-established past practice. Guild stewards later noted that the company discriminated only against the Guild in its directive to cease use of the electronic system, while the company itself issued or forwarded e-mails concerning cell phone sales, solicitations to join area health clubs, and college basketball betting pools.

The NLRB-ordered settlement-which must be posted for 60 days-requires BNA to rescind its current e-mail policy, which included a blanket ban on non-business material.

Not only is the communications system no longer restricted, should BNA want to change its e-mail policy, it is required to notify and bargain with the Guild over such changes.

Said Reza Namdar via e-mail: "The company tried to limit the Guild's ability to communicate with the employees we represent and bargain for. The settlement is a real message from the labor board that BNA cannot prohibit union communication through the e-mail system, and that the employer must not interfere with workers rights to bargain collectively."

In the settlement, BNA agreed that it will "not in any like or related manner interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of their rights" guaranteed under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. Section 7 guarantees employees the right to organize; to form, join, or assist any union; to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing; to act together for other mutual aid or protection; and to choose not to engage in any of these protected concerted activities.

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Post's Curious Posture on Freedom of Speech

A representative of a long-time proponent of freedom of speech issued a formal call Oct. 2 for Local 35 members and staff to "immediately cease distributing Guild literature to Washington Post employees by e-mail."

The order, from Patricia Dunn, the newspaper's vice president for labor relations, referred specifically to a Guild bulletin, "Working Like Digital Dogs," that gave an update on Post and Guild interactions over operations at Washington Post-Newsweek Interactive and invited recipients to fill out a survey.

The bulletin also included a reprint of a memo to New York Times staffers in which Managing Editor Joe Lelyveld promised Times employees appropriate compensation for "digital" work.

The dispatch that disturbed Dunn was e-mailed from Guild headquarters to Guild-covered Post employees, many of whom took it to be just another unsolicited message. Such as that e-mail from the Benefits Department that offered the chance to buy health insurance for pets. Or maybe that invitation from SCORE! Learning Inc.-a fully owned subsidiary of the Washington Post Company-to take advantage of a 30 percent discount on toys, books, and games.

"The Guild's use of mass e-mails to distribute its bulletin/survey clearly intruded into employees' working areas and inevitably interfered with employees during their working time," Dunn wrote. Should employees interrupt their duties to communicate with the Guild after receiving such a notice, that "could cause them to violate the Post's Code of Business Conduct."

The 1999 "Code" states that e-mail and Internet access "generally must be used only for Company business activities. Incidental personal use is permitted if it: Doesn't preempt or interfere with a Company business activity or with employee productivity."

As a Post unit bulletin pointed out: "The hypocrisy is pretty evident: The Post is eager to throw out all the old work rules for its own electronic dot.com venture (Write more stories! Sell more ads!). But when it comes to limiting communication among its employees, the old rules suit Post management just fine." The Post also has neglected to establish why it thinks e-mail policies should not be in line with bulletin-board and other "paper-distribution" policies.

The Guild and the Post met Oct. 24 to discuss the Post's grievance. After the Guild denied the grievance in writing, the matter was moved to arbitration Nov. 10. The parties are now in the process of selecting an arbitrator to hear the case.

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The Guild members Joe Shapiro, Lauren Gleason and Jennifer Jones (left to right) formed the bargaining team with Local Representative Rick Ehrmann (not shown). (Photo by Keith Barnes, Washington Post)

Kamber Unit Gains Big in 3-Year Pact

With each employee set to receive three 5.5 percent "anniversary date" raises, Kamber Group Guild unit members unanimously ratified a three-year bargaining agreement Oct. 27. The vote came two days before the most recent pact was set to expire.

The contract covers 24 employees working in Kamber's Public Affairs, Art, Media, Administration, and Accounting departments. That's about half of The Kamber Group staff; covered positions include account executives, communications specialists, researchers, artists, video editors, systems administrators, and staff assistants. One of the Guild-covered employees is in Kamber's four-person New York office.

The Kamber Group also had a few Guild-covered employees in another far-flung office-Los Angeles-but sold that part of the company in 1999. The Kamber Group unit has been represented by a Local 35 contract since 1982.

In the Kamber agreement, for the first time, the company will pay towards spouses' (and other dependents) health and dental insurance costs.

"That's the biggest improvement in the new contract," said Joe Shapiro, an assistant account executive in Public Affairs. "My cost to cover my family was nearly $400 a month. It's now $198 a month." That's a $2400 annual net savings to his household.

