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NMG hires former member Rick Freeman as mobilizer

Former AP sports staffer Rick Freeman has been hired as a mobilizer by the News Media Guild as the union prepares for bargaining with The Associated Press.

Freeman worked for AP from 2001-2015 in New York as a desk supervisor, editor and sports writer.

He served in formal and informal roles with the Guild during his time with the company, including as an an alternate and delegate to the Guild’s Representative Assembly from 2011 until he left the company.

“No one works harder to tell the world’s stories than AP journalists, and I’m fired up to be able to focus on helping the AP’s workers get the best possible contract this year,” Freeman said. “We’re going to stand together to make sure our workers get the recognition and compensation they deserve.”

Freeman covered dozens of ballgames and events for the AP, and worked almost every shift the department had to offer. He is based in New York City.

Guild reviews sudden layoffs of 14 at AP

The News Media Guild is reviewing the layoffs of 14 staffers to make sure The Associated Press followed the contract when releasing the workers with no notice.

The layoffs were abrupt because the AP chose to give four weeks of notice pay rather than let staffers work out four more weeks.

The AP laid off the 14 solo correspondents, photographers and bureau workers on Dec. 9, bringing the total number of Guild-covered staffers losing their jobs with the company during the holiday season to 35. AP offered buyouts in the 21 other job losses and just one person was laid off.
“In the cases where people were laid off in bureaus of more than one person or one person in their job classification, the Guild is asking the AP why buyouts weren’t offered, as the contract requires,” Guild President Martha Waggoner said. “The union can’t typically prevent layoffs, but we will make sure the contract is followed and that the laid-off staffers get all the severance and other pay owed to them.”

Employees in one person bureaus should be offered vacancies elsewhere that they are able to perform, if available, she added.
The layoffs were abrupt for some because the AP chose to give four weeks of notice pay rather than let people work for four more weeks. Staffers were told they were losing their jobs and were out the door quickly, causing managers to rearrange news coverage.
In the case of one layoff, managers scrambled to find someone to travel to and cover a major trial because the reporter who had covered the trial was among those who lost their jobs.
One Guild member who lost his job said the layoffs show the value of the union.
“The company’s not paying severance to me and the others who were laid off out of some sense of compassion,” the staffer wrote. “It’s paying because the contract that we all worked for, that we support with our dues every paycheck, requires them to pay.

“The union can’t typically prevent layoffs, but we will make sure the contract is followed and that the laid-off staffers get all the severance and other pay owed to them.”

– Martha Waggoner, Guild President

“Anybody who’s working at AP should realize that their job’s not safe. When their manager calls them in with no warning after years of hard work to tell them that it’s their turn to walk the plank, they’re going to need a strong contract.”
In at least one case, an AP newspaper member bemoaned the layoffs. A column in the New Hampshire Union Leader about photographer Jim Cole had the heading “End of an Era.”
The column described Cole as “an iconic photojournalist” and listed several of his most famous photos, including one of former French President Nicola Sarkozy, when he was boating on Lake Winnipesaukee in the summer of 2007. The shirtless Sarkozy is pointing at Cole and yelling.

Guild awards annual scholarships

Three News Media Guild members will be able to help family members pay for their education, thanks to recently awarded News Media Guild scholarships.

Piggy bank with graduation cap on a book isolated on a white background, education savings

The News Media Guild annually awards three scholarships.

Mark Miller, a tech on the Global Help Desk based in Los Angeles, will receive $2,000 toward his daughter Tristen’s studies at Santa Monica College, where she is in her second year studying foreign language, voice and theater, with her goal a career in either musical theater or music therapy.

Dennis Waszak Jr., the New York Jets beat reporter, will also receive $2,000. It will be used to help pay for his wife’s final year in the doctor of nursing practice at the University of Pittsburgh.

Daria, a registered nurse for 20 years, and nursing instructor with Felician University in New Jersey, is focusing her doctoral work on improving the care of veterans, and improving patients’ knowledge of opioid prescription safety. After graduating, she plans to continue teaching nurses and focus on efforts to help mitigate the U.S. opioid epidemic.

The “wild card” scholarship of $1,000 went to Padmananda Rama, who is on the video team in Washington, D.C. and recently took part in coverage of the Democratic National Convention, to help send her cousin Sophia Diaz-Muca to San Francisco State University, where she is majoring in history, following a summer internship at de Young Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. Sophia’s long-term interest is in art history and museum curation.

The News Media Guild awards the three scholarships every year by lottery to members in good standing. The two $2,000 awards are available for Guild members and their spouses, children, grandchildren, parents or other members of their immediate households. The wild card scholarship is available to Guild members’ relatives, friends or co-workers who are not members of their household.

