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Newsmakers
Honoring the memory of Ed Spillet, a NABET-CWA staff representative who died of juvenile diabetes last December, CWA headquarters employees joined District 2 locals and Verizon workers for Washington, D.C.'s Walk to Cure Diabetes in May. Walkers included CWA Pres. Morton Bahr. The effort raised more than $48,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, including $5,180 raised by the headquarters team and matching funds for Verizon workers, contributed by the Verizon Foundation. Locals participating included 2108, 2222, 2252, 2300 and 2336.
Jim Gordon, an area director in District 9, retired April 2. Gordon, 63, started his career at Pacific Telephone in Fremont, Calif., in 1960. Over the years he worked as a building serviceman, installer, switchman, repairman and systems technician. He became active in CWA Local 9412 in 1964, rising to serve as president for five years. He joined the staff in 1984 as a CWA representative in Sacramento. He served as District 9's legislative-political director for California and in 1990 received the union's Maxine Lee Award for outstanding service in furthering its political efforts. Serving as backup to the union's bargaining chair during the 1998 talks with Pacific/Nevada Bell and coordinating retired members' activities helped lead to his promotion as area director for Northern California, Nevada and Hawaii in 1999. Two years later he became administrative assistant to the District 9 vice president, who appointed him chief bargainer for SBC subsidiaries including Cingular Wireless, among many other duties.
CWA Research Economist Patrick Hunt, 57, retired May 13 after 24 years with CWA. Hunt, a Vietnam veteran, earned a bachelor's degree from Catholic University and a master's in labor and industrial relations from Michigan State. He plunged into union work in 1975, organizing research employees at the Library of Congress and serving two terms as the union's president. In 1977, he organized Arnold Miller's reelection campaign as president of the United Mineworkers. He was a senior staff economist for the Mineworkers for two years before joining the CWA Research Department at the union's Washington, D.C., headquarters. His work supported organizing and bargaining throughout the country, most recently in cable TV. From 1983 to 1987 he served as treasurer of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, which then represented CWA professional staff. Later he served as first president of the independent staff union known simply as The Guild. "CWA has never been a job for me—it has been a vocation—a calling to work on things that were more important than myself," Hunt says.
NABET-CWA staff representative Mike Tiglio retired Feb. 5 after a career spanning three decades. Tiglio, 62, got his start as a studio cameraman at WNEM-TV in Saginaw, Mich., after serving in the U.S. Air Force. A union member since 1966, he rose to president of NABET Local 48 in Saginaw-Bay City, Mich. He became an international representative in 1977, negotiating collective bargaining agreements, handling grievance hearings, arbitrations and mediations and helping lead mobilizations, strikes and organizing drives. He also served as an elected delegate to NABET's constitutional conventions and was a charter member of the Broadcast Employees' Staff Team (BEST), the NABET staff union. In 1991, he was appointed director of organizing, in addition to his duties as a staff rep. After years of living by airline schedules, he says, "I just want to spend retirement without having to look at the clock and meeting-plan calendar."
Linda Cearley, a staff representative for The Newspaper Guild-CWA since 1995, retired in April. Cearley earned a reputation as a tough-as-nails bargainer who became an expert on one of the newspaper industry's most anti-union lawyers, Michael Zinser. She spent years across the table from him negotiating for members at The Register-Guard in Eugene, Ore., and, more recently, at The Commercial Appeal in Memphis. TNG-CWA President Linda Foley said Cearley learned to play hardball during her years at the Modesto, Calif., Bee, where she helped organize a Guild unit in 1975. As a copy clerk who frequently worked as a sportswriter, she was the subject of numerous grievances that ultimately upgraded her to a reporter's pay scale. "That's how she first came to our attention," Foley said, adding that Cearley is also known for being upbeat even when things look bad. "When people are in situations where they're fearful, and jerks like Michael Zinser are making their lives difficult, you need someone who brings optimism to the situation. And Linda has always done that."
Jim Gordon, an area director in District 9, retired April 2. Gordon, 63, started his career at Pacific Telephone in Fremont, Calif., in 1960. Over the years he worked as a building serviceman, installer, switchman, repairman and systems technician. He became active in CWA Local 9412 in 1964, rising to serve as president for five years. He joined the staff in 1984 as a CWA representative in Sacramento. He served as District 9's legislative-political director for California and in 1990 received the union's Maxine Lee Award for outstanding service in furthering its political efforts. Serving as backup to the union's bargaining chair during the 1998 talks with Pacific/Nevada Bell and coordinating retired members' activities helped lead to his promotion as area director for Northern California, Nevada and Hawaii in 1999. Two years later he became administrative assistant to the District 9 vice president, who appointed him chief bargainer for SBC subsidiaries including Cingular Wireless, among many other duties.
CWA Research Economist Patrick Hunt, 57, retired May 13 after 24 years with CWA. Hunt, a Vietnam veteran, earned a bachelor's degree from Catholic University and a master's in labor and industrial relations from Michigan State. He plunged into union work in 1975, organizing research employees at the Library of Congress and serving two terms as the union's president. In 1977, he organized Arnold Miller's reelection campaign as president of the United Mineworkers. He was a senior staff economist for the Mineworkers for two years before joining the CWA Research Department at the union's Washington, D.C., headquarters. His work supported organizing and bargaining throughout the country, most recently in cable TV. From 1983 to 1987 he served as treasurer of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, which then represented CWA professional staff. Later he served as first president of the independent staff union known simply as The Guild. "CWA has never been a job for me—it has been a vocation—a calling to work on things that were more important than myself," Hunt says.
NABET-CWA staff representative Mike Tiglio retired Feb. 5 after a career spanning three decades. Tiglio, 62, got his start as a studio cameraman at WNEM-TV in Saginaw, Mich., after serving in the U.S. Air Force. A union member since 1966, he rose to president of NABET Local 48 in Saginaw-Bay City, Mich. He became an international representative in 1977, negotiating collective bargaining agreements, handling grievance hearings, arbitrations and mediations and helping lead mobilizations, strikes and organizing drives. He also served as an elected delegate to NABET's constitutional conventions and was a charter member of the Broadcast Employees' Staff Team (BEST), the NABET staff union. In 1991, he was appointed director of organizing, in addition to his duties as a staff rep. After years of living by airline schedules, he says, "I just want to spend retirement without having to look at the clock and meeting-plan calendar."
Linda Cearley, a staff representative for The Newspaper Guild-CWA since 1995, retired in April. Cearley earned a reputation as a tough-as-nails bargainer who became an expert on one of the newspaper industry's most anti-union lawyers, Michael Zinser. She spent years across the table from him negotiating for members at The Register-Guard in Eugene, Ore., and, more recently, at The Commercial Appeal in Memphis. TNG-CWA President Linda Foley said Cearley learned to play hardball during her years at the Modesto, Calif., Bee, where she helped organize a Guild unit in 1975. As a copy clerk who frequently worked as a sportswriter, she was the subject of numerous grievances that ultimately upgraded her to a reporter's pay scale. "That's how she first came to our attention," Foley said, adding that Cearley is also known for being upbeat even when things look bad. "When people are in situations where they're fearful, and jerks like Michael Zinser are making their lives difficult, you need someone who brings optimism to the situation. And Linda has always done that."