Local to Issue New 'Herb Block Community Service Award'
A new service award, the "Herb Block Community Service Award" has been added to the roster of honors bestowed annually by the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild. The newest award commemorates the life and service of Herbert Block, the editorial cartoonist known to millions of newspaper readers as Herblock. Block, a member of the very first Newspaper Guild local in Cleveland in 1933, died last year at the age of 91, and left a substantial bequest to WBNG.

Let the Contest Begin! Local Accepting Submissions for Front Page and Guild Service Awards
Competition for Guild Service Awards -- as well as for the Front Page Awards -- has officially begun. The deadline for submitting entries is Monday, April 1.

What the Guild Has Meant to the Post's Judy Mann
In a flyer distributed to the Post Guild unit, recently retired Post columnist Judy Mann tells her Guild colleagues ... "Both times I needed help from the Guild, I got it. ... I want all of my colleagues to know what the Guild has done to improve working conditions at the Post. I know that sometimes we feel the Guild is David going up against Goliath, but I have seen the Guild prevail."

Surprisingly Fast Work Forges New Deal at FAST
Experiencing the unit's smoothest negotiations in memory, Guild members at the Food and Allied Service Trades Department/Research Associates of America (FAST) won a four-year contract in early January that gives staffers raises of about 13 percent in the first year of the agreement. Each of the bargaining unit's five staffers will be granted the hefty pay hike on the anniversary of his or her hire-date.

Herb Block Community Service Award Added to WBNG 'Front Page' Slate

A new service award, the "Herb Block Community Service Award" has been added to the roster of honors bestowed annually by the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild.

There are now five Guild Service Awards saluting members' work on behalf of Local 32035, with this year's winners being honored for work performed in 2001. A Guild-sponsored ceremony in May also will pay tribute to WBNG's Front Page Award winners.

The newest award commemorates the life and service of Herbert Block, the editorial cartoonist known to millions of newspaper readers as Herblock.

Block, a member of the very first Newspaper Guild local in Cleveland in 1933, died last year at the age of 91, and left a substantial bequest to the WBNG and its parent union, The Newspaper Guild-Communication Workers of America. (Click here to read the Dec. 2001 Guild Forum Online article about Block's gifts to the Guild.)

Since this is the first year of the new award, the term "community service" is purposely defined quite loosely. It can stretch as far as your definition of "community"--including, but hardly limited to, the union community, the journalism community, your church, neighborhood or town, or even combinations thereof.

A panel of Executive Council members from Local 32035 TNG-CWA will review all nominations for the Herb Block Community Service Award and the other four Guild Service Awards.

The other service awards are:

• The Dan de Souza Memorial Member of the Year Award, honoring the memory of the Washington Newspaper Guild's first president, who perished in an auto accident while on a Christmas Eve mission to deliver donated toys to the children of striking newspaper workers in New Jersey in 1934;
• The Nadine Grinder Memorial Steward of the Year Award, memorializing the tenacious shop steward at the Washington Post;
• Unit Officer of the Year, for which any elected officer in any of WBNG's 21 bargaining units is eligible;
• Organizer of the Year, which recognizes member recruiting efforts by a Guild member.

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Let the Contest Begin! Local Accepting Submissions for Front Page and Guild Service Awards

Competition for Guild Service Awards -- as well as for the Front Page Awards -- has officially begun.

The deadline for submitting entries is Monday, April 1. Judges are hoping that electronic versions (or Web links to the work) of the entries will be submitted along with the hard-copy versions.

The awards are open to anyone who is covered by a WBNG contract, as well as to at-large members of the local.

Entrants may submit up to three entries for each category, but may not submit the same entry in more than one category. Judges retain the right to move entries to different categories.

Front Page Awards are given in several different categories of writing, photography and design. Guild members who win in those categories are in line for one of three top prizes: the William Pryor Memorial Grand Prize for Writing; the William Pryor Memorial Grand Prize for Photography; and the John Albano Memorial Grand Prize for Design.

FRONT PAGE AWARD CATEGORIES

There are 25 Front Page Awards in writing, photography and design. Recently added awards are for Web-site design, Guild unit publication, and labor promotional campaign.

Writing Awards

Photography Awards

Design Awards

GUILD SERVICE AWARD CATEGORIES

The deadline for all entries is 5 p.m. Monday, April 1. Entries must be delivered to the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, 1100 15th St. NW, Suite 350, Washington, D.C. 20005. Walk-in entries are permitted between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays. For details, call 202-785-3650.

(To read about last year's winners, click here to view the May-June 2001 edition of the Guild Forum Online.

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What the Guild Has Meant to the Post's Judy Mann

(Judy Mann retired Dec. 31 after nearly three decades as a reporter and columnist at the Washington Post. The following was distributed in a Guild flyer in early Februrary.)

Dear Colleagues:

We are now entering the period of new contract negotiations between The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild and the Washington Post. As someone who has been a member of the Guild for 33 years, I know how hard WBNG has worked to improve the salaries and working conditions of its members.

I've seen the dedication of our colleagues who have sat on the terribly frustrating bargaining committees across the table from an intractable management team. I am grateful to the Guild for all the work I have seen it do.

There are two instances, in particular, where the Guild was extremely supportive of me. Many women in the newsroom have benefited from the first grievance I brought, and I hope women now and in the future will benefit from the second complaint.

