FORMER NEWS EMPLOYEE TURNBULL TO RUN GUILD OFFICE TAMMY'S TURN By MARK SOMMER Former News employee Tammy Turnbull, who distinguished herself working part-time in the Buffalo Newspaper Guild office, has been hired as office manager. Turnbull, who began her job Nov. 13, fills the full-time Guild office position vacated by Carol

Goldstein, who resigned in June, five months after having been hired as the Guild's service rep. Goldstein submitted her resignation after deciding the job wasn't a good match for her experience and skills.

"Tammy came in the office part-time to help with clerical work and showed a great aptitude for the job," said Bob DiCesare, Guild president.

"She showed great initiative on her own, and expressed an interest that this might be something she would like to do if an opportunity became available. I'm hopeful and confident that she's going to be good," he said.

Turnbull spent a total of eight years at The News, mostly in retail advertising. She left in 1994, but returned in May 1998 as an inside telephone sales rep.

"I was looking for a more challenging job," Turnbull said about leaving The News, "and there are lots of opportunities here."

Sina Williams, vice president for mobilization and a classified sales rep at The News, said she came to appreciate Turnbull while working with her in the advertising department.

"I have a great respect for her abilities. She's not only very efficient but she knows how to work with people," said Williams. "You come away from dealing with her with a good feeling. I can't say enough about her hiring. It's a really positive move for the union. Once people get to know her they'll see we've done ourselves a real favor."

Turnbull, who was born in Buffalo and raised in Tonawanda, grew up in a union household: her late father, Leo Barnes, worked at the Ford Buffalo Stamping Plant in Hamburg for 37 years. She has a B.S. in political science from Buffalo State, and lives in South Buffalo with her husband, James, and their two infant daughters, Sarah and Hannah.

Turnbull began working for the Guild last December to earn extra money while she had a grievance pending. She had returned to work part-time after having her second child, but was told she could only work 16 hours a week. That would have prevented her from putting in the 1,000 hours a year necessary to obtain health care benefits. A settlement eventually allowed her to work more hours and receive health insurance.

It was an important victory, she said, that went beyond her situation.

"The first thing I had done was to talk to management, and they didn't want to even discuss it. If we hadn't filed a grievance and taken it all the way to arbitration, they would have made an example of me, and then applied it to anyone they wanted to. Most of the part-timers in classified are women with children, who utilize those health-care benefits."

Turnbull said she expects her own grievance experience to serve her well as she tends to the concerns of others in the Guild.

With Williams, she helped organize the Nov. 18 Guild meeting with national Guild organizer Jim Schaufenbil. In addition to her clerical responsibilities and occasionally representing the Guild at different events, she is also doing some legwork on a couple of upcoming arbitration cases.

Turnbull's office hours are Mondays and Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 4 p.m.

Goldstein's short tenure as service rep was due to a misunderstanding about how her job was to work in relation to the Guild's executive committee, according to several members.

"At the meeting when she told us she was leaving, she said there wasn't enough for a service rep to do, because the officers were handling a great deal of the things she expected to handle," said Williams. "Carol is more of a negotiator than an office manager-type person, and it was difficult for her to understand that the executive board would make final decisions."

Added DiCesare: "We probably failed to communicate what the scope of the job would be."