In a letter to the Department of Justice Acting Attorney General, “The Executive Council of The NewsGuild-CWA calls for the immediate production of any evidence or grounds for detaining the six journalists who were arrested during the presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2017. If no evidence supporting these detentions is produced, The NewsGuild demands that all charges against them be dropped. Further, all personnel involved in policing public protests should be trained in the fundamental necessity — and legally protected right — of a free press to perform its duties without harassment or interference.” https://goo.gl/f9bKGw
Executive Council Meets at Maritime Institute to Chart Course for 2017
Executive Council meets, around the table: Region 4 VP Mike Cabanatuan, Executive Vice President Marian Needham, President, Bernie Lunzer, International Chairperson Martha Waggoner, Region 2 VP Sheila Lindsay, Region 5 VP Eric Russ, Canada VP Scott Edmonds, Region 6 VP Jeff Gordon, Region 3 VP Kevin Flowers, CWA/SCA Canada President Martin O’Hanlon. Not seated at table, Lois Kirkup, CWA/SCA Canada VP; Barbara Camens, legal counsel; and Melissa Nelson, Director of Collective Bargaining.
Guild Signs on to SPJ Letter
The Guild signed onto a January 18 letter from the Society of Professional Journalists and 70 other journalism organizations requesting a meeting with then President-elect Donald Trump to discuss better open access to government for the media. https://goo.gl/nswRii
New York Guild Members Approve New Contract at Time Inc., Ending 2-Year Dispute with Company
By Janelle Hartman
NewsGuild of New York
NewsGuild of New York members at Time Inc. approved a revised settlement offer by a 3-to-1 margin Thursday, ending a two-year dispute with the company.
Members overwhelmingly rejected a company offer in June, prior to a National Labor Relations Board administrative ruling that favored the company. The Guild brought the case when Time Inc. declared impasse and imposed work rules nearly two years ago. As part of the settlement, the Guild is dropping its appeal of the ruling. Continue reading “New York Guild Members Approve New Contract at Time Inc., Ending 2-Year Dispute with Company”
Journalists Do Not Forfeit Section 7 Rights
Now that the president has described journalists as enemies of the people, it’s past time to assess our role not just as journalists but as citizens in a new world order that seems at odds with the values espoused in our contracts and our everyday representation of NewsGuild-CWA members.
Journalists strive to be fair in our stories. We quote all sides of issues, and we don’t publish photos that distort a scene into something it’s not. Our contracts also strive for fairness in calling for equal pay for men and women and no discrimination based on age, sex, sexual orientation or religion. Continue reading “Journalists Do Not Forfeit Section 7 Rights”
Solidarity of Halifax Strikers Passes the One-Year Mark
Solidarity on the picket line has enabled 55 Chronicle Herald strikers endure a second consecutive winter on the picket line in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The CWA Canada Halifax Typographical Union began the walkout January 23, 2016, when management was about to impose union-busting working conditions and threatened a lockout. The take-it-or-leave-it negotiating stance by the company is an blatant attempt to split the strikers into the haves and have-nots. It has not worked and on Feb. 9, the company refused to continue to bargain. Continue reading “Solidarity of Halifax Strikers Passes the One-Year Mark”
The RIGHT to REPORT
President Donald Trump and members of his administration apparently haven’t read the Constitution lately, if ever.
Maybe Mr. Trump doesn’t understand the self-evident truth of the First Amendment right that gave unabridged freedom to the press and the necessary protections it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. Continue reading “The RIGHT to REPORT”
Guild Booth at Excellence in Journalism 2016
Martha Waggoner, Guild International Chairperson and Kevin McGill, News Media Guild members from the Associated Press unit, helped staff a booth at the 2016 Excellence in Journalism conference in New Orleans in September 2016. The conference was a collaboration of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Radio Television Digital News Association.
The Year That Was
By Julie Reynolds
Reporter-Editor, dfmworkers.org
For NewsGuild-CWA members at Digital First Media newspapers, the year began auspiciously. In January, a dozen units from the nation’s second-largest newspaper chain joined together in an unprecedented coalition to fight for long-sought wage increases and to launch a national #NewsMatters campaign to raise awareness about the importance of local journalism.
It’s a fight that continues as we enter a new year with nothing less than democracy at stake. Continue reading “The Year That Was”
CWA S-T Steffens Lauds Award Winners, Warns of Threats to Journalism
There has never been a more important time to celebrate and lift up journalism. Lately I’ve been hearing a very chilling notion: that we are entering a “post-truth era.”
Why a post-truth era? We have a president who is prone to taking to Twitter to broadcast plain lies, such as his recent outrageous claim that states permitted millions of people to vote illegally. Continue reading “CWA S-T Steffens Lauds Award Winners, Warns of Threats to Journalism”