In 1975, when I was pregnant with my second son, I told the Post that I wanted to use at least six weeks of my accumulated sick leave to recoup from childbirth and the attendant exhaustion that settles in on every household with a new baby. The Post responded that I could take sick leave during the pregnancy, but the only leave I could use afterwards was maternity leave. I argued maternity leave was for arranging for child care, weaning the baby and so forth, and was not for the physical recovery from childbirth.

The Guild pursued that grievance and, as a result, other new mothers and I have been able to combine sick leave and maternity leave in a way that allows us to recuperate from pregnancy and childbirth, make satisfactory child-care arrangements, and spend a longer period of time bonding with our infants. All of us who have benefited from this change in policy should know that it came about through a grievance pursued by The Guild.

More recently, The Guild pursued a pay discrimination complaint on my behalf through an arbitration procedure. This was a long, difficult and expensive process. The Guild retained Wendy Kahn of Zwerdling, Paul, Leibig, Kahn, & Wolly to represent the women at the Post who filed complaints. My complaint went to four days of arbitration in May. I told my husband the night before the final day that no matter how this came out, I thought I'd gotten a fair hearing and that I could not have asked for a more competent, thorough, tough-minded attorney than Wendy Kahn.

We ultimately settled the case. The confidentiality agreement surrounding the settlement forbids all parties involved from revealing the terms, but I am able to say that I am very happy about the outcome. It is my hope that no woman will ever again walk through the doors of the Post thinking she is paid less than her colleagues because of her gender.

The Guild made the outcome of my complaint possible. I could never have afforded the legal fees involved myself. And, I'm not sure I would have had the courage to pursue a pay discrimination complaint on my own. This town is not full of labor lawyers anxious to go up against the Washington Post. The Guild never wavered in its determination to see this case through, and Guild Local Representative Rick Ehrmann was present at every day of the arbitration.

Both times I needed help from the Guild, I got it. I am sharing these stories with you because I want all of my colleagues to know what the Guild has done to improve working conditions at the Post. I know that sometimes we feel the Guild is David going up against Goliath, but I have seen the Guild prevail.

I would urge all of you who are members to remain steadfast, and all of you who are not members to join. The Guild is the only protection we have and, as they say in the world of sports, it's really shown me something.

- Judy Mann

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Surprisingly Fast Work Forges New Deal at FAST

Experiencing the unit's smoothest negotiations in memory, Guild members at the Food and Allied Service Trades Department/Research Associates of America (FAST) won a four-year contract in early January that gives staffers raises of about 13 percent in the first year of the agreement. Each of the bargaining unit's five staffers will be granted the hefty pay hike on the anniversary of his or her hire-date.

Although Guild negotiators have improved the FAST contract significantly through the years, bargaining usually has been a battle: Since its inception, the AFL-CIO trade department's philosophy has been that workers are hired not to build careers at FAST, but to start careers in labor. Traditionally, FAST staffers are working at their first union jobs.

Nowadays, however, workers not only have more incentive to start out with FAST, but to stay with labor.

Contract language first included in the last pact (signed four years ago), makes clear that the department will help place "senior" employees in other labor jobs. And you don't have to be there too long to be considered a veteran: Non-binding language in the last two agreements recommends that FAST workers not stay with the department more than 36 months.

The newest pact, which went into effect Jan. 1, stipulates that a Labor Management Committee will meet to assess each Guild member's ergonomic needs, and features expanded on-the-job opportunities for FAST researchers. Negotiations were handled by Erin Bryant and Shari Sames (the unit's co-chairs), shop steward Shawn Gilchrist, and WBNG Local Representative Rick Ehrmann.

While the double-digit pay hike is a plus, Bryant is especially pleased with the improvements in field-research opportunities. "Everyone will now be doing field research in their first year. Before, we weren't getting the early opportunity to learn a variety of research skills," Bryant said, adding, "Management likes the expansion of the field-research role; they told us it will give them more flexibility in giving out assignments."

Flexibility also means that "We'll be more likely to get to do work in a variety of industries," Gilchrist said. "The field-research improvements really widen our opportunities. I expect that this will give us more confidence when we apply for other jobs in labor."

A Few FAST Facts

The Food and Beverage Trades Department, precursor to Food and Allied Service Trades, was formally incorporated as an AFL-CIO trade and industrial department in 1977.

FBTD staff soon organized the Independent Staff Union, which, while seeking recognition as a bargaining unit, briefly went on strike in 1979.

When talks on the unit's first contract renewal reached a stalemate in December 1981, a second strike featured a one-day walkout.

At roughly the same time that the department underwent its name change, in early 1983, the ISU affiliated with The Newspaper Guild, which since 1958 had been representing professional workers in the federation's constutitional departments (e.g., Public Affairs).

In January 1986, FAST staff walked out again: A Local 35 picket line received national media attention and in effect shut down federation headquarters for two days, until negotiations with the 10-member unit resumed.

Things have been relatively quiet on the FAST bargaining front since the late 1980s, although when a contract lapsed in January 1998, staffers exercised "work to rule" options and passed out handbills in front of their offices across 15th Street from AFL-CIO headquarters.

FAST workers now have offices in the former Communications Workers of America headquarters on K Street, a few blocks from the labor federation in downtown Washington.

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