Electronic Newsletter of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA Local 32035

Oct. 31 , 2003

• WBNG Honors Workers Who Rake in the Revenue
• TNG Sets Strategic Forum, Jan. 23-25
• Employers Turn to Workers for Cost Savings
• In Labor History, 100 Years Ago
• Support The Union Choice For Charitable Giving
• Freedom Riders Highlight Human Rights Issues
• Day of Action to Restore the Freedom to Form Unions and Bargain Collectively
• WBNG Welcomes New and Returning Members
• Applications for 2004 Union Plus Scholarship Program Now Available
• Shop On-Line for Union-Made-in-the-USA Products

WBNG Honors Workers Who Rake in the Revenue

Five Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild units celebrated CWA’s third annual Customer Service Professional Day on October 8, honoring the hundreds of front-line workers serving customers in advertising, circulation, accounting and other areas. WBNG recognized Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, American Nurses Association, Catholic News Service, and Bureau of National Affairs members who bring in literally millions of dollars in revenue for their employers. The Post and the Sun arranged “me-too” celebrations after learning of the Guild’s plans. Their appreciation should have been shown at their respective bargaining tables, where instead they offered only meager support for these employees (in the neighborhood of 2% increases).

The Guild honored Washington Post customer service representatives (CSR) by treating them in the newspaper’s cafeteria to a huge chocolate sheet cake with red frosting that said, “We Bring In the Bucks.” In the Circulation and Accounting departments, employees enjoyed a cake with the message, “We Make The Post.”

Baltimore Sun Advertising and Circulation Guild CSRs divided up five 6-foot long subs, and two huge cakes for a lunch-time celebration, along with the buttons and stickers. Guild Bureau of National Affairs’ CSRs celebrated on three days: first day with coffee and donuts (“We Are the Center of Business”); second day with bagels and fresh fruit (“A Fresh Approach to Unity”); third day with sodas and pizza (“Get a Piece of the Action!”).

American Nurses Association Guild members enjoyed lunch while listening to an AFL-CIO Union Privilege presentation on the wide range of consumer discounts available to union members. A contest for employees’ favorite service representatives produced five winners out of 20 nominees drawn from a box—prizes included meals and merchandise donated by local businesses. Catholic News Service Guild members with honored with praise and refreshments.

Special thanks to Guild members who worked hard to honor their union brothers and sisters: Alvesta Cooper, Angie Kuhl, Sheila Cole, and Phyllis Vaughn, (Sun), Shawna Menefree and Marline Casselle (BNA), Darlene Meyer, Lynn Sulyma, Myra Hatala, and David Robie (Post), Shari Dexter, Dana Featherstone, and Sheila Lindsay (American Nurses), Mark Pattison, Maureen Daly, Nancy Hartnagel and Cassandra Shieh (CNS).

TNG Sets Strategic Forum, Jan. 23-25

The Guild’s parent union, The Newspaper Guild (TNG) has scheduled a major strategic planning meeting for Guild leaders and activists for January 23-25, 2004. This critical meeting will be held in our backyard at the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (“MITAGS”) near BWI Airport (directions will be placed on our website, along with agenda when set).

The forum is still in its planning stage, but will focus on the challenges of bargaining with major corporations in a hostile, low union density industry and country. Activists will explore TNG’s role with its locals in building a national bargaining presence, and will establish a long term action plan.

WBNG activists are encouraged to attend. The meeting is free and open. Post and Sun activists who fought valiantly against their mega-employers, and will surely do so again and again, are urged to attend.

Employers Turn To Workers For Cost Savings

Downsizing, buyouts, and shifting health care costs are common issues across the WBNG bargaining unit these days.

The Washington Post is planning to offer buyouts to employees, and is currently in negotiations with WBNG over the specifics.

A rash of small layoffs have hit the Bureau of National Affairs. Eleven workers in three departments were notified in recent weeks that their jobs are ending. Nine were production department employees, reflecting effects of technological changes. BNA’s contract provides that voluntary severance opportunities will be offered before involuntary layoffs, and volunteers for most of the RIFs have been found. Of the eleven, only three or four will leave involuntarily, including one person who will be bumped by a more senior RIFfed production department employee. Two BNA unit members were able to keep their jobs because of new contract language won by the Guild allowing those who might want to take a RIF to put their names on a volunteer RIF list.

AFL-CIO Guild unit members gave up two compensatory days to avoid layoffs and help the financial picture at the labor federation.

The Baltimore Sun, owned by corporate giant Tribune (which saw a 2% rise in publishing revenues last quarter) will reach into workers’ pockets for an added $135,129 in increased employee out -of- pocket charges—the shift saves Tribune $100,000 in premium payments.

Support The Union Choice For Charitable Giving

The United Way Campaign now underway provides an excellent opportunity for union members to support their community and the workers who make it go.

The Community Services Agency of the Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO (designate United Way code 8253) and the Baltimore Central Labor Council Community Services Agency (designate United Way code 6161) provide help for workers: info/referral for social services problems, emergency financial assistance, job training and placement, youth programs, lay-off preparation and more. Please support the union choice for charitable giving!