Scholarship candidates must be enrolled full-time or part-time in a degree or certification program at an accredited, post-secondary educational institution. Applications are mailed to members in late spring.

“My wife Daria and I are thrilled about the scholarship,” Waszak said. “It’ll be a great help to us.”

Guild continues to press AP on Chicago cab fares

The News Media Guild continues to press The Associated Press on its move to rescind coverage of Chicago cab fares for staffers who work late night and early morning shifts.

The policy took effect June 6, just two weeks after an email from Central Region editor Tom Berman alerted the staffers to the change.

In response, Chicago staffers created a “cab fare safety fund” where staffers can donate to help their colleagues stay safe during off hours in the notoriously dangerous city. It was placed in a prominent spot, so that management can hear the coins dropped by supportive co-workers.

A "cab fare safety fund" where Chicago staffers can drop coins - within earshot of managers - was set up support the overnight staffers who have to find new ways to travel due to the AP policy change.

A “cab fare safety fund” where Chicago staffers can drop coins – within earshot of managers – was set up support the staffers who have to find new ways to travel due to the AP policy change.

Three years ago, AP relocated its Chicago office from the downtown business center to a neighborhood featuring a pawn shop, a flophouse and federal prison. But AP decided covering the fares was too costly.

The AP declined to rescind the decision as the Guild requested.

The union has noted that Section 2 of Article 31 of the contract states: “The Employer will, within limits of its direct control, ensure employees’ safe passage on streets, parking lots and other areas near the office.”

The taxi fare decision came amid soaring shooting and murder rates in Chicago, with reports showing both jumped more than 50 percent in the first five months of the year. At least 233 people had been killed as of May 27th. The murder rate in Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, is higher than that of New York and Los Angeles, it said.

In response to emails from several staffers about their concerns, Berman said paying taxi fares has become “a prohibitively expensive accommodation” and “that at most other businesses, it’s the responsibility of employees to get to or from work, regardless of hours.”

“AP needs to find a way to cover the news and protect the staffers most vulnerable to threats _ those who arrive early and leave late,” said Guild President Martha Waggoner.

The practice of paying taxi fares in Chicago dates to at least July 2009, when then-Central Region editor David Scott sent an email saying that AP would pay fares for anyone whose shift began after 10 p.m. or whose shift ended between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. “There should be no reason that you ever place yourself at risk. Be safe and always _ and take a cab without hesitation if that’s best for you,” he wrote. “All that I ask is that you file the expenses in a timely manner.”

Scott reiterated the practice in January 2012, when he advised staffers that paying taxi fares “is a safety measure.”

Guild member Felicia Fonseca awarded Nieman fellowship

Guild member Felicia Fonseca, an Associated Press journalist since June 2005 who covers a vast area in northern Arizona, was awarded a Nieman Foundation Fellowship for 2016-2017.

Guild member Felicia Fonseca was named a Nieman Fellow for 2016-2017

She is one of just 24 journalists picked to take part in the prestigious program at Harvard University.

Nieman fellows spend two full semesters at Harvard auditing classes, participating in events and collaborating with peers. They attend seminars, shop talks, master classes and journalism conferences designed to strengthen their professional skills and leadership capabilities, thereby helping to fortify the news industry.

‘I’ve developed a niche for covering American Indian tribes,” Fonseca told the Guild. “My interest in that comes from growing up in a small New Mexico town that borders the Navajo Nation, but knowing next to nothing about the history or culture of the tribe, its relationship to neighboring communities and why people viewed tribal members in certain ways. Understanding your surroundings and the population is part of being a good journalist.”

“My hope is to become a resource for journalists covering Indian Country and to ensure that stories about American Indian tribes become part of the national discussion.”

Fonseca during a visit to South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation in 2015

Fonseca said she was approached about applying for the program at a Native American Journalists Association conference in Arizona a few years ago. “Before that, it hadn’t crossed my mind,”she admitted. She waited a few years to apply, and in the meantime settled on a focused course of study.

Fonseca will spend her year at Harvard examining ways in which tribes can build strong economies so that they don’t need to rely on the federal government. “My hope is to become a resource for journalists covering Indian Country and to ensure that stories about American Indian tribes become part of the national discussion,” she said.

Fonseca during a visit to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in May 2015.

Fonseca chats with her some residents of Pine Ridge Reservation.

To participate in the Nieman program, Fonseca will be taking a leave of absence from the AP. Article 23 of the Guild contract provides that staffers who are awarded fellowships from the Nieman Foundation and other organizations are automatically granted leaves for the duration of the program.

“I’m thankful to have a union contract that allows time off for this fellowship and the guarantee that I can return to my position as northern Arizona correspondent,” Fonseca said. “It’s reassuring to know we can seek out professional development with job protection.”