A lot of you have been asking how you can get more involved in the Guild. A lot of you have been wondering how you can help with the organizing campaign at the Bay Area News Group -- East Bay. The time is now.
An election has been scheduled for June 13 for BANG-EB employees to decide whether they want to join the Guild. Better than a majority have told us they do. But we need your help in combating the anti-union campaign Dean Singleton and his MediaNews managers, attorneys and consultants are spreading.
Your task won't be too tough -- We want you to attend a picnic/BBQ, eat some burgers and chat about the Guild, and why you care about the union. The picnic is May 31 from noon to 4 p.m. at Live Oak Park in Berkeley. Bring the spouse, the kids, the in-laws and any Guild supporters you can round up. A side dish would be nice, too. (But no booze in the park; it's against city ordinance). The Guild will provide the burgers, the drinks and the entertainmment.
In addition to talking up the Guild at the picnic/BBQ, if you know anyone at the Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune or other MediaNews papers in the East Bay, give them a call, drop an e-mail or buy them a cup of coffee or a beer and tell them why it's a good idea to form a union in the newsroom.
Our strength as a union comes from our committed membership. So c'mon out, have a burger or two, and help the folks at BANG win a union election. Their success will make us all stronger.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
It's your turn -- vote!
Your chance to affect the future of The Newspaper Guild is here. By now, your ballots have probably arrived in the mail, and you have until April 29 to cast your votes. As one of the only labor unions to allow its members to directly elect its top officers, the Guild is among the most democratic unions in the nation. So take advantage of it.
The Guild international's top three posts are being contested. Incumbent president Linda Foley is being challenged by Secretary-Treasurer Bernie Lunzer. International chairwoman Carol Rothman is running against regional VP Scott Stephens for secretary-treasurer. And Connie Knox, regional VP, is running against Lois Kirkup, regional VP, for international chairwoman.
Regardless of who you choose, I hope you'll vote. Need more information? You can read up on the candidates and campaigns at the following websites -- www.teamguild.org and www.astrongerguild.org -- or in the Guild Reporter.
The Guild international's top three posts are being contested. Incumbent president Linda Foley is being challenged by Secretary-Treasurer Bernie Lunzer. International chairwoman Carol Rothman is running against regional VP Scott Stephens for secretary-treasurer. And Connie Knox, regional VP, is running against Lois Kirkup, regional VP, for international chairwoman.
Regardless of who you choose, I hope you'll vote. Need more information? You can read up on the candidates and campaigns at the following websites -- www.teamguild.org and www.astrongerguild.org -- or in the Guild Reporter.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Cash for college
You know the usual benefits of union membership -- a voice in your workplace, the opportunity to bargain your wages working conditions and benefits, representation when your boss is picking on you.
But there are other benefits as well, including college scholarships for members and their families. The deadline for the Communications Workers of America Joe Beirne Foundation scholarships is coming up at the end of this month.
The Beirne Foundation offers 30 scholarships of up to $3,000 each to members of the Guild and other CWA members and their families. Anyone who receives the scholarship, will receive the money for a second year as well, given satisfactory academic achievement.
Those eligible include spouses, children and grandchildren, including dependents of retired, laid-off, or deceased members. Applicants must be high school graduates or high school students who will graduate during the year in which they apply. Undergraduate and graduate students returning to school are also eligible.
Applications must be filled out online at the Foundation's website: http://www.cwa-union.org/members/beirne/ by April 30. More information is also available at that site.
The scholarship program is funded by donations from CWA locals.
Members of the Northern California Media Workers Guild have been recipients of the scholarships in the recent past. So, yes, it really is worth giving it a shot.
But there are other benefits as well, including college scholarships for members and their families. The deadline for the Communications Workers of America Joe Beirne Foundation scholarships is coming up at the end of this month.
The Beirne Foundation offers 30 scholarships of up to $3,000 each to members of the Guild and other CWA members and their families. Anyone who receives the scholarship, will receive the money for a second year as well, given satisfactory academic achievement.
Those eligible include spouses, children and grandchildren, including dependents of retired, laid-off, or deceased members. Applicants must be high school graduates or high school students who will graduate during the year in which they apply. Undergraduate and graduate students returning to school are also eligible.
Applications must be filled out online at the Foundation's website: http://www.cwa-union.org/members/beirne/ by April 30. More information is also available at that site.
The scholarship program is funded by donations from CWA locals.
Members of the Northern California Media Workers Guild have been recipients of the scholarships in the recent past. So, yes, it really is worth giving it a shot.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
No excuses...
Just an apology for the delay in posting. As promised, here's my report from the Guild Sector Conference (essentially the Guild convention) in Providence, R.I.:
I went to The Newspaper Guild's sector conference in Providence, and, instead of a lousy T-shirt, I ended up getting elected the western regional vice president of the Guild.
Granted, I was elected by acclamation, which is a polite way of saying there was no opposition, that nobody else wanted the job. But I was encouraged to run for the post by some of the people I respect most in the Guild, including both of the candidates for president.
Along with no opposition, there's also no pay. But this is an important position at a critical time for newspapers and for The Newspaper Guild. The West, and particularly the Bay Area, are on the leading edge of change in the media industry, and part of my role will be to present that perspective to the rest of the Guild's leadership.
While changes such as the loss of classified advertising to Craig's List and readers to a variety of online sources slammed us first, I think we'll also be where the answers to those challenges are developed. We're not only the proverbial canaries in the coal mine, we're the prospectors.
But enough about me. Plenty of other things happened at the convention -- and almost all of them involved politics. The race for president between incumbent Linda Foley and challenger and secretary treasurer Bernie Lunzer colored just about everything.
Supporters of Lunzer and his slate hung their convention badges on yellow "A Stronger Guild" lanyards. Backers of Foley sported blue "Team Guild" buttons. Leaflets, stickers and various other campaign items were distributed. Lunzer held a fundraiser in a local restaurant. Foley held a lunch in a downtown hotel. Many clandestine meetings were held in hallways, hotel rooms and restaurants as people plotted.
And while there were a few confrontations and arguments, and a lot of discomfort among convention attendees who like both candidates or are striving to stay neutral, most of the disagreement was tempered with respect. Or maybe it was the beer and cocktails. After all, we're all Guild members first.
Not all the politics were Guild-related. For more than 30 years, the Providence Newspaper Guild has put on the annual Follies -- an event where they mock local politicians and events a la Saturday Night Live. It's a big deal -- attended by most of the state's politicos and power-brokers and filling a cheesy banquet hall with 1,200 people. Humor's never captured well in rewritten accounts, so I won't even try. Let's just say it was funny. And there were two political celebrity sightings:
-- Sen. John Kerry, who did a long standup routine that ended when his endorsement of Obama went on too long, and Clinton supporters started chanting: Hill-a-ry, Hill-a-ry.
-- Chelsea Clinton, who showed up before the show to work the crowd days before the Rhode Island primary. Chelsea was also spotted at the conference hotel, where she stayed, but did not attend the convention.
Another highlight of the convention was the reception given master organizer/mobilizer Carl Hall's presentation on the One Big Bang drive in the East Bay. Fellow delegates were so moved that, without solicitation, they pledged to give about $3,200 to help support the campaign.
I went to The Newspaper Guild's sector conference in Providence, and, instead of a lousy T-shirt, I ended up getting elected the western regional vice president of the Guild.
Granted, I was elected by acclamation, which is a polite way of saying there was no opposition, that nobody else wanted the job. But I was encouraged to run for the post by some of the people I respect most in the Guild, including both of the candidates for president.
Along with no opposition, there's also no pay. But this is an important position at a critical time for newspapers and for The Newspaper Guild. The West, and particularly the Bay Area, are on the leading edge of change in the media industry, and part of my role will be to present that perspective to the rest of the Guild's leadership.
While changes such as the loss of classified advertising to Craig's List and readers to a variety of online sources slammed us first, I think we'll also be where the answers to those challenges are developed. We're not only the proverbial canaries in the coal mine, we're the prospectors.
But enough about me. Plenty of other things happened at the convention -- and almost all of them involved politics. The race for president between incumbent Linda Foley and challenger and secretary treasurer Bernie Lunzer colored just about everything.
Supporters of Lunzer and his slate hung their convention badges on yellow "A Stronger Guild" lanyards. Backers of Foley sported blue "Team Guild" buttons. Leaflets, stickers and various other campaign items were distributed. Lunzer held a fundraiser in a local restaurant. Foley held a lunch in a downtown hotel. Many clandestine meetings were held in hallways, hotel rooms and restaurants as people plotted.
And while there were a few confrontations and arguments, and a lot of discomfort among convention attendees who like both candidates or are striving to stay neutral, most of the disagreement was tempered with respect. Or maybe it was the beer and cocktails. After all, we're all Guild members first.
Not all the politics were Guild-related. For more than 30 years, the Providence Newspaper Guild has put on the annual Follies -- an event where they mock local politicians and events a la Saturday Night Live. It's a big deal -- attended by most of the state's politicos and power-brokers and filling a cheesy banquet hall with 1,200 people. Humor's never captured well in rewritten accounts, so I won't even try. Let's just say it was funny. And there were two political celebrity sightings:
-- Sen. John Kerry, who did a long standup routine that ended when his endorsement of Obama went on too long, and Clinton supporters started chanting: Hill-a-ry, Hill-a-ry.
-- Chelsea Clinton, who showed up before the show to work the crowd days before the Rhode Island primary. Chelsea was also spotted at the conference hotel, where she stayed, but did not attend the convention.
Another highlight of the convention was the reception given master organizer/mobilizer Carl Hall's presentation on the One Big Bang drive in the East Bay. Fellow delegates were so moved that, without solicitation, they pledged to give about $3,200 to help support the campaign.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Off to a good start
Yeah, yeah, I know. It's been a long time since my last post. But that's not because of a lack of anything to write about; it's that I've been too busy to blog. Well, that's my excuse anyway.
I spent the last week of January at a district meeting of the West Coast locals of the Communications Workers of America then filled the better part of the first week of this month with The Newspaper Guild's Media News Project.
While it added up to way too much time spent in chilly windowless meeting rooms, it left me feeling upbeat about organized labor and my fellow union members. It also left me with a nasty cold, but that's not the point of this entry.
At the CWA District 9 meeting, the message was that unions need to change, and are changing: to a scenario where members are more involved and where locals determine the needs, priorities and approaches.
The Media News Project was all about putting that theory into practice: training employees in the Singleton empire to mobilize their co-workers, and in the case of our local, to organize employees at the Bay Area News Group.
A common sentiment ran through both of the meetings: Workers are sick and tired of sitting by and watching their professions deteriorate, and are ready to do something about it.
Nowhere is that more clear than at the Contra Costa Times, where the organizing drive has moved into high gear. If you haven't done it yet, browse the Guild's BANG organizing site , www.onebigbang.org , and read the inspirational messages from the brave employees who are heading the organizing effort.
While the year is young, and the BANG organizing effort has a long way to go, things are definitely off to a good start. It's not too late to join the fun. Contact your unit officers to see how you can get involved.
I spent the last week of January at a district meeting of the West Coast locals of the Communications Workers of America then filled the better part of the first week of this month with The Newspaper Guild's Media News Project.
While it added up to way too much time spent in chilly windowless meeting rooms, it left me feeling upbeat about organized labor and my fellow union members. It also left me with a nasty cold, but that's not the point of this entry.
At the CWA District 9 meeting, the message was that unions need to change, and are changing: to a scenario where members are more involved and where locals determine the needs, priorities and approaches.
The Media News Project was all about putting that theory into practice: training employees in the Singleton empire to mobilize their co-workers, and in the case of our local, to organize employees at the Bay Area News Group.
A common sentiment ran through both of the meetings: Workers are sick and tired of sitting by and watching their professions deteriorate, and are ready to do something about it.
Nowhere is that more clear than at the Contra Costa Times, where the organizing drive has moved into high gear. If you haven't done it yet, browse the Guild's BANG organizing site , www.onebigbang.org , and read the inspirational messages from the brave employees who are heading the organizing effort.
While the year is young, and the BANG organizing effort has a long way to go, things are definitely off to a good start. It's not too late to join the fun. Contact your unit officers to see how you can get involved.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Michelle gets a chill in D.C.
Michelle Devera Louie filed this dispatch from the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she attended the Guild's New Local Officers Seminar.
On Saturday night, my nameless cohort, our St. Louis colleague and I tagged along with the Canadian contingent as they toured the sights of our nation's capital -- National Mall, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, Vietnam Wall, Lincoln Memorial -- some I had seen before, some I hadn't.
They are impressively beautiful, but even though all I had done all day was sit in a conference room, I was pretty beat. The topics were heavy (Guild communications, organizing drives, collective bargaining and human rights and equity), and I already felt overwhelmed and terrified of the responsibility at hand. Plus, it was frost-bite cold and I'm a Southern Cali kinda gal; anything below 50 is f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g. Did I mention that we had the great pleasure of trailing three busloads of high school students? Like, OMG, how annoying!
My Canadian sisters marveled at the grandeur, at our founding fathers' words of promise, at the dreams for a newly born nation. It was awe inspiring.
This was America in a pure state -- its ideals intact, its virtue untainted, its intent uncompromised.
When we descended the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, it couldn't have been more perfect-perfect: As snow swirled about, a Marine in full dress blues got down on one knee and proposed to the beautiful lady at his side. A crowd surged around them, asking for his autograph, stealing glances at her ring.
It was no doubt a very happy scene. But, it was also a very sad scene. Everyone knew that a too young, too brave, too honorable man would soon go to war. It was too much to bear.
Why bother, right?
Because.
Because even if you can feel the caress of death in everything you do, even if you know that your duty called you to knock upon death's door, if you have something to live for, you are willing to make that sacrifice.
It's called hope. And in the name of hope, we are willing to do extraordinary things. Because without hope, we have nothing.
I have hope.
On Saturday night, my nameless cohort, our St. Louis colleague and I tagged along with the Canadian contingent as they toured the sights of our nation's capital -- National Mall, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, Vietnam Wall, Lincoln Memorial -- some I had seen before, some I hadn't.
They are impressively beautiful, but even though all I had done all day was sit in a conference room, I was pretty beat. The topics were heavy (Guild communications, organizing drives, collective bargaining and human rights and equity), and I already felt overwhelmed and terrified of the responsibility at hand. Plus, it was frost-bite cold and I'm a Southern Cali kinda gal; anything below 50 is f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g. Did I mention that we had the great pleasure of trailing three busloads of high school students? Like, OMG, how annoying!
My Canadian sisters marveled at the grandeur, at our founding fathers' words of promise, at the dreams for a newly born nation. It was awe inspiring.
This was America in a pure state -- its ideals intact, its virtue untainted, its intent uncompromised.
When we descended the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, it couldn't have been more perfect-perfect: As snow swirled about, a Marine in full dress blues got down on one knee and proposed to the beautiful lady at his side. A crowd surged around them, asking for his autograph, stealing glances at her ring.
It was no doubt a very happy scene. But, it was also a very sad scene. Everyone knew that a too young, too brave, too honorable man would soon go to war. It was too much to bear.
Why bother, right?
Because.
Because even if you can feel the caress of death in everything you do, even if you know that your duty called you to knock upon death's door, if you have something to live for, you are willing to make that sacrifice.
It's called hope. And in the name of hope, we are willing to do extraordinary things. Because without hope, we have nothing.
I have hope.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Guild or gruel
(Michelle Devera Louie is at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland, for the New Local Officers Seminar. She's blogging about her experience from the land of labor and blue crab. This is her first dispatch.)
As you can see from the sun beating at my back, it's sunny and snowy in Silver Spring, Maryland, and I'm waiting in my room for the party to begin. The weather's not why I'm here though (same goes my cohort who, for now, shall remain nameless).
I'm here because the good people at The Newspaper Guild think I should be. But should I? Do I deserve to be here? My beloved co-workers on the features copy desk already have so much to do and no time to do it, and having one person down is as painful as having teeny-tiny razor blades playfully dragged across your skin while chewing on glass. It continually hurts but, after a while, you get used to it.
That's exactly why I'm here. No one should have to get used to it.
Enough is enough. I cannot stand by and watch quality sacrificed for quantity in the name of "journalism" as my brethren suffer and fatten someone else's wallet. That's not the journalism I practice. That's not the truth, freedom or democracy of my birthright. Someone once told me that we should all be thankful to still have jobs. Please. I'd rather read Dickens than have some higher-up dish it out to me, thank you.
They may serve us gruel but it doesn't mean we have to eat it.
(Editor's note: I'm assured that the food at the National Labor College rates significantly better than gruel. Stay tuned for more dispatches from Michelle...)
As you can see from the sun beating at my back, it's sunny and snowy in Silver Spring, Maryland, and I'm waiting in my room for the party to begin. The weather's not why I'm here though (same goes my cohort who, for now, shall remain nameless).
I'm here because the good people at The Newspaper Guild think I should be. But should I? Do I deserve to be here? My beloved co-workers on the features copy desk already have so much to do and no time to do it, and having one person down is as painful as having teeny-tiny razor blades playfully dragged across your skin while chewing on glass. It continually hurts but, after a while, you get used to it.
That's exactly why I'm here. No one should have to get used to it.
Enough is enough. I cannot stand by and watch quality sacrificed for quantity in the name of "journalism" as my brethren suffer and fatten someone else's wallet. That's not the journalism I practice. That's not the truth, freedom or democracy of my birthright. Someone once told me that we should all be thankful to still have jobs. Please. I'd rather read Dickens than have some higher-up dish it out to me, thank you.
They may serve us gruel but it doesn't mean we have to eat it.
(Editor's note: I'm assured that the food at the National Labor College rates significantly better than gruel. Stay tuned for more dispatches from Michelle...)
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