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Baltimore Guild Members Vote to Authorize Strike
Members of The Newspaper Guild-CWA at the Baltimore Sun, whose contract expires June 24, took a near-unanimous vote Wednesday night to give the union the authority to call a strike if no agreement is reached.
"I think people are really concerned," M. William Salganik, a Sun reporter and president of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild said in a Thursday story in The Sun. "I think that we got a strong message to go back and try to get a fair deal."
The Guild represents about 800 news, advertising, circulation and other workers at The Sun. Of key importance to the union is keeping quality jobs, as the company seeks to contract out work and let managers do work now assigned to Guild members. Other top issues include better wages, a lid on employees' share of health care premiums, improved sick leave and a continued Guild-Sun defined benefits pension plan.
Since Monday, reporters, photographers and artists have withheld their bylines from their work in The Sun as a form of protest against the company's refusal to budge on serious issues at the bargaining table in spite of weeks of near daily negotiations, sometimes with a federal mediator attending. CWA also began airing radio ads this week to explain the union's struggle to the public.
On Thursday, TNG President Linda Foley joined union members for a "Stand Up for Good Jobs" lunchtime rally in front of The Sun building. "Our members have roots in Baltimore. They are proud to live and work here to produce one of the country's best newspapers," Foley said. "Now an outside company is threatening their job security and putting the quality of the community's paper at risk. We plan to fight them every step of the way, and we hope Sun readers will join with us."
The Sun is owned by the Chicago-based Tribune Co. The last Guild strike there was in 1987, lasting six days.
"I think people are really concerned," M. William Salganik, a Sun reporter and president of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild said in a Thursday story in The Sun. "I think that we got a strong message to go back and try to get a fair deal."
The Guild represents about 800 news, advertising, circulation and other workers at The Sun. Of key importance to the union is keeping quality jobs, as the company seeks to contract out work and let managers do work now assigned to Guild members. Other top issues include better wages, a lid on employees' share of health care premiums, improved sick leave and a continued Guild-Sun defined benefits pension plan.
Since Monday, reporters, photographers and artists have withheld their bylines from their work in The Sun as a form of protest against the company's refusal to budge on serious issues at the bargaining table in spite of weeks of near daily negotiations, sometimes with a federal mediator attending. CWA also began airing radio ads this week to explain the union's struggle to the public.
On Thursday, TNG President Linda Foley joined union members for a "Stand Up for Good Jobs" lunchtime rally in front of The Sun building. "Our members have roots in Baltimore. They are proud to live and work here to produce one of the country's best newspapers," Foley said. "Now an outside company is threatening their job security and putting the quality of the community's paper at risk. We plan to fight them every step of the way, and we hope Sun readers will join with us."
The Sun is owned by the Chicago-based Tribune Co. The last Guild strike there was in 1987, lasting six days.