SIGN UP FOR NEWS GUILD TRAINING SESSIONS!
MORE MEMBERS WITH MORE KNOWLEDGE MAKES OUR UNION STRONGER!

Every Chicago Guild is invited to sign up! Click on the links to sign up today!

CONTRACT CAMPAIGNS WORKSHOP

Saturday, March 26, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Bring your team together— folks who want to be at the table, folks who want to research, folks who want to fire up the shop— for this 90-minute session that will help you build a campaign to WIN the contract you want.

REGISTER FOR CONTRACT CAMPAIGNS WORKSHOP

STEWARD TRAINING

Don’t think you know enough to be a steward? How do you think stewards got to know stuff? Stewards are knowledgeable communicators who bring their co-workers together to act and make our jobs better. Free up two hours every other TUESDAY and learn the ways of the steward.

MODULE 1: STEWARD BASICS

5-7 p.m. Tuesday April 5

What is the role of the steward, and can you do the job? (Spoiler: You can!) Check out this first session for an overview that will leave you hungry to learn more.

REGISTER FOR MODULE 1: STEWARD BASICS

MODULE 2: A WORKPLACE ORGANIZER

5-7 p.m. Tuesday, April 19

Organizations gotta be organized! Learn how to build teams in your shop and visualize the power structures in your workplace and beyond.

REGISTER FOR MODULE 2: A WORKPLACE ORGANIZER

MODULE 3: A COMMUNICATOR AND EDUCATOR

5-7 p.m. Tuesday, May 3

Communication and culture are essential! Learn how to have conversations that allow you to learn from, teach, and motivate your co-workers.

REGISTER FOR MODULE 3: A COMMUNICATOR AND EDUCATOR

MODULE 4: A PROBLEM SOLVER

5-7 p.m. Tuesday, May 17

When there are problems in your shop, rally your co-workers together to solve them! Learn how to plan and evaluate effective, collective action

REGISTER FOR MODULE 4: A PROBLEM SOLVER 

MODULE 5: A UNION REPRESENTATIVE

5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 31

Know your rights under the law and under your contract, and role-play grievance and disciplinary meetings with the boss.

REGISTER FOR MODULE 5: A UNION REPRESENTATIVE

MODULE 6: ANTI-HARASSMENT

5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 14

Be prepared and learn how to respond to harassment in the workplace, and union. 

REGISTER FOR MODULE 6: ANTI-HARASSMENT

MONDAY NIGHTS WITH LABOR NOTES

Labor Notes, a progressive labor organization that runs some of the best workshops around, will be offering its “Secrets of a Successful Organizer” series to TNG members. Check out this list of awesome topics, and please note that TNG will refund the $15 registration fee— reimbursement info will be provided by TNG at the session. 

PART ONE: BEATING APATHY

6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday, April 4

REGISTER HERE!

PART TWO: ASSEMBLING YOUR DREAM TEAM

6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Mon. April 11

REGISTER HERE!

PART THREE: TURNING AN ISSUE INTO A CAMPAIGN

6:30 pm – 8:30 pm Monday, April 18

REGISTER HERE!

Looking for more training opportunities? Check out the TNG Calendar for updates on workshops and events coming soon!

On Wednesday, March 9 at 6 CT/7ET Tribune Publishing Guilds and allies are meeting for for an hour-long state of our unions town hall.

Crucially, nearly all we have left to bargain is the hard economics of our contract. We know this will have a massive impact on us, each other, and our communities overall for years to come. We’ll be taking stock of where we are, where we’re going and how we can protect and build upon the work we are doing to save local news from predators like Alden Global Capital.

In addition to a Q&A session, attendees can expect to hear about:

• Recent Tribune Publishing Guilds victories
• Findings of our pay equity study being released next week
• How much Alden/Tribune has cut staffing around the country
• How Guild members are successfully fighting back
• What it will take to win the contract that protects us (and our shared democracy)
• Our vision for the future
• Who all wants to help us get there, and how

That means you.Register here in advance to get ready for the fight: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkc-GqrDspH9FZfaABfDlR7E-POyVnmO-v

In solidarity

Tribune Publishing Guilds

According to the Chicago News Guild bylaws, unit elections should take place each year in January or February. Watch your email inbox for a message announcing the date for nominations for unit officers.  

For more general information on Chicago Guild elections, please check out this FAQ. 

For more technical information on how to conduct unit elections, check out this announcement. 

Have more questions? Reach out to your unit chair or email Local President Andy Grimm.

