Guild Changes Expected
by Dan Herbeck
Editorial

The goal is a simple one: getting members of the Buffalo Newspaper Guild-CWA to take a more active role in the union that fights to protect their quality of life.

The premise is easily stated, but it's up to Guild-CWA leaders -- and more importantly, rank and file members -- to make it happen.

The Guild is moving ahead on several different fronts to implement a new strategic plan intended to get more members into the action.

By the end of this month, the Guild hopes to:

· Revise its by-laws to carry out the suggestions contained in the Strategic Planning Committee report issued in June.

· Change its organizational structure to establish a vice president in charge of contract administration, and another in charge of mobilization and communication.

· Choose a service representative who will run the Guild-CWA local office at the direction of its officers.

"Our whole idea is seeing more members really getting involved, getting their hands dirty. We need more people involved so we can strengthen our union," said Robert J. McCarthy, chairperson of the Strategic Planning Committee.

"After all, the union belongs to the members. It's our union, and it's the best protection we have against some of the bad things that have been happening in the newspaper industry.

"There is going to be a lot of 'down time' before we start negotiating our next contract, and we'd like to use that time to make the Guild-CWA as strong, and as unified, as possible."

The recommendations of the Planning Committee were accepted at the July meeting of the local and the first formal steps will be taken at the Sept. 29 meeting.

By that time, the local's Search Committee will have chosen a finalist for the position of service representative.

"We've got some really strong applicants, people with a lot of good union experience," said Kevin Collison, chairperson of the Search Committee. "We had 40 applicants. We've narrowed that down to a group of six finalists."

All six finalists are from Western New York, but only one -- current Local President Tina Destro -- is an employee of The Buffalo News. Destro has been on a temporary leave of absence from The News since November 1997 to staff the office and assist local members in contract administration.

Marian Needham, former Buffalo Newspaper Guild-CWA local service representative, left the local late last year to take a position as executive secretary of the Contracts Committee at The Newspaper Guild-CWA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The local Guild-CWA position will pay in the range of $35,000 to $40,000 a year, plus benefits, Collison said.

"The new service representative will not be heading our negotiating team for the next contract. The person will be on the negotiating team, but will be more of a resource person and office manager, taking direction from the elected officers," Collison said.

The Local's Executive Committee will review the proposed by-law revisions and the Search Committee's choice for the staff position prior to the local meeting. The Executive Committee will submit a recommendation to the Local at the Sept. 29 meeting.

By-law revisions were conducted by Destro, past president Sina Williams; Beverly Gniewecki from Classified Advertising and Greg Ramsdell from Inside Circulation, both Executive Committee delegates.

The Search Committee included current vice chairs from all of the departments represented by the Guild-CWA at The News as well as Guild-CWA local treasurer Bob Snyder.