"I think other people with families will convert to the Kamber plan," Shapiro said. Kamber will continue to pay each employee's full premium and now pays half of the Guild member's cost for spouses and other dependents.

One addition to the contract codifies a solution to what had been an occasional problem at the communications firm: The timely reimbursement of on-the-job expenses. Under the new pact, the employer agrees to pay all legitimate expenses incurred by employees performing work for The Kamber Group within 30 days of the date that expenses are submitted.

A related clause reads: "The Kamber Group agrees to maintain an escrow account in the amount of $5,000 to be used to reimburse bargaining unit members for out-of-pocket expenses incurred to cover co-pay reimbursements and to handle cash requests for travel advances. The account, monitored by the Office Administrator for compliance, will be replenished when it falls below $1,000."

Advertising and Production Coordinator Jennifer Jones is pleased with the addition of another travel-related benefit: Metrochek. "We can purchase $65 worth of Metrocheks each month for $32.50," Jones said of the commuting benefit offered for the first time. The $400 "salary reduction" is a tax-free perk for employees. Meanwhile, the employer gets a tax deduction for its contribution to each employee's use of the vouchers for public transportation.

Production Manager Lauren Gleason likes the new flex-time provision. "We operate on a thirty-seven-and-a-half-hour work week and as long as we work that many hours, we can arrange any schedule we want with our manager." Gleason called this "the most eagerly anticipated" part of the new agreement. "We get the scheduling option, plus we still get automatic overtime when we work weekends."

The Guild retained several appealing features of the old pact, including the maintenance of a Sick Leave Bank that allows employees to donate accrued sick days to needy colleagues, and overtime pay of time-and-a-half for all Guild-covered employees, regardless of their position or salary.

The Kamber Group is a communications consulting and policy firm. Its clients include labor unions, associations, corporations, and nonprofit organizations.

Labor clients include the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry, and the Laborers' International Union of North America.

Among their major assignments for those three unions is convention planning, which includes events coordination, and video and magazine production.

Kamber also does production work for the Political Action Committees of the Painters, the United Food & Commercial Workers, and the Sheet Metal Workers International.

The Kamber Group bargaining team was comprised of Media Department employees Gleason and Jones, Shapiro (who works in Public Affairs), and Local Representative Rick Ehrmann.

Bargaining over the contract concluding Oct. 29 began Sept. 25 and was completed in just three sessions.

The new agreement runs to Oct. 29, 2003.

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Six-Pack of WBNG Pacts Expire in 2001

About three dozen Guild members at three units are still in negotiations for contracts that expired this year, while preparations are in various stages of "under way" for bargaining on behalf of about 300 WBNG members at six different workplaces where pacts expire in 2001.

Talks involving WBNG units at the George Meany Center/National Labor College (16 Guild-covered workers), the Working for America Institute (14), and the Department for Professional Employees (4) heated up -- relatively -- after the AFL-CIO Guild unit approved its new pact in early October. All three of these units have clauses in their expired contracts that keep these pacts in force during negotiations.

The next agreement to expire (Feb. 14, 2001) that involves a WBNG unit is the contract covering the Association Staff Union's 112 employees. Local 35 will represent this unit for the first time in its talks with American Nurses Association management.

Five other Guild contracts covering about 200 workers expire in the second half of 2001.

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Guild Loses Unit in IUE-CWA Merger

With 10 months to go on a collective bargaining agreement, about a dozen Guild members at the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers no longer were represented by Local 35 or their Newspaper Guild contract as of Oct. 1.

But thanks to a merger approved in a vote at the convention of the 113,000-member IUE, these workers retained an affiliation with the Communications Workers of America. With the merger into CWA -- the parent union of TNG -- the new affiliation is "employer-employee." The consensus is that it would be a conflict of interest for the Guild to continue to represent the unit in a contract against its international affiliate.

In its newest incarnation, the IUE is the CWA's "Industrial Division." CWA President Morton Bahr told delegates to IUE's last convention that he sees the new division as a means for organizing thousands of high-tech manufacturing workers.

Other CWA locals with members (estimated at about 30,000) working in manufacturing are being invited to join the Industrial Division. The division will have much the same relationship to CWA as The Newspaper Guild "sector."

Throughout its half-century of existence, the IUE was often confused with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. In 1949, the IUE broke away from the Pittsburgh-based UE, which had been expelled from the Congress of Industrial Organizations (to which TNG and CWA belonged) because of its alleged ties to communists. The UE, with about 30,000 members today, is among just a few national unions that survive outside the AFL-CIO.

