Statements of Candidates

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FOR VICE PRESIDENT

MAGGIE COHEN
Our union faces significant challenges in the coming months. The news and information industry is experiencing revolutionary changes in the technology and processes that we, the workers, use to gather and disseminate our product. At the same time, we all face broader economic and political uncertainties that are leading many employers to cut costs and seek increased control over work processes. To achieve their goals, employers will undoubtedly aim to weaken organized labor's protection of employees' salaries, benefits and working conditions.

To meet these challenges, we need leaders who will ensure that our union maintains a professional staff that is adequate in numbers and sufficiently trained, imaginative, and committed to our members. We need leaders intent on strengthening our union in contract negotiations and in on-the-job representation of our members, through well-planned organizing and mobilizing efforts, regional inter-union affiliations, and by using the resources of our parent unions, The Newspaper Guild and CWA.

As the local's secretary for the past year, and an executive council member for the last two, I have fought for adequate and responsive staffing, and have urged the local's elected leaders to play a more active role in directing our union. I have also sought to involve our union in the initiatives of the broader labor movement This fall I chaired the local's "Labor 2000" subcommittee that promoted non-partisan democratic participation in the recent presidential elections by conducting voter registration at the Sun, Post, and BNA, and a political forum at BNA.

I spoke out for, and helped our union achieve, affiliation with the Northern Virginia Central Labor Council, an AFL-CIO-sponsored coalition of unions. And I worked to increase member participation in our local by serving on the local's Membership Meeting Committee.

I have been involved in the labor movement for 25 years, as a rank-and-file activist in the steel mills of Pittsburgh, as a teacher of labor relations and labor law, and as a union-side labor attorney.I would appreciate your vote and your support so that I may continue my work to strengthen our local and prepare for the challenges ahead.

BILL SALGANIK
About thirty years ago, I became a reporter. Now, I've transformed into a content provider.

About thirty years ago, I joined The Newspaper Guild. Now, I've become a Communications Worker of America.

It's good that we've become Communications Workers. We need to adapt to an industry that is rapidly changing and blending with other industries. At the same time, we must retain our Guild culture (including political neutrality) and the principles which are the essence of trade unionism: fair treatment, fair pay, job security, a voice in the workplace.

At the local and unit level, we need to think strategically, rather than just reacting to whatever comes our way. In bargaining and enforcing contracts, this means planning for where we need to be as our employers change direction. In organizing, this means thinking about how we define our industry and taking a more proactive approach to expanding our union's coverage. And we need to organize internally, so our new co-workers know why a union is vital for them.

To do all this, we need to encourage more membership involvement. We need the expertise and continuity of professional staff, but we also need to draw on our own skills.

I've served as unit chair, the highest Guild office at the Sun, for the past three years, as well as another term nearly 20 years ago. I've spent nearly a decade on the executive councils of two Guild locals, been on three Sun bargaining committees, been a delegate to half a dozen Guild conventions. I've worked on grievances, arbitrations and unfair labor practice charges. I've been involved in the formation of a coalition of Tribune Company unions, to share information and strategies. I've completed a course at the George Meany Center for Labor Studies. I've been on strike twice. Now, I hope to continue my involvement as vice-president of the local.

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FOR TREASURER

CAROL OBERDORFER
I've been an activist in the Newspaper Guild since I began my job as legal editor at BNA over 17 years ago. In my early years, I led our unit's organizing committee, and then sat on our union-management EEO committee. I served as co-chair at BNA in the early 90s and headed our unit's grievance committee. I've handled dozens of grievances (maybe hundreds) as my overflowing file cabinet attests. I've sat on the BNA Guild bargaining team through four rounds of negotiations. I regularly lead Guild orientations to encourage new BNA employees to join the union. In recent years I have also conducted floor meetings at BNA on employment issues affecting the company's growing "tech" workforce, and on the impact of new technology, competition and other forces on editorial department morale and job satisfaction. I've regularly taken advantage of the Local's stewards training programs to enhance and update my skills as a shop steward.

On the local Level, I have been a delegate on the Executive Council for most of the past decade, and currently serve as the Local's treasurer. I have participated in several search committees to find new staff. I have represented the Local (and the BNA unit) at regional Southern District Council and Tri-Council meetings here and out of state, and was recently elected secretary of the Southern District Council. At the invitation of TNG President Linda Foley, I delivered a speech on copyright law issues last year to the International Federation of Journalists in Boston. I have been a delegate to the TNG convention three times, and was a delegate to the CWA convention the year that the Guild first celebrated its affiliation with that union.

At the unit level and beyond, I have been motivated by a dual commitment to serve and to learn from my brothers and sisters in the Guild. As treasurer for the past year, I have taken seriously my duty as the Local's fiscal watchdog. After all, the money our Local spends is our members' dues. I hope you'll vote to continue me on in that position.

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FOR AT-LARGE DELEGATES

EUGENE FREEDMAN
I am a legal editor on BNA's Labor Relations Reporter. Since I have been at BNA, I have served as a steward, and on BNA's organizing, mobilizing, and contract negotiation committees. A labor lawyer by training, I worked as a volunteer staff attorney at the National Labor Relations Board where I had the opportunity to write NLRB decisions and to participate in the decision-making process. I believe these experiences equip me to assist the local in using unfair labor practice charges and procedures strategically, to assist in organizing and representing Guild members.

I graduated from Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations before I went to law school. There I took classes in collective bargaining, labor history, contemporary trade union movements, and labor economics among others. These were intensive classes that have prepared me to participate in high-level union decision-making.

I have also worked at two AFL-CIO member unions, the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers and the American Federation of Teachers. I worked in the collective bargaining and legal departments at the Bricklayers and in the department of legislation at the Teachers. These experiences have given me insight into how large international unions participate in the local, regional, and national communities and how they increase their spheres of influence to gain benefits for their members.

