N.H. Guild Fights for 'Reasonable' Contract from Unreasonable Employer

Union's Outreach Creates Opportunity for Member to Meet with VP Biden

Protesting layoffs and wage cuts, Manchester Newspaper Guild-CWA members picket in the rain at an intersection near the Union Leader newspaper building.

Below: Manchester Guild member Carol Stevens was part of a small group of local labor activists who had the opportunity to meet Nov. 10 with Vice President Joe Biden.

Balancing activism and restraint, members of the Manchester Newspaper Guild-CWA are waging a strategic battle for a fair contract against an employer that is unilaterally slashing jobs and wages.

Last week, the union held an informational picket outside New Hampshire's Supreme Court building, where winners of a contest co-sponsored by the Union Leader newspaper were being honored. Two days later, members rallied and picketed with union allies outside the newspaper's building in Manchester.

The Nov. 10 action was held in advance of a speech by Vice President Joe Biden at the First Amendment Award ceremony in Concord. The event was sponsored by the Union Leader's single largest shareholder, the Loeb School of Communications.

Weighing the possibility of a picket at the Concord event, leaders of the Manchester local, as well as CWA and the AFL-CIO, had multiple discussions with Biden's office.

"Mr. Biden's staff made it very clear that if we did picket in Concord, the vice president would honor our picket line, and would not attend the Loeb event," Manchester Guild President Norm Welsh said.

Because Biden is recognized by CWA and other unions as a lifelong friend of labor, the local decided against a picket. "Many people, including our own members, expected us to make a high-profile showing at the Loeb School event," Welsh said. "But that would have put both our union and the vice president in an awkward position, a situation we didn't wish to create. We're reasonable people, just looking for a reasonable contract."

As a result of the talks with Biden's office, about 15 local union members were invited to meet with Biden at the airport after the Loeb event.

Manchester Guild member Carol Stevens said finding out that her union chose her for the meeting "was such a bright spot, the first good news I'd heard in weeks." Stevens is one of six veteran workers who were issued layoff notices after the Guild unanimously rejected the Union Leader's concession-filled contract proposal in late October. After the vote, the paper also cut all wages by 10 percent. A Guild grievance is pending.

Biden "talked about how he's never seen labor unions and the middle class hit so hard, and that without labor unions there wouldn't be any middle class," Stevens said.

The Manchester Guild, Local 31167, represents about 120 news, circulation, advertising and other workers at the Union Leader. Bargaining began Sept. 12.

"In the recent past, we've agreed to layoffs, pay cuts and freezes, furloughs, and increased health care costs to help out this company," Welsh said. Now the company is demanding more concessions, despite paying dividends to shareholders and giving raises to executives."

"Our membership said 'No' to that business strategy," he said. "They're fed up with the bullying, gun-to-our-head bargaining tactics this management employs."