For more than three decades, the breakaway IUE was very similar in name to the UE: the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers. At its peak in the 1960s, IUE represented 400,000 members.

In 1983, reflecting mergers through the years, it was renamed the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Technical, Salaried and Machine Workers. Four years later, it dropped the "Technical" and added "Furniture." That name survived to the recent merger with CWA.

A similar small slice to Local 35 ranks took place in 1995, after The Newspaper Guild convention vote to merge with CWA. For 12 years, 10 to 15 workers in research, internal communications, public affairs and education at the future parent-union's international headquarters had been covered by a Local 35 contract. With the announcement of a pending merger coinciding with the expiration of the contract, the unit formed an independent union.

The Guild is not barred by law from representation of CWA staff members, but TNG officials believe such affiliations create practical problems in bargaining.

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First Call to Honor Members' Work in 2000

This is your first notice to get your entries in for the Front Page Awards contest sponsored by the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild.

The prizes honor Guild members' work for publications in 2000.

For writing, design, and photography, there are 23 Front Page Awards. The judges then choose from members-only entries for "best of class" grand prizes-$200 awards-in each of the three classes.

Capturing the Bill Pryor Memorial Grand Prize for Writing in last year's competition were J. Wynn Rousuck of the Baltimore Sun. Photographer Andre Chung of the Sun took the Bill Pryor Memorial Grand Prize for Photography, and designer Shirdell McDonald of the Sun was awarded the John Albano Memorial Grand Prize for Design.

The Front Page Awards are almost as old as the The Newspaper Guild itself, which was founded in December 1933; the Washington Newspaper Guild was chartered just six weeks later, in January 1934.

Members are limited to three entries in each of the 23 categories, but may enter in as many different ones as they wish. A published piece of work can not be submitted in only a single category. The judges may, at their discretion, shift an entry into a different category. The category honors and grand prize winners will be selected by panels of eminent professionals in journalism.

Any Guild member or employee covered by a Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild contract may enter. But only Guild members are eligible for the three grand prizes.

Entries must be mailed or delivered to the WBNG office, 1100 15th St. NW, Suite 350, Washington, DC 20005. The submissions deadline will likely be in early March for these awards and the Guild Service Awards, and will be announced via first-class mail in December. The deadline also will be posted at www.wbng.org, as will any changes or updates to awards' categories.

Entries should be labeled with the employee's name, workplace and category being entered, and must be for work published in 2000.

For further information, call the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild at 202-785-3650.

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By-laws: Units Must Hold Annual Elections

Following is what WBNG by-laws have to say about annual unit elections. (To cut to the chase, skip to the last paragraph.)

Article IV (Section B) says each unit shall receive nominations at a unit meeting held not earlier than two weeks prior to the annual nominations of Local 35 officers (WBNG membership nominated officers Nov. 18).

Unit nominations are for delegates to the Executive Council, chairperson, vice-chairperson, secretary and any other offices the unit has created.

If any positions are contested, an election by secret ballot should be held within three weeks of the nominating meeting.

The notice of nominations and elections of unit officers and delegates to the Executive Council shall be given to members of the unit.

Vacancies in the posts of unit officers or Council delegates shall be filled by nominations and secret-ballot vote at a unit meeting within three weeks.

Disputes will be settled by the Council. In sum: Units, hold elections in January. If nominees are elected by acclamation, fine.

If you need to conduct an election, check the by-laws for how to do it on the up-and-up.

And furnish the names and phone numbers of all unit officers to the Guild's office manager, Nancy Banks, 202-789-3650, ext. 10.

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Transitions & Transactions

AFL-CIO: New members at the headquarters of the U.S. labor movement include Anna M. Avato, Andre Banks, Jennifer Boland, Barbara Brazil-Keys, Carol Carvalho, James R. Chiong, Mayee B. Crispin, Yvette De La Cruz, Catherine Feingold, Yasmin Nancy Haque, Albert A. Iroko, Christina Kelley, Faye Miller, Bonnie H. Shulman, Avril Smith, Julia D. Stewart, and Tameka A. Taylor.

Agence France-Presse: New members at the wire service include correspondent Stephen Collinson, desk editor Lauren Gelfand, editor-reporters Maxim A. Kniazkov, Michael Langan, and Erika J. Pontarelli, and sales representative Jennifer Zilvetti.

