Guild Advises Members
on Outside Employment

by Bob DiCesare
Executive Committee Delegate, Editorial

On April 3, Murray B. Light, editor and senior vice president of The Buffalo News, circulated a memo in which he requested that news staffers who have an arrangement for employment or freelance work with other media provide a written description of this arrangement to his or her department head by May 1, 1998.

The Guild was approached by newsroom staffers concerned that The News intended to demand an end to some or all of their outside employment activities.

The Guild reviewed its collective bargaining agreement with The News and consulted with attorney Robert Reden as well as the Newspaper Guild-CWA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Guild subsequently submitted two information requests to clarify some of the information that The News was seeking. The Guild, in the interim, asked members to delay responding to management’s request while we waited for those clarifications.

As of May 13, pursuant to advice from our local attorney, the Guild has informed its members that they should respond to management’s request for information.

In most if not all cases, Guild employees engaged in outside activities are performing media-related work for which they sought and received consent from The News as stipulated by the collective bargaining agreement.

These members made financial decisions based on the income they receive from their outside employment. Should The News intend to revisit consent in these cases, the Guild would have the right to bargain for its members over the issue of outside work arrangements.

The Guild has fought more popular fights in the newsroom. Some of our members have said that management merely is addressing ethical concerns as is its right.

Maybe so. However, it is not management’s right to unilaterally change terms and conditions of the contract. In 1991, in cooperation with Guild leadership, an ethics policy was bargained in the newsroom. A key sentence of that policy states, "The Guild did agree that The News has the right to impose such a code so long as it is not in conflict with The News-Guild contract."

There is a potential for conflict with Article 16 Section 1 of the contract which states "A News employee who seeks to acquire a connection with any other interest or publication for profit or remuneration may do so with consent of The News."

The Guild’s obligation is to see that members’ rights under the contract are protected.

The News has given consent.

The Guild is defending the contract.