Bay Citizen First Start-Up News Website to Join Union
The editorial staff at the nonprofit news website The Bay Citizen voted to affiliate with the Pacific Media Workers Guild, Local 39521 of The Newspaper Guild-CWA (TNG-CWA). This is the first start-up news website to form a union.
In a letter to the website’s CEO Lisa Frazier before the vote, the editorial staff wrote:
We believe The Bay Citizen, as one of the pioneering exponents of new civic journalism, should also be a leading example in the area of workplace democracy.
The workers had the support of union journalists at The New York Times and KGO radio, which have agreements to obtain local news content from The Bay Citizen.
Newspaper Guild Ratifies Contract with Associated Press—and More Bargaining News
Members of The Newspaper Guild-CWA (TNG-CWA) ratified a new contract with The Associated Press, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,400 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
TNG-CWA, The Associated Press: Members of The Newspaper Guild-CWA (TNG-CWA) ratified a new contract with The Associated Press that expires in August 2013. The 1,200 workers will receive a 4.5 percent raise over the term and maintain their current health benefits.
Truth Comes Out: Online News Workers Join Union
In today’s global society, people in different cities and continents meet, talk and take actions on the Internet. Now, the employees of Truthout.org have shown how you can join a union all online without ever seeing each other or coming face to face with an organizer.
Late last month, the Truthout workers became the first online-only news service to join a union. The new members of The Newspaper Guild-CWA (TNG-CWA) joined using the country’s first “virtual card check.” Union cards were verified with faxed PDFs of each employee’s signature.
With tools like Skype and Google Documents, organizers spent long hours on conference calls, “meeting” at night, each in their own living rooms, kitchens or backyards.
Virtual majority verification (also called “card check”) holds great promise for helping workers join unions in far-flung, online operations in which workers are not located in one central location.
LabourStart: TNG-CWA on the Future of Journalism
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At today’s LabourStart conference, the writers and union communicators present got to hear from The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA) about how the union is responding to the crisis facing the newspaper industry.
In the lunchtime discussion, TNG-CWA President Bernie Lunzer said the union is working hard to try and protect the journalism that’s critical to America and reach out to blogs and new media. Lunzer said the challenge is not to try and preserve print as a format in and of itself, but to preserve the craft of journalism and the vital function of newspapers in society:
If you don’t have an informed society, you can’t have a functioning democracy.
Transportation Security Meets with Government Employees, and More Bargaining News
Transportation Security holds first-ever meeting with government employees—and more updates here from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,100 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
NEGOTIATIONS
AFGE, TSA: AFGE leaders met with Transportation Security Administration management in a first-ever formal meeting. “The past eight years with the Bush administration have been an uphill battle and we are finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” said AFGE National President John Gage. “With this meeting, TSA has acknowledged that AFGE is an integral piece of the agency’s relationship with its employees.”
Nurses Protest Nationwide Against Sick Leave Cuts, and More Bargaining News
Nurses hold national protest against attempts to cut their sick leave—and more updates here from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,100 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
WORK STOPPAGES AND JOB ACTIONS
Multiple, Tenet: Registered nurses and hospital workers at facilities owned by Tenet Healthcare Corp., represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) and SEIU, organized a national protest to oppose attempts to cut their access to sick leave. “Every day, we are on the front lines for responding to health threats like the H1N1 virus. It’s basic common sense that nurses and other caregivers should not go to work if we’re sick ourselves. But these cuts will make it harder for us to take care of ourselves. It’s not too late for Tenet to rethink and redo this by restoring our extended sick leave,” said Sherri Stoddard, a member of CNA/NNOC.
CWA Delegates Back Employee Free Choice, Health Care and Unity
More than 2,500 members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) delivered a message to their representatives on Capitol Hill yesterday: It’s time to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and real health care reform.
The Capitol Hill lobby day is part of the union’s four-day convention in Washington, D.C., which ends today. Delegates will go back to the Capitol today to join thousands of workers in the mass rally in support of health care reform.
5,300 Employees at Southwest Airlines Reach Tentative Pact, and More Bargaining News
Some 5,300 employees at Southwest Airlines reach a tentative pact, and more updates from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
IAM, Southwest Airlines: Some 5,300 customer service and reservation agents at Southwest Airlines, represented by the Machinists (IAM) District 142, reached a tentative four-year agreement. The agreement, which still needs ratification by workers, is retroactive to last year and runs through October 2012.
AT&T Shareholders Face Crowd of CWA Members, and More Bargaining News
CWA members turned AT&T’s shareholder meeting into a forum on contract negotiations—and more updates from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
WORK STOPPAGES AND JOB ACTIONS
CWA, AT&T: The San Antonio Express reports that members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) swarmed the AT&T shareholders’ meeting, focusing the meeting on the ongoing contract negotiations. ”We do have a very difficult process we’re going through right now,” AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said. “I don’t think we’re going to resolve this easily. We’re going to have to sit down and work nose to nose.” Get the facts on bargaining at CWA’s AT&T bargaining website.
Workers at American Airlines Protest CEO Bonuses, and More Bargaining News
Workers at American Airlines protest massive stock bonuses for top execs—and more updates from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
WORK STOPPAGES AND JOB ACTIONS
TWU, American Airlines: Thousands of mechanics and ground workers at American Airlines, represented by the Transport Workers (TWU), protested outside the carrier’s Fort Worth, Texas, headquarters in reaction to the stock bonuses for top executives and managers that were paid out on April 16.