Baltimore Sun: Like Radar O'Reilly would say on M*A*S*H*: "Incoming! Incoming!" We've got a slew of new members at the Sun, not the least of whom are Armando S. Acab, Eartha Banks, Jeffrey Barker, David P. Brown, Sharon Bunch, Gursimrit Buttar, Laura K. Cadiz, Sarah Cavill, Matthew Cimino, Raymond T. Dempsey, Stephanie J. Desmon, Glenn Fawcett, Shanta Francis, Lisa S. Goldberg, Milton Hawkins, Annie B. Hunt, Doris P. Johnson, Julie Klavens, Sarah Koenig, Ebony Nash, David Nitkin, Candace Parker, Jonathan Pitts, Lisa Poland, Robert A. Sager Sr., Gus G. Sentementes, Joseph A. Strauss, Angela Tripp, Kevin Van Valkenberg, Laura L. Vozzella, and Raymond C. Wittelsberger II ... There was a fine profile in the Washington Post recently about consistent Front Page Award winner Ivan Penn, who left his $55,000-a-year job at the Sun to work with his wife, September, at Abundant Grace Assembly Church in Roanoke, where as youth program directors they'll share an annual salary of $12,000. Sounds like Ivan merits his honorary withdrawal card from the Guild.

Bureau of National Affairs: Wendell O'Keith Baker, Jeremy Brown, Rosalind Faulkner, Joyce L. Hedges, Edwin D. Hill, Lisa Mathis, Anthony Owens, James Reynolds, Charlene M. Ryan, Veronica White, and Michael W. Wyand are new members at BNA. Thanks for joining!

Catholic News Service: Graphic artist Tony De Feo's mother, Candace, died of bone cancer two years ago. In tribute to her, Tony now mounts an annual fund-raiser for bone cancer research. This year's "5K Bone Cancer Walk/Run for Candy," held at Patapsco Village State Park, earned more than $2,350 in contributions and pledges-up more than $1,000 from last year. CNS unit colleagues Jerry Filteau, Patricia Zapor, Carole Norris Greene, Nancy O'Brien, and Cassandra Shieh helped out with everything from walking and running to registering participants to videotaping the event for posterity to preparing food for the post-event cookout ... CNS welcomes back technician Wendy Ball, who had been out much longer than expected after being injured in an auto accident ... In the bon voyage department, CNS assistant international editor Jennifer Reed left in mid-November for a three-week study tour of Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and St. Lucia, sponsored by the International Catholic Union of the Press.

Kamber Group: The newest members at the Kamber Group are assistant producer Eric Heise in the media department and production coordinator Lisa Smith in the art department. M. Brenda Carter and Anthony Menez also have signed up. Way to go!

Montgomery County Council of Supporting Services Employees: A hearty "welcome back" to Curtis L. Kimmons.

National Labor College/George Meany Center for Labor Studies: Congratulations to Elise Bryant for stepping up to the plate to assume positions of responsibility in the United Association for Labor Education. Elise is an at-large member of its executive board and co-chair of the women workers' caucus. The group comprises a merger between the University and College Labor Education Association and Workers Education Local 189 (a CWA affiliate).

United Food and Commercial Workers: Benefits Department secretary Cynthia B. Mueller, staff accountant S. Ali Z. Zaidi, Education Department assistant director Yvonne Syphas, and Michelle R. Thomas, a documentation specialist in the UFCW's legal department, are new members ... Linda D. Powell and Andre E. Robertson also have joined. And we would like to re-welcome Joan Welsh, a member whose talents as a senior writer have been a very welcome addition, in particular to the unit newsletter.

Washington Post: The newest Guild members include Janet H. Alexander, Tamika Belgrave, Vincent P. Bzdek, Sewell Chan, Johnna Paige Clifford, Keith Cromer, Andrew R. Flank, Lakyshia C. Jones, Laris Karklis, Fredrick Kunkle, Chris Lehmann, Nicole M. Miller, Vivian T. Owens, Ellis Page, Cornelius S. Pressley, Marcela Sanchez-Bender, Melinda Tennison, Liliane Vilmenay, and Delissa White. Glad you're with us!

Working for America Institute: Program analyst Laura Chenven is the newest WAI unit member. Thanks for joining!

Remember: You can make contributions to the next column via phone at 202-541-3263, or via e-mail at pattison_mark@hotmail.com. Talk yourself and your union up! (The January/February Guild Forum deadline is Jan. 7)

-- Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service

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