Grievance Update:

Snyder Grievance
Advancing to Arbitration

After 15 months of discussion and the threat of arbitration in October last year, the Guild was forced to file a second grievance on the issue of the unilateral transfer of a Circulation Group B clerk and local Guild officer who remains employed by The News but lacks a specific position.

On March 17, the Guild filed a grievance over the unilateral transfer of Bob Snyder, Guild treasurer for the last 6 terms, out of his job as Service Desk Coordinator without cause. The Guild's position is that according to the contract, The News does not have the right to transfer any employee out of their position without just and sufficient cause, after they have satisfactorily completed their trial period. The News contends it has a right to transfer employees, at their discretion, for the purposes of managing their operations. Snyder now fills various temporary vacancies in Circulation.

A grievance on the same premise was filed in January 1998 over the unilaterl transfer of Greg Ramsdell, then Guild Executive Board delegate and steward, from his job as a Division Lead Clerk at the Williamsville-Clarence Circulation Division office to the downtown office without reason or cause. An arbitration on the matter was scheduled for Oct. 2, 1998. However, by that time, Ramsdell had applied for and was accepted for a job in Circulation that he wanted to stay in. The arbitrator's decision would have had to center on restoring Ramsdell to his original Division Lead Clerk job. Rather than force a situation whereby a decision would not have been beneficial to either the Guild or The News, the Guild cancelled the arbitration with the understanding that The News would agree to negotiate a settlement over Snyder's situation. The Guild, at that time, agreed not to file a grievance on Snyder.

The Snyder grievance, as in the Ramsdell case, has now been submitted to The Newspaper Guild-CWA's Legal Services program with a request to file a demand for arbitration. The local Guild approved arbitrating the Snyder case at the Sept. 29, 1998, local meeting.

A related grievance was also filed on March 17, 1999, regarding harassment of union representatives in Circulation. In May 1998, the Guild filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against The News for discriminatory behavior against union representatives in Circulation, including Ramsdell, Snyder and chief steward Carol Ann Burke. In June 1998, the NLRB deferred the ULP to arbitration since Article 5, Section 1 of our contract prohibits The News from discriminating against Guild members for their union involvement. This allows the union to pursue the matter through the grievance and arbitration procedure. If the case goes to arbitration, and the Guild does not receive a satisfactory decision on the matter, the Guild can appeal to the NLRB once again for relief.

In Classified Advertising, a grievance was filed in October of last year charging The News with racial discrimination against an African American telephone sales representative denied the opportunity to leave an outside sales desk job after applying for two Inside Sales positions and a supervisory position. All three positions were granted to white candidates. After several attempts to resolve the issue, the Guild filed for arbitration to reach a settlement. The arbitration is set for June 7.

Also in Classified Advertising, the Guild filed grievances for three part-time employees whose work shifts were cancelled by The News as a result of the snow emergency on Jan. 4. The Guild is requesting that these employees be made whole for having had to use vacation, floats or no pay days for shifts thay they were unable to work because of The News decision to close down commerical operations at 3:30 p.m. that day.

In Editorial, a grievance filed last summer over outside activities related to sports reporters and columnists rights to continue their contracts with outside media outlets remains unresolved.

Also in Editorial, a grievance over The News' refusal to allow reporters to contribute on a freelance basis to local alternative weeklies Artvoice and Buffalo Beat remains on the table. The News contends that these publications are 'competitive' and therefore reporters are to be barred from writing for them. The Guild's position is that these publications do not pose the threat of direct competition to The News and it is therefore unfair to prohibit employees from contributing to such publications.