Washington Post - Guild News

Dec. 3, 2001

Sharing Friendship, Solidarity -- and a Kidney

Two of our longtime Washington Post Guild colleagues have given new meaning to the words "friendship" and "solidarity." As many of you know -- and as we all will read about soon when they write about it in the Post -- Financial News writer Martha McNeil Hamilton donated one of her kidneys on Nov. 20 to Warren Brown, the Post's veteran automotive writer and "On Wheels" columnist.

Martha and Warren have worked for the Post more than 25 years and throughout those years have both been leading activists of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild. Metro Columnist (and Guild member) Courtland Milloy wrote a column about the kidney donation on Nov. 25 and described them this way:

"On the outside, no two people appeared to be so different. Brown, 53, is black and grew up in racially segregated Louisiana; Hamilton, 55, is white and grew up in racially segregated Texas. He comes across as a conservative with a penchant for big business; she's described as a liberal who has a soft side for the working class."

What unites them, though, is their love and friendship, which was cultivated over many years of working together, and of sharing in many struggles of the Guild. Martha has been a member of the Guild bargaining committee and Warren is one of our most vocal members. Both of them have been leading recruiters of new members in the newsroom. Together with their sidekick, former Guild unit chair Frank Swoboda, Martha & Warren occupy a cluster of desks that they call "the elderpod," which has been a Guild recruiting hotbed.

Coincidentally, Warren had recently written a Guild "sermon" which he had wanted to share with members and non-members. So this seemed like a particularly good time to publish his words. We are happy to report that Martha and Warren are both doing great....and looking forward to their return.

Here's Warren's heartfelt "sermon" about the Guild....

Sermon on the Count

My beloved brothers and sisters, children of the working class, sons and daughters of affluence, fellow journalists and wage slaves:

Some of you believe you took religious vows when you joined The Washington Post. You didn't. You joined a corporation, a business. Corporations make money. Any corporation that doesn't make money goes out of business.

...This is not taught in journalism schools. There, you are taught to strive for truth and justice; to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.

Money is hardly mentioned. The assumption is that money and truth are mutually exclusive commodities. They are not.

...Here's the truth:

The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild's current three-year contract with The Post expires May 18, 2002. Post negotiations are always tough, because they are always about money. Talks this year will be tougher.

...Ad rates are down. Operational expenses are up. There is less money to go around.

The Post isn't loose with change in good times. This time, management will be particularly stingy. Many of you will collaborate in this corporate penny-pinching, which could get out of hand.

...You will collaborate by doing what you've always done -- nothing. You will sit on your positions and not join the union in the mistaken belief that your abstinence will lead to a better tomorrow.

I call upon you to leave that narrow path, to walk toward the guiding light, to help our world turn in a better direction.

Join the union. It's good business. It's common sense.

We need to be in a stronger bargaining position. Despite a successful recruitment drive during the previous round of bargaining, Guild membership has fallen, largely due to turnover at the Post.

Bargaining is about strength. Strength is in numbers. No numbers, no strength. No strength, no deal. You become your own story -- the afflicted seeking comfort.

...The truth? Read this morning's headlines. People with power tend to screw those without. The Washington Post is composed of people. Like people everywhere, they live better together if there is a balance of power.

Study history. You can change it, or become it. You aren't being asked to support addle-brained confrontation. You're being asked to champion reason. Remaining uninvolved under these circumstances can lead to something quite unreasonable for all of us.

Join the Guild. If you don't, we're screwed.

That's the truth, and nothin' but the truth.

Come forth. Sign up. Let me hear you say, "Amen!"

- Warren Brown

 


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