Freedom Riders Highlight Human Rights Issues
On October 1st, Guild members participated in three events that make us proud to be active members of the labor movement. The events heralded the Baltimore and Washington arrivals of scores of buses filled with immigrant workers demanding dignity, respect, and human rights. The AFL-CIO organized the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride to educate and agitate for action on the following issues:

• Legalization and a road to citizenship for all immigrants in the US.
• The right to reunite immigrant families.
• Protection of workers’ rights on the job regardless of immigration status.
• Protection of the civil rights and civil liberties of all.

WBNG President Bill Salganik, Secretary Bonnita Spikes, and Representative Cet Parks attended the Baltimore Prayer Breakfast Welcome for Freedom Riders. Guild members were on hand to welcome to Freedom Riders to Washington that afternoon. Bonnita Spikes, numerous present and past Guild members, and Local Representative Rick Erhmann participated in a tremendously uplifting evening rally of over 2000 people at the Bible Way Temple.

Amid the applause and chants of “Si Se Puede,” contingent after contingent of Freedom Riders from twelve cities filed into the church. Some told their stories:

• The woman from Southeast Asia who fought for six years to form a union at a San Francisco Marriott, amid firings and threats of deportation;
• The woman from Mexico whose 19 year old son’s traffic citation resulted in him being taken to an INS detention center and held there pending deportation. When she went to visit him she was told that he had died at the facility. She read a poem she wrote dedicated to her son and said she took the bus all the way from San Francisco to help end the injustice immigrant workers endure;
• The woman who came to the US to escape extreme poverty and to help her family by working in the US and sending some of her pay home.

Speakers included AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, Mayor Anthony Williams and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton. For many in the audience, the highlight of the evening was an impassioned address by Congressman John Lewis, an original SNCC Freedom Rider of the 1960s who was spat upon, gassed, and severely beaten in his struggle for the right to vote and to desegregate public accommodations in the South. He urged participants to continue the fight for social and economic justice.

Day Of Action To Restore The Freedom To Form Unions And Bargain Collectively

Jobs with Justice, the AFL-CIO, and several International Unions are planning and building for a national Day of Action on December 10, celebrated as International Human Rights Day, that will mobilize union and community members to dramatize the failure of U.S. labor law and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to protect workers’ democratic rights. On December 10, 1948, more than 80% of United Nations members states adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which includes the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and the right to join and form trade unions. Today, those rights are under attack.

To win higher wages, health care for their families, and job security, workers have historically engaged in organizing and collective bargaining through unions. But corporate America has waged war against workers’ rights. Too often, when workers try to organize, they are harassed, intimidated and even fired. Thirty million workers say they want a union, but employers spend millions to fight their unionization efforts. Here are the facts according to a Cornell University study:

• At least 25% of employers fire at least oneactivist during a union drive.
• 75% hire professional anti-union consultants.
• Over 50% of employers either threaten to shut their facilities or slash jobs if workers vote for a union.

In 1993 Jobs with Justice, working with International Unions and the Industrial Union Department of the AFL-CIO, organized demonstrations at NLRB offices that mobilized 10,000 people in 26 cities. Over 150 trade unionists and their allies were arrested in non-violent civil disobedience. This nationally coordinated action generated media coverage of the injustice, fostered solidarity between unions, and fueled the creation of JwJ Workers’ Rights Boards as an ongoing vehicle for community intervention in local worker struggles.

Ten years later, a revitalized labor movement is doing more than ever to organize, but it is not enough. American labor law is now so weak that it inhibits organizing and bargaining. Employer opposition is emboldened and aided by a multi-million dollar union-busting industry. We must level the playing field to win justice for workers and their families.

(Courtesy of Jobs With Justice, www.JWJ.org)

Applications for 2004 Union Plus Scholarship Program Now Available

This year, 105 students, from families represented by 42 AFL-CIO unions, were selected to receive $150,000 in scholarships from the Union Plus Scholarship program. To download an application go to www.unionplus.org/scholarships or send a postcard with your name, return address, telephone number and union affiliation to: Union Plus Education Foundation, c/o Union Privilege, P.O. Box 34800, Washington, DC 20043-4800.

The application deadline is January 31, 2004. Recipients’ names for the 2004 program will be announced on May 31, 2004. However, due to the high volume of applications, only winners will be notified.
Funding for the Union Plus Scholarship program is provided through the Union Plus Education Foundation.

Shop On-Line For Union-Made-in-the-USA Products

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www.leathercoatsetc.com
Leather coats, jackets, vests and pants union made by UNITE!

www.Diamondcutjeans.com
Union made jeans made in America. Among the last. All cotton, all union!

www.powells.com
Legendary independent book store with all-union work force (ILWU).

www.unionvacations.com
This outfit will hook you up with great vacation plans and packages and steer you to union-staffed hotels, all at competitive prices. All employees are represented by Teamsters local 150.

www.cingular.com
Unionized wireless phone service—represented by CWA!

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