I believe in a strong, active labor movement. I would appreciate the privilege of serving as an At-Large member of the Executive Council, so that I might put my academic strengths, knowledge, and experiences in the broader union movement to work for the benefit of Guild members at the local level.

DENNIS J. LEWIS
I stand as a candidate pledged to much-needed reform efforts within Local 35. Previous members of the Executive Council have drifted away and stopped attending meetings because they 1) did not see sufficient or any progress within our union and 2) did not feel that they and their ideas were welcomed. I regret such attitudes almost as much as I dislike the atmosphere that breeds such negativity. I have attended Council meetings since 1994 and have only missed one when I suffered a stroke. Now we are ready for new ideas and new leadership. I feel confident that we are ready to clear the path to progress and establish an atmosphere where all members will feel welcome and encouraged to contribute. It is particularly important that all five delegates at large seek new ways to meet this challenge directly by revising our rules and policies so these ends are met. When this is accomplished, all will see our Local as a vital, growing and member-friendly body that can and will effectively represent and make decisions in the best interests of Guild members.

KEN MAY
I have been a unit chair and co-chair at BNA for five years. During that time we won, among other things, well-baby care, free dental examinations, an increased pension, and an improved disability program. We also started a leave bank and became the first unit in the local to negotiate domestic partnership coverage.

I have been on the Executive Council for almost a decade in one office or another. I've also served in sector offices and was chair of the successful 1995 campaign to elect Linda Foley president and Bernie Lunzer secretary-treasurer.

I am running because I would like to see us do more to fulfill the main goal of the sector's strategic plan-increase membership involvement.

I understand the pressing need to organize, but we can't lose sight of the importance of servicing our existing and newly-organized members. Unions exist to improve our members' lives, and having lots of members is a means to that goal, not a goal it self.

I also believe that we should focus our organizing on the communications industry.

Finally, I not only have been active at BNA, I have picketed on behalf of the Post unit, attended meetings at both the Baltimore Sun and the UFCW, and the reception for AFL-CIO retirees the Guild put on. I think my job as an at-large member of the executive council is to represent not just my unit but all the units and I think I've had some experiences over the years that make it possible for me to do so.

MARK NAYDAN
I have been a Guild member at the Bureau of National Affairs for 10 years. I know people who work for our direct competitors and I can attest to the superior benefits we receive because of Guild representation. I have also seen that those benefits have been hard won, and retained only with perseverance and persistence. As a member of the Contract 2000 bargaining committee at BNA, I have also learned the importance of assuring that the local provide adequate resources and committed staff support to the units if we are to successfully go `head-to-head' with management.

We have just begun a strategic planning committee at BNA of which I am the chair. We hope the committee will help us to deal with conflicts before they happen, and will arm us with the information about our employer and our industry that we can use effectively in negotiations, corporate campaigns, and mobilizing. On the Executive Council, I would like also to work on strategic planning so that our local will continue to grow stronger, smarter, and more responsive to the changing economic and industry environment. I hope to be a reform-minded advocate for the interests of our members and will work to expand our union membership. I would appreciate your vote and support.

MARK PATTISON
As someone who works in a small Guild unit, I've had to look at the big picture during my 11 consecutive years of service on the Executive Council. That picture includes, but is hardly limited to, the hands-off stance advocated by Post editorial members on political activity; the Sun unit's no-contract, no-work history; open-shop challenges at BNA, AFP and the Post; and our many labor units' struggles with supposedly enlightened management. (When I got my master's degree in labor studies in 1998, my "internship" paper was on union leaders' conduct as managers.) My big-picture outlook has served our local well as we've developed approaches to organize both free-riders at open shops and new members in unorganized shops. It's helped the local set policies that reflect the will of the members, and to direct our staff to carry them out. It's also helped the Executive Council work through the inevitable disagreements that occur from time to time in determining how to address the many needs of the Guild's second-largest U.S. local. My Guild service includes two years as an at-large delegate and four years as local secretary. I'd like to continue that service and humbly ask for your vote.

DITA SMITH
It is my firm belief that democratic unions are one of the strongest guarantees of progress in the workplace and in American society. This conviction has led me to offer myself as an At-Large candidate for the Baltimore-Washington Newspaper Guild Executive Board.

I have been a Guild member for almost 30 years, first with The Washington Star, until it died in 1981, and for the past 20 years with The Washington Post, where I have been working on the foreign desk, as copy editor, night editor, and now graphics editor.

I am currently the chief steward in the newsroom and have been busy recruiting new members. With a recently accelerating turnover, this keeps me plenty busy.

With newspapers rapidly moving into the electronic media, including Internet web-sites and TV production, there are many, many new issues important to reporters, editors, support staff and commercial employees. It is their interests that I would like to represent.

Making unions stronger is important to democracy. I am committed to helping achieve this important goal.

CANDUS THOMSON
I have been management at the Sun. Now I am in the Guild. I sleep better now.

DIANE YAMINI
It is my firm belief that the strength of unions will play an integral part in the future of America's worker. To me, this has been proven by Verizon employees through their recent sucess in obtaining a fair contract during an 'era of big business'. As someone coming to you as both a fellow Guild member and as a former delegate and officer of WBNA, I would be honored to once again serve you.

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Officers Already Elected

NOTE: The following Guild members were elected by acclamation to serve as officers and at-Large delegates of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild for the year 2001:

President
Dawn M. Rodriguez-Lamar, American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organization

Secretary
J. Darlene Meyer, The Washington Post

 

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Sample Ballot

The following is a facsimile of the ballot that voters will be using in this election.