By-law Revisions
to be Considered by Local
by Greg Ramsdell
Inside Circulation Executive Committee Delegate
At the October meeting, the local membership will be asked to approve adoption of revisions in our local's by-laws. The by-laws govern how our union does business from day-to-day operations to elections are conducted. Every member should have received these by-law revisions in the mail with enough notice to review them and comment on them at the meeting if they so choose.
The Buffalo Newspaper Guild-CWA Local 31026, is going through some changes. Our by-laws, last updated in September 1983, were in need of some revisions. A committee of four, Sina Williams and Beverly Gniewecki, Executive Committee delegates from the Classified Advertising department; Tina Destro, local president at that time, and myself were chosen by the Local's Executive Committee to review our current bylaws, make updates where appropriate and to include changes. Some of the changes are a result of recommendations made by the Strategic Initiatives Committee. These recommendations were adopted by the Local at the July 22 meeting.
Other changes are related to The Newspaper Guild-CWA Constitution and the CWA Constitution -- and therefore reflect the Guild's merger with CWA in 1997. All locals' by-laws must be in agreement with these two documents that govern our operation.
The by-law changes range from grammatical corrections to substantial changes in our officer and unit structure.
Here are some of the more notable proposed changes:
Deletion of Unit offices:
With the Buffalo News Unit being the only bargaining unit left in the Buffalo Newspaper Guild-CWA this particular governing body is no longer needed. The revisions include elimination of the unit chair position. At one time, the Guild had several units in the Local -- The Buffalo News, The Courier-Express, The Tonawanda News and the Niagara Gazette. While The Tonawanda News is still in existence, Guild members there voted in 1995 to decertify the union. The Guild withdrew as bargaining agent for the Niagara Gazette in 1967.
Name changes:
The term Executive Board will replace the term Executive Committee
The reference to The Newspaper Guild CWA Sector Conference will be added. CWA Convention will replace The Newspaper Guild International Convention.
Vice chairs will be renamed Chief Stewards. This name change is reflective of the elimination of 'unit chair', hence the term vice chair.
Structural Changes:
This would encompass the by-law committee's biggest and most important task, given to us by the Strategic Initiatives Committee. These include the addition of a vice presidential seat within the Local's officer structure. The new offices would be as follows:
Vice President for Mobilization and Communication. This individual's chief responsibilities will be education and information for our members.
Vice President for Contract Administration and Enforcement. Formerly known as the
Grievance Chairperson. The Strategic Initiatives Committee believes that this person needs to be recognized more, and be brought to this level of the local's hierarchy in recognition of the importance of the contract administration process during the life of the contract.
One other recommended by-law change concerns the length of terms our officers serve. Currently, elected officers serve one-year terms. With the Newspaper Guild's merger with CWA, it is stipulated that local officers throughout the Guild begin serving terms of three (3) years each, by the year 2002.
Local members should carefully review the by-law changes that were mailed to them. If there are any questions or proposed changes, they should be made from the floor of the Local meeting on October 27.
If you have not received your copy, please notify your departmental Guild representative as soon as possible.