Miami photographer Lynne Sladky, Little Rock BNS Jill Bleed, Rick Gentilo of APTN in DC and RA chairman/Minneapolis newsman Steve Karnowski brainstorm on future protests of AP’s insulting contract offers.
News Media Guild officers discussed the latest developments in contract bargaining with The Associated Press and strategized on the Guild’s next steps during their annual meeting this past weekend.
Guild staff and nearly two dozen officers, representing each of the Guild’s geographic regions and job categories from technicians to broadcast staff, met in Washington, D.C., on Saturday and Sunday.
They discussed the tenure of bargaining, which is now in its 13th month, as well as the current main sticking points between the two sides and the key goals of the Guild’s bargaining team.
They also reviewed the status of mobilizing, followed by a brainstorming session that produced lots of great ideas for future mobilizations.
CWA staff chief Ron Collins, left, discusses labor movement news and strategies with NMG’s administrator, Kevin Keane; President Martha Waggoner, 2nd vice president David Melendy and 1st vice president/mobilizer Linda Johnson.
Other highlights of the meeting:
_approval by the Representative Assembly, the Guild’s legislature, of the budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. The budget, which had been unanimously endorsed by the Guild’s seven-member Executive Committee when it met separately on Friday, totaled just over $898,000. That was down slightly from the 2013-14 budget of about $940,000.