GUILD'S NEW REP ON THE JOB

By TOM BUCKHAM

Being new to the newspaper business and its particular labor-management issues is no handicap, in Carol A. Goldstein's view.

The Buffalo Newspaper Guild-CWA's new local service representative believes her previous experience with the AFL-CIO Hospital and Nursing Home Council and AFL-CIO Laundry and Dry Cleaning International Union Local 168-39 prepared her well for the challenges ahead.

"I've worked with some very, very difficult employers. But overall, I had a good working relationship with them," said Goldstein, whom Local 31026 members chose Jan. 25 to succeed Tina Destro, who resigned.

Goldstein's ready smile and good humor belie a resume that covers 13 years of tough negotiating, grievance-handling and arbitration experience.

During her stint with the nurses' union, the onetime registered nurse was responsible for 10 bargaining units from Buffalo to Rochester and Syracuse.

"I was constantly negotiating with hospitals, the Red Cross, health maintenance organizations, you name it," she said. "I used to be a psychiatric nurse. It was a fun job. This work is very similar in that you're a problem-solver and a counselor a great deal of the time."

An open mind and an open door are essential to resolving labor-management problems, Goldstein believes.

"I'm always open to suggestions. Reaching a meeting of minds, instead of just butting heads, usually leads to better labor relations and benefits."

She also feels it's "very important to bargain for the little guy … the department with five people," and not just for the majority, which is "what politicians do."

She added: "I'm not afraid to make decisions, even if it means I'm not always going to be the most popular guy on the block."

And, "I'm a minimalist. My idea of work is not building piles of folders."

First on Goldstein's agenda: opening lines of communication "not only with management but with local members and officers" and American Newspaper Guild-CWA headquarters.

She has discussed the local agenda with officers and held what she characterized as a "long and productive" meeting with Buffalo News human relations managers. She will soon meet again with the latter "to review everything that's outstanding. The best way is to start from ground zero and take it from there."

Some of Goldstein's thoughts after her first week on the job:

- Reading the mountain of bargaining notes from the 17 months of bargaining that produced the current contract was not fun.

"I've never seen anything like it," she said. "It's a good contract, but there are some vague areas we need to clean up so there are no misunderstandings."

- "The union work is easy. The real challenge is figuring out how the office machines work."

Goldstein, 49, lives in Williamsville with her dentist-husband, David. They have six children from previous marriages.