Newspaper Guild wins political contributions arbitration

[Newsjock]

Source: Newspaper Guild of Detroit

The Guild scored a significant legal victory for its Free Press members and represented employees with the decision by Arbitrator Paul Glendon, who ruled that the Company prohibition on all political contributions by editorial employees violated the union contract.

Glendon ordered that the Company's revised ethics policy that banned such donations by staff "is set aside and declared null and void retroactive to the date when it was promulgated, June 25, 2007."

The arbitration stemmed from a June 2007 article published by MSNBC.com, which listed 143 journalists who made political contributions, including Free Press Reporter Joel Thurtell and a Free Press copy editor. Thurtell, who was a Community Free Press reporter before he retired last November, had made a $500 donation in 2004 to the Michigan Democratic Party.

... In a seven-page binding decision, Glendon wrote the Free Press cannot ban outside activity of editorial employees without any documentation that such behavior was compromising the paper, or the employee’s work.

Read more: http://poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=13363

[Blue_Tires]

1. good news

[MightyPen94621]

2. Please support this SF Bay Area Guild campaign!

Editorial employees at the Bay Area News Group-East Bay (the Contra Costa Times, the Oakland Tribune, the Argus of Fremont, the Tri-Valley Herald, the Daily Review of Hayward, the San Mateo County Times and their affiliated newspapers) will vote this Friday, June 13 on whether to organize as a unit of The Newspaper Guild/Communication Workers of America.

The former ANG Newspapers employees were Guild-represented, but the company -- Denver-based MediaNews Group Inc. -- withdrew its recognition of the unit when it consolidated those papers with the Contra Costa Newspapers last August. Now we're taking back our rights, and standing up for the future of our workplace and our industry.

The company is propagandizing our staff daily in advance of this election, and every bit of community support is helpful. If you believe in the importance of a free press covering your local communities with professional journalists earning living wages, please sign our petition to show your support.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/support-journalists-for-quality-and-fair-deal

[Trillo]

3. Say the employers' demands ain't so!

Employers demanded that employees change their 'off-hours activities' (when employees are off the clock)? So where was the 24-hour, 7-day a week, 52-week per year hourly wage payment for the time the demand was in effect?