The Chicago News Guild is proud to announce the addition of the staff union at SEIU Local 73 to its family. Members voted 36 to 4 to affiliate with the Guild. We look forward to working with SEIU Local 73 Staff to strengthen their position at the bargaining table and add muscle to contract enforcement. Thanks to everyone who worked to make this happen.

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These last few days have been dark for our country. Today I released a statement condemning the attacks against journalists and anyone peacefully protesting. You can read that in full here. Please share it with our members. 
Last night we had an emergency call with local officers and unit leaders addressing how to respond to the targeting of journalists by police across the country. 

Several good ideas were shared:

• Reach out to local AFL-CIOs and CLCs and ask them to condemn the police violence against protesters and journalists just doing their job.
• For those covering protests, push employers to provide protective equipment — and be wary of overdressing in a way that could make you the target. Bicycle helmets and goggles are helpful in protests, but don’t draw a lot of attention.
• Be sure to communicate with police and activists and tell them that journalists are just doing their jobs and should not be attacked.
• Reach out to the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma and others to do training and find ways to support each other’s mental health during this pandemic and protests.
• Provide a safe space, even if on Zoom, to support colleagues, especially our Black colleagues, and start a dialogue.

We’ve signed onto a letter from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which is soon being sent to officials in Minnesota. It provides helpful information about our rights and the potential legal liability of officers interfering with the right of journalists to report on the news. RCFP separately has a guide to covering protests and a tip sheet on protecting yourself while covering a protest. 

Please take time to check in with your members and colleagues, especially our Black members. We need solidarity more than ever right now. And be safe as you work to inform our communities.

In solidarity,

Jon

 I was on edge this weekend as I watched the steady stream of updates from the streets of Chicago and the suburbs from the tireless, dedicated journalists of the Chicago News Guild. If, like me, you saw or read something in the news about the chaos in our community this week that shocked, pained, outraged or moved you, remember that a reporter or photographer put themselves at risk to show you what was happening on the streets.
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> Whether you are hunkered down in your home or out in the streets yourself, we owe a debt to journalists who are documenting and providing context to events even as they unfold. Journalists know that scenes like the ones we all have seen this week cannot be reported on from a “safe” distance, nor do they expect their safety to be prioritized above anyone else at the scene of a mass protest. But it was disheartening to me to see instances in other cities where police appeared to single out news reporters and photographers who were only trying to do their jobs.
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> It was also sad to see Tribune Guild members tweeting that they were being sidelined by furloughs in the midst of a huge, breaking news story sweeping across our area. Again, the courageous reporters and photographers in the CT Guild only want to do their jobs, and Tribune Publishing should end their furloughs immediately and invest in coverage a historic moment. Now, more than ever, we are depend on the work of journalists. Let them do their work. Be safe, NewsGuild.

Grace Catania President Chicago News Guild Local 34071

Members of Chicago Newspaper Guild Local 34071:

It is with great sadness that I report the death of former activist of the Chicago News Guild and member of the Guild’s Executive Board,  Albert Dickens of the Chicago Sun­-Times.

Albert, who died May 10, 2020, at age 82, began his tenure with the Sun­Times in 1978, joining the paper after the Chicago Daily News folded. Between the two papers, he amassed more than 49 years of service. He officially retired in September 2019 because of the effects of a stroke suffered in March 2019.

A staple in the newsroom, Albert served as the editorial assistant for the Sports Department but was known throughout the company. A dapper dresser with a friendly personality, Albert lit up the newsroom both with his appearance and his presence. But it was his vast wealth of knowledge and meticulous attention to his work that were most impressive. Efficient and professional, he handled everything from filling out expense forms to making travel arrangements for reporters to solving payroll crises. He was the glue that held the department together.

He didn’t stop there, however. Albert was revered by all whose path he crossed. Helpful and friendly, he was a beacon of light in a newsroom in which the day-­to-­day grind sometimes was bleak. Versed on seemingly every subject and fluent in more than five languages, Albert could hold a conversation with everyone from the printers to the executives of the paper. He even conversed in Polish with the maintenance staff — not bad for a guy from a small town in Iowa.

A true renaissance man, Albert loved opera, theater, literature and classical music. He also dabbled in art. Did I say dabbled? He was an accomplished artist who loved working in watercolors and enjoyed sketching. Albert will be missed by all who were fortunate enough to know him.

Services were held May 14, 2020.

Denise O’Neal