Greg Ramsdell, the Guild's vice president for Mobilization and Communication, has resigned from the office.

Ramsdell wrote in his letter of resignation that he couldn't give adequate time to the office and that it's in the Guild's best interests that he step aside.

The other officers will share Ramsdell's responsibilities until the Guild holds an election to fill the vacancy. There are tentative plans to place the election on the agenda for the July Local meeting.

The vice president of Mobilization and Communication is primarily responsible for the coordination of membership education with special emphasis on the administration of all aspects of an enhanced steward and communication network, including overseeing the production and publication of The Frontier Reporter.

•  •  •

Guild officers and stewards received numerous inquiries from members as to why the member of management who supervises Carol Ann Burke, the Guild's Local secretary and chief steward in Inside Circulation, went unnamed in the story in the May issue of The Frontier Reporter.

Our intent is not to embarrass the supervisor. Our intent is not to subject the supervisor to ridicule. Our intent is to have the supervisor treat Carol Ann with the dignity that should be afforded any employee and recognize her rights as a Guild representative.

Alerting our members to the situation and sending to the supervisor a letter urging professional conduct hopefully will result in greatly improved relations.

However, that doesn't mean we are adamantly opposed -- or afraid -- to name names. And it doesn't mean we are opposed to the offers many of you -- and there were MANY of you -- made to march through Inside Circulation in a show of support for Carol Ann.

If circumstances warrant it, we'll pick up a bigger hammer.

•  •  •

On the agenda for this month's Local meeting is a tentative settlement on a grievance concerning scheduling on the news desk in Editorial. The grievance was filed when The News repeatedly exceeded the number of shifts it is allowed to schedule non-Guild news editors in the Guild-covered assistant news editor position.
The practice has no detrimental effect on our members.  In essence, we've been trading a night of Group B work for a night of Group A work.

The Guild's concern was that allowing The News to violate the contract could lead to erosion of our jurisdiction over the assistant news editor positions.

It is the feeling of our assistant news editor that they receive more agreeable schedules (two consecutive days off instead of split days off) because of this practice.

The tentative agreement addresses this concern by recognizing the following:

"The current news desk scheduling practices are a non-precedent-setting, non-binding accommodation . . . (that in no way) diminishes the Guild's jurisdiction to such work as set forth in Article 1 of the collective bargaining agreement . 

The News and the Guild agree that this accommodation can be canceled by either party at any times with three weeks notice."