Newsletter of the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild
Wellness activity deadline approaching
Don’t forget: For those covered by Journal Communications health insurance, all wellness activities must be done by Feb. 28, and the survey must be completed to get any wellness credits.
2 new officers elected to executive board
Two new officers have joined the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild’s leadership team.
At our annual meeting Oct. 1, the local’s members elected designer Bob Friday as treasurer and Tap entertainment producer Sara J. Martinez as at-large board member.
Friday has served as a steward for the design desk. He succeeds John Schumacher, who stepped down after two full terms as treasurer.
Martinez previously served as human rights coordinator. She succeeds former at-large board member Annysa Johnson, who also served a full term as secretary.
Members also re-elected sportswriter Tom Silverstein, to his fourth term as president; Jennifer Amur, to her second full term as first vice president; Zeina Makky, to her second full term as second vice president; Tom Content, to his second full term as secretary; Karen Samelson, to her second full term as an at-large board member; and Jan Uebelherr, to her seventh full non- consecutive term as an at-large board member.
The new Executive Board appointed a new steward leader and recast steward jurisdictions to reflect departmental changes in the newsroom.
Sports designer Ben Steele was appointed to a first term as steward leader overseeing a new steward unit, which includes the sports writing, production and scoretaking desks, photo and the online production staff. He replaces Russ Maki, a five-term steward leader who left the Journal Sentinel staff in a buyout.
Two other steward leaders were re-appointed. Copy editor Greg Pearson, a former Local 51 president, was appointed to a second full term as steward leader. As a result of other steward unit changes, Pearson’s unit now includes opinions, features/entertainment and the copy/design/ graphics desks.
Content was reappointed to a fourth term as steward leader representing the local news, business and watchdog teams.
Also reappointed were Pearson, as postings and exclusions coordinator; Martinez, as human rights coordinator; Uebelherr, as social chair; investigative reporter Gina Barton, as good and welfare chair; PolitiFact Wisconsin reporter Dave Umhoefer, as wage data coordinator; copy editor Mike Johnson, as benefits coordinator; copy editor Jen Steele, as newsletter editor; and digital production editor Craig Nickels, as webmaster.
In other action at the annual meeting, members renewed the rebate provision that keeps our dues at 1% of our base pay.
To find out who your steward is, see the Leadership page .
Guild members raise $1,300 for United Way
For the third consecutive year, the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild raised more than $1,300 for the United Way of Greater Milwaukee in a fall fundraising campaign.
While falling short of the 2011 and 2012 campaigns, the total raised this year was quite a feat considering the late start to the campaign, after Sara J. Martinez took over the role of United Way ambassador from Russ Maki.
Local 51 launched its own United Way campaign in 2011 after some Guild members felt contributing money to the Journal Communications campaign — called at the time “an annual display of top executives’ fundraising prowess” — was enabling hypocrisy. While laboring under a yet-to-be-fully-restored wage cut, it didn’t make sense to contribute to the company’s “Shining Star” donor status (granted for raising between $250,000 and $499,999 in 2012).
In its three successful campaigns, the Guild has maintained about a 10% participation level among members and has contributed more than $5,200 to United Way.
Newsroom gives gifts to cafeteria staff
The Journal Sentinel newsroom raised $600 to fund gift cards for the cafeteria workers thanks to the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild’s Good and Welfare Chair Gina Barton and former at-large board member Annysa Johnson.
The six part-time workers, Lynn Lathrop, Angela Bell, Renatto Curtis, Ella Leggett, Dawn Metzelfeld and Latanzia Cotton, each received a $100 Target gift card. Barton said Johnson came up with the idea and the Guild supported taking the collection beyond the Good and Welfare committee to the entire newsroom.
“It was just very nice, kind, generous. … It was so unexpected; we were all shocked,” Lathrop said. “I can’t even think of all the words.”
Food and fun served up at Guild fall party
Turner Hall hosted the Fall Party on Nov. 1.
It’s time we share in company’s success
From the president
I tend to avoid making holiday references this time of year since they’re everywhere and the world certainly doesn’t need another one from me.
But after contemplating the many I have seen recently, I couldn’t help but think of the concepts of giving and sharing. They are simple ideas. They’re easily defined. But so often they get shaped to fit the moment and lose their true meaning.
Here’s an example of giving and sharing: In 2009 amid threats of massive layoffs, newsroom employees agreed — albeit reluctantly — to give back 6.6% of their salary with no
guarantee of ever getting it back. We shared the pain of an economic downturn that was affecting newspapers all across the country and to this day
have not gotten back what we gave up. Over the past three years, the company has done the right thing and given out annual
raises, but it’s very important to remember that what has been given is what is originally owed to those of us who took the big pay cut four years ago. It’s hard to applaud it as giving or sharing.
Maybe re-gifting would be a better word.
Whatever the case, we’ve been witness to better days recently and while we all know that the newspaper and digital media business are not out of the financial woods, there are signs that the work we’ve been doing does matter in the bottom line.
It was encouraging to see a positive third-quarter report from the company but discouraging to see it credit a 52% increase in operating earnings for the daily paper to “a continued focus on advertising sales initiatives, along with ongoing efforts to control expenses.”
Gee, and I thought maybe some of the excellent investigative journalism, terrific daily coverage and amazing production work had something to do with it.
All over this country — most notably in the many fast-food strikes and living-wage movements — workers are asking their employers, “When is it time for us to stop giving and you to start sharing?” The Newspaper Guild / CWA has come out in support of workers seeking fair wages because it knows that workers doing well in one sector often influence how workers are treated in another.
Few of us have to sacrifice heat or food to make it on our salaries as minimum-wage workers do, but just as many fast-food workers are doing, we have to make sure our employer is sharing the fruits of our labor and isn’t setting us up solely to serve them platters full of cash.
We all know what we contribute, and as we move into a new year — and believe it or not the final year of our contract — we must remain committed to making sure wages rise in proportion to the quality of work we’re doing and the profits the company makes.
We don’t just need to catch up, we need to make certain we add to our staff to lessen workloads; retain our talented, young people; and create the kind of good feeling smart and successful companies are able to do.
We’ve given, we’ve shared. Let’s work to make sure our employer does the same.