September 2017 – NewsGuild members are actively involved in a CWA human rights campaign, Fight Forward, which seeks to train union activists to fight on behalf of women and people of color.
A key part of the CWA campaign will be to encourage locals to establish Human Rights Committees to partner with local allies. Many Guild locals already have Human Rights committees, and several have done excellent work over the years.September 2017 – NewsGuild members are actively involved in a CWA human rights campaign, Fight Forward, which seeks to train union activists to fight on behalf of women and people of color.
Still, the Fight Forward program got a boost at the CWA convention in August.
Reports from the Women’s Committee — as well as the Civil Rights and Equity Committee — were approved by convention delegates, including those supporting reproductive choice and equal pay for women.
Grace Catania, president of the Chicago NewsGuild, was elected chairperson of the CWA’s National Women’s Committee, and Minnesota Newspaper & Communications Guild President Janet Moore also serves on the committee.
The NewsGuild will name a representative to CWA’s national Civil Rights and Equity Committee as well. In the meantime, Region 2 Vice President Sheila Lindsay has been coordinating the work of the Guild’s Human Rights District Council representatives.
“Because corporations and politicians seek to erode fundamental rights, we are again called to action,” Catania said. “Voting rights, partisan redistricting, attacks on reproductive rights, attacks on immigrants, denial of access to courts, attacks on the health care safety net, and many more issues are cause for serious concern.”
Catania and Moore will be contacting locals throughout The NewsGuild in coming months to determine where Human Rights Committees currently exist and how CWA can support them.
The Minnesota Newspaper & Communications Guild has held four brown-bag sessions — on Islam 101, Military Affairs, Transgender 101 and Native American Issues. The events featured speakers from the Minnesota Islamic Resource Group, the Minnesota National Guard, Outfront Minnesota, the Tiwahe Foundation and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. The speakers addressed issues of concern to their communities and how journalists can improve coverage of them.
For more information, contact Moore at janet.outlaw@gmail.com or Lindsay at avoiceforallofus@yahoo.com.