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Washington Post - Guild NewsFeb. 4 , 2002 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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Washington-Baltimore
Newspaper Guild, Local 32035 TNG-CWA, AFL-CIO/ 1100 15th St., NW,
Suite 350 Washington, DC 20005/ 202-785-3650 /Fax: 202-7859 Copyright © 2002 Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild |
