Welcome to your guild.

10 Sep

Pittsburgh Local 38061 bargains and enforces contracts for newsroom reporters, photographers, copy editors and artists at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and newsroom, advertising, circulation and maintenance employees at The Valley Independent in Monessen. Our newest unit comprises full-time professors at Point Park University, who voted overwhelmingly in June 2004 to join the Pittsburgh Guild, making us the first Guild local to represent faculty at a major university.

Our two-room office suite is on the second floor of the United Steelworkers Building next door to the Post-Gazette in Downtown Pittsburgh. We have a large meeting room that is used monthly for Executive Committee meetings.

Four times a year, we hold general membership meetings in the large conference center on the first floor. We don’t have an office staff, but you can contact us by email, by mail at 60 Blvd. of the Allies, 2nd floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15222 or by leaving us a voice message, 412-880-4001, or fax, 412-880-4002. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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From the 2013 Keystone Press Awards

20 May
From pgMila at the 2013 Keystone Press Awards in Harrisburg on Saturday:

keystones

Demand that the DOJ return all records to AP

20 May

Posted on newsguild.org in response to the U.S. Justice Department’s seizure of Associated Press phone records:

The Newspaper Guild-CWA and its local that represents AP staffers, The News Media Guild, demands that the U.S. Justice Department return all telephone records that it obtained from phones — including some home and cell phones – of Associated Press reporters and editors.

The collection of these records is egregious and a direct attack on journalists, and the Justice Department needs to cease and desist such investigations. The ability of journalists to develop and protect sources is vital to keeping the public informed about issues affecting their lives.

There could be no justification or explanation for this broad, over-reaching investigation.

Read the full post at the Newspaper Guild’s website.

Company asks Guild, other unions, for $22 million in concessions

3 May

Today the Company gave the Guild and the building’s other unions their demands — their “scorecard” — as the opening salvo in contract negotiations. While there is a smidgen of good news for Newspaper Guild members — the Company is not asking for any job cuts from us — the overall concessions sought are significant. During a meeting lasting nearly three hours, the Company asked for $22 million in concessions. These concessions are basically equal to the amount of money the Company projects to lose this year.

For Guild members, these concessions would mean:

* An increase in your contribution to health care

* Elimination of personal days

* Elimination of the 5th week of vacation

* Elimination of Company-paid dental and vision insurance

* Elimination of life insurance

* Imposition of 60% sick pay

* Elimination of the cap on the 10% wage diversion

Other unions stand to lose a significant — though not yet calculated — number of jobs. Present at the table for the Company, among others, were Steve Spolar, attorney Jeremy Sherman, Henry Gorman, Lisa Hurm. The Unity Council and its attorney, Joe Pass, made it abundantly clear to the Company that the unions viewed the Company’s “scorecard” as an attempt to use us to invest in the future of the PG without any sacrifice from the PG, its parent company, BCI, or the Blocks.

We also made clear that although the Post-Gazette is losing money, BCI most certainly is not. No negotiating sessions are scheduled yet. We are engaging in the process of obtaining financial information from the Company before talks begin. As our contract negotiations progress, the Company is in the final stages of buying a new, state-of-the-art press and leasing space for its production facilities. No decisions have yet been made on where the newsroom and other non-trade operations will go. We will update you with more information as it becomes available.

Please feel free to direct any questions to your negotiating team: Mike, Ken, Sally, Ed and Jon.

Guild calls on Tribune sellers to protect papers’ integrity

2 May

tribunesale
Posted on NewsGuild.org:

Recently you’ve seen many petitions asking that the Koch brothers not be allowed to buy the Tribune Company’s newspapers. We understand why the Kochs breed this distrust. They are active political proponents of harsh right-wing positions. We’re also not certain that Tribune will listen to anything but money when the final decision is made.

What we do know is that great papers publish credible, trusted journalism online and on the printed page. Whoever comes to own these mastheads needs to understand that protecting newsrooms from ideological taint is no small thing. The future of American journalism depends on the ability to print truth, not opinion.

We call on Tribune to make a pledge that they’ll only sell to a buyer that will protect the objectivity of the news product by making a public commitment to doing so. The Newspaper Guild-CWA and the Communications Workers of America seek your support in this goal.

TNG — “Great job on the conference!”

23 Apr

A nice note we received from Mary-Ann Barr, president of Local 30400 in Canada:

To Pittsburgh guild members,
Just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed my stay in Pittsburgh. You have a very beautiful and friendly city.
Great job on the conference!
It was nice meeting you, and sharing some of our common concerns.

Mary-Ann Barr
President
Local 30400, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Media and Communications Workers of Alberta – CWA Canada

It was a pleasure hosting all the conference-goers, and we look forward to seeing them at the next one.

A letter of thanks from the Canadian Media Guild

23 Apr

guild_letter_1000

Honoring Guild members who have passed.

22 Apr

Resolutions honoring Guild members who passed away since the last TNG sector conference two years ago were approved during the most recent conference this past weekend. Among those honored was former Pittsburgh Newspaper Guild President Ed Bell.

The following resolution, honoring the Roger Ebert, is particularly poignant–given his fame, talent and fortune his love and dedication to the Newspaper Guild was unwavering. Give it a read:

In Memoriam-Roger Ebert

On April 4, the world lost a journalistic icon and The Newspaper Guild lost a beloved member who was true to the union no matter how much fame and success he enjoyed.

Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert lost his long battle with cancer at age 70. He had worked at the Chicago Sun Times for 46 years, and for all of those years he was a member of the Chicago Newspaper Guild.

We know even in his later years that he still cared about us and our cause. In 2004, during difficult contract talks at the Sun-Times, Roger wrote this to Publisher John Cruickshank: “It was be with a heavy heart that I would go on strike against my beloved Sun-Times, but strike I will if a strike is called…I have been a Guild member since 1967 and I will stand with my fellow Guild members if this comes to a crisis.”

The Chicago Newspaper Guild honored Roger on its website, say he “epitomized what The Newspaper Guild stand for–the highest caliber of journalistic integrity and better working conditions for all journalists.  In addition to being one of the greatest movie critics ever, he was also an active member of the Chicago Newspaper Guild who championed our cause. He will be sorely missed.”

TNG – Welcoming address by Michael Fuoco, Pittsburgh local President

22 Apr
Pittsburgh local President Michael A. Fuoco delivered a welcoming address to the delegates at the conference, which we hosted:
On behalf of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, I heartily welcome you to to the Newspaper Guild Conference and the City of Pittsburgh.
It is perhaps fitting in these days of labor strife and the attack on the middle class that this year’s conference is being held here, the birthplace of unionism.
Here, we can’t help but be inspired by the spirit and determination of bygone steel workers and coal miners who helped build a nation while fighting for fairness and dignity in the workplace.
As media workers, we continue that fight in defense of quality journalism, democracy and workers’ rights.
I’m confident we will succeed in this battle against the greed of media owners. Meanwhile, Carnegie and Frick save them spots in that special place in hell they now reside.
So, as we set about to do our work I hope you also take time to experience our beautiful city.
I hope you have all received our local’s gift bag and for baseball fans, our member Dan Majors will be in the lobby with tickets.  You’ll be able to see the best ballpark in the country and best team in the baseball–OK, it’s the Atlanta Braves but still…
So, speaking for the Pittsburgh Guild I use a Pittsburgh idiom to say that anything yinz guys need to make your stay more enjoyable, please let us know. We’re honored to be your host.
See photos from the conference at our Facebook page.

TNG — Keynote speech by Martin O’Hanlon, Director of CWA Canada

22 Apr

Martin O’Hanlon, the director of CWA Canada, delivered the keynote speech at the Guild Sector Conference this past weekend. You can read the entire address, provided to us by Martin himself. A snippet:

Conservatives and progressives may be chanting the
same economic mantra – jobs, jobs, jobs. But progressives
understand that jobs are useless unless they pay a decent
wage.
It’s a similar thing with journalism. There’s journalism and
then there’s quality journalism. Quality journalism requires
time and resources to find a story, do the necessary legwork
and write it thoughtfully. And that costs money.
You get what pay for. So what do companies expect when
they cut staffing and wages to the bone? How the hell can a
reporter look for corruption at City Hall if he has to write five
stories a day? And what kind of journalist are you going to
get for a lousy wage?
It’s bad for workers, bad for society and dangerous for
democracy.
See photos from the conference at our Facebook page.

TNG — Guild Sector Conference final day.

20 Apr

From the final day of the TNG Sector Conference: The conference resolution thanking host Pittsburgh, read by Henry Davis, chairman of resolutions committee and president of the Buffalo guild. Video by Jonathan Silver.

See photos from today and the rest of the conference, hosted by our chapter, at Facebook.

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