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GUILD LEADER

Vol XV, Issue 7 TNG/CWA Local 31041 April 28, 2004

The race for Guild president

Meet the candidates

JORDAN B. MALIK

Jordan B. Malik, a publications clerk in advertising, has been an Executive Committee member since 2002. He led the action committee during the recent labor dispute, organizing activities such as rallies and the handbilling of advertisers. Malik, 33, lives in Providence.

"I want to continue improving the union's strength and position in future negotiations/dealings with The Journal," Malik said when asked why he was running for president.

"I have legally interrupted disciplinary and/or investigatory meetings between managers and union members," Malik said, adding he has filed several unfair labor practices against the company's managers in 2003, for intimidation and surveillance tactics against him.

Malik pledges to increase communication between the Guild leadership and its members, to "stop the talk and start the action," and to rebuild the Guild's human rights committee.

"A freer flow of information is needed to keep you knowledgeable of your rights," Malik said. "As president, I will ensure you're empowered with that knowledge."

"The Guild membership spoke loudly during the last contract talks: you are tired of listening to empty promises," Malik said. "Last year, during our contract dispute, I organized virtually every rally and advertiser leafleting event, filed grievances against the Journal, and stopped the intimidation of workers. I believe in taking action to bring quantifiable results to my fellow Guild members."

Malik said the human rights committee would work for a "diversity program that works" at the Journal and would seek to make the company more diverse.

"As Guild president, I will pressure the Journal to respect, support, and to stop discrimination of older workers, gays and lesbians, racial and ethnic minorities, and workers with disabilities."

JOHN HILL

John Hill, the Lincoln bureau manager, has been Guild president for 10 months, and served as secretary for six years. He has worked at the Journal since 1988. Hill, 47, lives in Cranston.

"When I ran for president last summer, I said I would get us active, get us aggressive and get us a contract,'' Hill said. "I delivered on all three of those promises. Now I want us to be so strong that we will never have to fight a fight like that again."

"In Worcester, we have become almost legendary for our tenacity -- a decade of work -- in getting our first contract," Hill said. "Having one is great, but now we have to start making it work. To do that, we've begun training key members in grievance procedures so they will be poised to watch out for violations and protect member's rights. We'll also work at increasing our members' involvement, especially with wage reopener talks coming up."

Hill said that if elected, he intends to "make us stronger and smarter" by accelerating the momentum generated at the end of 2003. "To that end," he said, "over the past few weeks in Providence I've worked with Vice President Jeff Andrade and board member Felice Freyer to recruit an excellent group of candidates for our Unit Council, which will give us even better contacts with editorial, advertising and pre-pub members.

"I also want to increase our contacts and cooperation with other locals, particularly the Guild units in Woonsocket, Pawtucket and Boston. Good working relationships with them may give us opportunities for cooperative action down the road, should we need it in our next negotiation. But my hope is that our strength and abilities will be so obvious to management that we won't need to go through anything like the last four years for quite some time.

"The more people we have doing more things, the stronger we are. We cannot let the muscles we grew in 2003 get out of shape."

Unit Council seats uncontested
in Providence, Worcester

Positions on both the Providence and Worcester unit councils were uncontested, as six candidates accepted nominations to each of the panels.

The unit councils are responsible for investigating grievances and overseeing routine labor relations with their respective newspapers, the Providence Journal and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

One seat remains unfilled on each council. Nominations will be sought in June, with an election scheduled if necessary.

In Providence, the unit council will consist of: Lisa Buben (Ad sales), Lynn Chaput (Features), Linda Cox (Features copy desk) Bob Kerr (City news staff), Lorraine Knight (Ad sales) and Kevin Mailhot (Promotions).

In Worcester, Jim Collins (Photo), Alex Goodwin (Inside Circulation), Linda Fassett (Inside Circulation) Broni Kush (News), Marty Lutrell (News), and Kathy Shaw (News) have agreed to serve.

 

Copyright © 2004 The Providence Newspaper Guild
TNG/CWA Local 31041
270 Westminster St., Providence, Rhode Island 02903
401-421-9466 | Fax: 401-421-9495
png@riguild.org