McCARTHY OUTLINES RESEARCH COMMITTEE WORK

BE PREPARED

By JOHN F. BONFATTI

Bob McCarthy reached back to his scouting days as he talked about the role of the bargaining research committee he's heading.

"It's just like Boy Scouts: be prepared," said McCarthy, the former Guild president who will chair the committee now that former chair Phil Fairbanks has taken over as the Guild's president.

The way McCarthy sees it, News management will surely research precedents and trends in the newspaper industry as they begin preparing for negotiations on a new contract to replace the one that is set to expire July 31, 2002.

"So it's very much incumbent on us to know what these trends are and to answer them in our proposals," he said.

The various sub-committee chairs will research wages and benefits of other Guild-covered newspapers. "That's where the real work of this committee is going to be done," McCarthy said. "Each of the subcommittee chairpersons has a lot of expertise in their areas."

The subcommittees, their chairpersons and their phone numbers are:

• Insurance and Retirement: Henry Davis, (849-5595).

• Economics: Dave Robinson, (849-4435).

• Mobilization: Sina Williams, (849-5537).

• Online Jurisdiction: Jim Heaney, (849-5597).

• Staffing: Bob DiCesare, (849-4463).

• Sick Leave/Family Leave: Jeanne Marie Ensminger and Jackie Kuma, (849-5485).

• Communication: Jay Bonfatti (849-5577) and Elmer Ploetz (648-3053).

• Part-timers: Carol Ann Burke (849-4523)

• Language: Tammy Turnbull (856-2828).

Member participation will be a key to concluding successful negotiations, McCarthy said.

"This can't be done without the support and hard work of everyone involved," he said. "The days of going up there and hammering out a contract in a couple of weeks with a friendly management are over."

The current six-year contract is one of the longest, if not the longest, in the Guild's history, and members haven't had to think too much about working conditions since the contract was completed in 1996.

"This is a definite call to arms," McCarthy said. "People have been sitting around and maybe forgetting about the role of the Guild. Over the next few months, you'll see the Guild working harder to remind members of the role that we play every day in protecting their rights."