The Associated Press has changed its Stylebook entry on “right-to-work” laws after a member of the News Media Guild executive board inquired about the previous definition.
Continue reading “At urging of News Media Guild, AP Stylebook definition of ‘right-to-work’ changes”
March 26, 2019 – On Monday, protesters condemned the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s treatment of employees, who have been working without a contract for two years. The company is refusing to abide by the expired collective bargaining agreement, which is a violation of labor law. Continue reading “Shame on the Blocks!”
March 19, 2019 – Staff of the Allentown Morning Call voted 31 to 12 in favor of unionizing with The NewsGuild-CWA on March 19, garnering 72 percent of the vote. Continue reading “Morning Call editorial staff votes overwhelmingly to unionize with The NewsGuild-CWA”
By Julie Reynolds
This is a reprint of an article that appeared on www.dfmworkers.org on March 19, 2019.
March 19, 2019 – One year ago, a handful of Denver Post current and former staff shocked the paper’s readers, their news chain’s owners and the nation. After yet another round of devastating layoffs — this one leaving its newsroom slashed by a third — they quietly wrote, edited and designed a six-page section that appeared in the Sunday paper on April 8. Continue reading “The Denver Rebellion: A year after reporters at the Denver Post cried out for help, what’s changed?”
March 19, 2019 – The NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia reports the local has made significant progress in closing a gender-based pay gap at the city’s three major publications over the last three years and says union members are determined to eliminate the gap entirely. The local is also committed to closing a race-based pay gap and increasing diversity in the newsroom. Continue reading “Philadelphia NewsGuild touts ‘significant progress’ in reducing gender pay gap; still far to go in newsroom diversity”
For Immediate Release – March 12, 2019
Contact: Bernie Lunzer
202-434-7177
Sally Davidow
sdavidow@cwa-union.org
Unions representing 30,000 reporters, correspondents, photographers, field producers and newsgathering broadcast employees are praising a bill that would make it a federal crime to assault journalists. Continue reading “NewsGuild-CWA, NABET-CWA support Journalist Protection Act”
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Bernie Lunzer |
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Jon Schleuss |
| Bernie Lunzer was elected president of The NewsGuild-CWA in 2008 and was re-elected in 2011 and 2015. He served as secretary-treasurer (now executive vice president) from 1995 to 2008 after working as administrative officer of the Minnesota Guild. And before all that, he took Guild leave to serve as strike captain in 1986.
Bernie got a job in the Advertising department of the St. Paul Pioneer Press-Dispatch in 1979, requesting his union card on his first day. From there, he worked in promotion, circulation and the newsroom. He served on his first bargaining committee in 1981 and two more while unit chair in St. Paul. While administrative officer, he led negotiations in St. Paul and at the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, and other smaller units. Bernie worked for over a year on a pay equity committee involving over 200 positions, while also serving on the health & safety and worker participation committees. The Minnesota local became a model for pushing into areas beyond collective bargaining by using joint worker/management committees to help address employees’ issues. While Guild secretary-treasurer, Bernie assisted the Detroit strikers, representing the International Guild in bargaining in an attempt to secure a negotiated settlement after a return to work. He participated in multiple contract negotiations throughout the U.S. and helped locals in Canada and Puerto Rico on major issues. Bernie served as a pension trustee while in Minnesota and is a trustee and co-chair of the Guild’s international pension plan. He helped to implement a new secure, low-risk plan as an option for Guild members. He has also pursued several alternative ownership strategies in the media industry. |
Jon Schleuss is a Los Angeles Times data and graphics journalist, college instructor and successful union organizer who grew up in rural south Arkansas.
In late 2016, Jon and a colleague launched the organizing campaign that resulted in an overwhelming victory for the NewsGuild at The Times, whose newsroom had never been unionized. The creative tactical moves and communication strategies that Jon helped plot and execute in Times campaign were replicated in successful Guild drives across the country. Jon’s roots as an activist date to his undergraduate years at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, where he organized marches and served on the board of a nonprofit that advances LGBTQ rights. Ten years ago, he became online editor at the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, where he learned the importance of leadership and innovation in a changing industry. He established the company’s social media accounts, promoted the use of blogging, and published breaking news online throughout the day. Jon also worked as a reporter and weekend host at a local NPR station before moving to L.A. in 2013 to join The Times. In the Guild campaign, Jon and his fellow organizers used their leadership skills and journalism smarts to unite the newsroom, outmaneuver the company’s anti-union efforts, expose pay inequities among the staff and report on corporate mismanagement. For the past three years, in addition to his Times and Guild duties, Jon has taught journalism students how to code as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California.
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| Bernie’s statement | Jon’s statement |
By Martha Waggoner, TNG international chair
UPDATED 03-07-2019.
The Boston City Council approved a resolution backing a free press and the Boston Newspaper Guild, which is in the midst of tense negotiations for its members at The Boston Globe. Continue reading “Resolution supporting Boston Newspaper Guild workers gets council’s OK”
Members of The NewsGuild of Philadelphia from across the country have overwhelmingly ratified a new three-year agreement with Restaurant Opportunities Centers United. Continue reading “Philly Guild ratifies three-year agreement with Restaurant Opportunities Center”
By Caroline Grannan, Guild unit chair, San Francisco Chronicle
Feb. 28, 2019 – Managers at the San Francisco Chronicle illegally restricted union representatives from visiting the workplace and talking with members of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled.
The NLRB ordered the Chronicle, a Hearst newspaper, not only to post an announcement about the union victory but also to read an announcement aloud. As of late February, the company hasn’t done as it was told, unit members said.
Since the administrative law judge entered the order in December, the Chronicle and the company have agreed on an access policy that’s now part of the bargaining agreement. The union represents 160 Chronicle employees.
In the Dec. 13 ruling, Administrative Law Judge Gerald M. Etchingham found the company’s actions restricting union representatives’ access were an unfair labor practice that amounted to retaliation against the union representatives.
Etchingham’s ruling said that during her testimony, Hearst Human Relations Vice President Renee Peterson admitted that the management’s limited access policy of December 2017 imposed false and harsh access restrictions on only the union “contrary to its longstanding policy of continuous free access regarding other visitors.”
The case grew out of a Dec. 6, 2017, incident in which a representative of the Chronicle human relations department ordered Guild staff Carl Hall, executive officer, and Kat Anderson, administrative officer and business agent, to leave.
The two were speaking with Guild members in the Chronicle newsroom after signing in with a security guard and receiving visitor badges.
On Dec. 21, 2017, the Guild received a letter from Chronicle attorney Mark Batten saying that Guild staff was allowed to speak to Chronicle employees only “while they are on break or in non-work settings. … “
The letter said the policy “requires all visitors to sign in with security and be escorted by a member of Human Resources or by an employee to a designated non-work area. Non-work areas include: cafeterias, break rooms, common areas, and lobbies.” The Chronicle doesn’t have a cafeteria or any spaces designated break rooms.
“These same restrictions apply to all visitors,” Batten’s letter said, claiming that the policy had existed since 2014. Actually, no such policy had ever been announced, applied or enforced.
The Guild filed an unfair labor practice charge, leading to the eventual decision in favor of the union.
In the ruling, Etchingham said Peterson’s own testimony at the trial refuted the statement in the Dec. 21, 2017, letter, which Peterson herself had distributed to Guild representatives.
Etchingham ordered the company to rescind the access ban (which it has done) and post a notice announcing the ruling, physically and electronically, for 60 days.
