WBNG Web Site -- Get Online With the Guild
The local Guild's Web site (www.wbng.org) becomes the main information link to and among WBNG Guild members.

President's Perspective
Local President Dawn Lamar urges members to take action.

Guild Training Offered
Schedule of upcoming seminars.

Local Welcomes New Guild Staffer

Designate Your United Way Contribution to Community Services Agency

The Guild Forum -- complete with bargaining updates, unit and member news, and WBNG staff reports -- will be posted to the Web and will no longer be mailed. (Official notice of the year's five membership meetings will continue to be forwarded to you via the United States Postal Service.)

The Forum may have a different look, but what's really different is how members can look at it. In addition to a conventional "print" newsletter appearing in .pdf format online from time to time, up-to-the-minute Local 32035 news will appear on the WBNG Web site, along with news from the local's 22 individual units, some of which will be posting their own newsletters.

By calling on wbng.org often during your work life and other life, you'll learn more about your union contract; find out how to contact unit and union leadership, stewards, and committees; see what your employer is up to; get updates on contract negotiations; and better appreciate labor's struggle to be a voice for American workers. The wbng.org site may not provide news as fast as radio or CNN, but it will help us to keep our members much better informed on current news affecting us all.

And as you become more current, you'll become more aware of ways that the local's Web site can be improved.

Be more informed and more involved. Your unit's web page on wbng.org is your chance to share information and concerns about your workplace. If you'd like to contribute to a page, please give newsworthy items to your unit chair: The name can be found on the Web site!

The Guild: Your voice at work, and on the Web.

-- Lori Calderone
WBNG Administrative Officer

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President's Perspective

Over the next 12 months, the local will be engaged in bargaining 12 collective bargaining agreements. This is half of the local's contracts. As union members, this is the prime opportunity for us to get involved in issues affecting our workplaces, and to build strength and unity within our units.

Union members have the important legal right to exercise our voices in the workplace on any and all issues that impact the terms and conditions of our employment. Management doesn't merely have to listen; labor law requires that it bargain. These rights extend beyond wages and benefits, to all issues affecting terms of employment. It is up to all of us to make our voices heard, and to become active at the unit level.

Employers resist workers trying to organize into unions, and they often challenge unions where they already represent workers for one simple reason: POWER! In an organized workplace, workers are empowered. The recent Guild campaign at the Washington Blade is the perfect example of an employer threatened by worker power. Blade management put on an aggressive anti-union campaign that included threatening to fire some workers while making promises to others-actions taken for the sole purpose of maintaining power over the workplace.

The union's power lies in the collective support and actions of the membership. It is imperative for members in every unit to actively demonstrate solidarity, without which the union's power is diminished. Units can build and maintain unity by holding regular membership meetings, setting up work-site communication, and formalizing steward structures.

Each unit should strive to have a mobilization structure to strengthen communications amongst union members, and to organize workers' voices into a clear message to management. WBNG's local representatives are available to help to build strong unit structures that maximize your voice at work. As the local embarks upon this intense year of contract talks, many units will begin to mobilize around workplace issues being negotiated at the bargaining table. I hope that all members take an active role on Guild unit committees, including bargaining and mobilization committees: You can be sure that employers are organizing their own forces. We must do the same.

WBNG plays an important role in bargaining and representation. The best negotiator, however, is only as strong as the workers he or she represents. As we enter into a critical and exciting bargaining year, I hope that each member takes the time to learn more about your union. The union is the driving force in bringing forth positive change, while mitigating negative outcome.

Take time to exercise your voice at work!!

In solidarity,

-- Dawn Lamar
WBNG President

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Guild Training Programs

You still have time to register for Guild training programs. To register, please email your name, work phone, and unit to NBanks@wbng.org, or call Local 32035 at 202-785-3650, ext. 10.

Steward Training
Saturday, September 8
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Washington Guild Office
1100 15th St., NW

Legal Rights of Stewards, Management Rights, Standards for Just Cause, and Grievance Investigation and Preparation are just a few of the covered topics. Please register by September 5.

Safety and Health Training
Saturday, October 27
9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Location To Be Announced

Ergonomics Training, Evaluating Workplace Hazards, Organizing and Mobilizing Around Safety and Health Issues, and Understanding the Applicable Laws are among the covered topics. Please register by October 12.

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TNG Activist Joins Local Staff

Paul Reilly, WBNG's new local rep

Local 32035 welcomes Paul Reilly as our newest local representative.

Reilly joins the WBNG staff after 19 years with Associated Press Broadcast, where he was a reporter. He has been an active member of The Newspaper Guild for years and was a vice president of the Wire Service Guild (Local 31222) when he left AP. While with WSG, he served as a steward, contract negotiator, publications editor, and organizer.

Reilly will be working with unit members at the Bureau of National Affairs, Agence France-Presse, Catholic News Service, (American Nurses) Association Staff Union, E-L & Associates, United Way of America, and the National Coalition for the Homeless.

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Labor Cares, Labor Shares

Target the AFL-CIO's Metro-Washington labor council's Community Services Agency with your United Way donation.

It's easy enough: To designate all or part of your United Way contribution, just use designation number 8253.

For more information about agency programs, email Kathy McKirchy at kmckirch@dclabor.org.

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