14 April 2008

Hotly contested leadership race
firing up Canadian members

Guild's future direction turns on voting outcome

A fiesty election race that will determine leadership of The Newspaper Guild (TNG) has individual members of CWA Canada and some of its Locals picking sides and publicly endorsing their favourites.

While there will be no contest north of the border for the two top jobs at CWA Canada — Director Arnold Amber and Deputy Director Martin O'Hanlon having been re-elected after running unopposed — the battle between two "slates" for the key roles at TNG, its international level, has grown decidedly testy.

Members are being asked to select a president, secretary-treasurer and international chair of TNG. It is the first presidential race that has occurred since Newspaper Guilds in Canada chose in 1995 to remain with TNG and affiliate with the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

This election features another rarity: two inside groups doing battle for the top jobs in the Guild. It was 53 years ago that the president and secretary-treasurer of the 75-year-old "newspapermen's union" were pitted against one another.

In this race, incumbent president Linda Foley, under the Team Guild banner, is squaring off against her former running mate, Bernie Lunzer, the secretary-treasurer, whose coalition has branded itself A Stronger Guild.

Foley's slate includes Scott Stephens, a reporter in Cleveland who is vying for secretary-treasurer, and Lois Kirkup, president of the Ottawa Newspaper Guild, who is seeking the international chair position. Running with Lunzer is Carol Rothman, an advertising sales representative in Philadelphia, who is going for secretary-treasurer, and Connie Knox, a copy editor in Baltimore, who wants to be international chair.

(The president and secretary-treasurer are full-time, paid positions. Both officers run the day-to-day operations of the Guild, along with full-time staff. The international chair, a volunteer position, presides over meetings of the TNG executive council. Voters are not restricted to choosing a particular slate; they are free to select their choice for the different offices.)

Also on the ballot for CWA Canada members whose workplace is east of Manitoba are two candidates for the position of Eastern Canada Vice-President: Darren Pittman, president of the Halifax Typographical Union, and Barbara Saxberg, director of education at the Canadian Media Guild (CMG). (The Western Canada VP, Scott Edmonds, vice-president of CMG, was re-elected by acclamation.) The two Canadian VPs sit on the TNG executive council and are also members of the CWA Canada executive.

Some 30,000 members in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico will be eligible to vote in this election, which is being organized and run by election committees at almost 100 Locals. The voting takes place between April 24 and 29 via in-person or mail-in ballot.

With balloting set to begin 10 days hence, presidential candidates are focused on getting out the vote. Lunzer is planning to distribute postcards urging members to cast ballots, while Foley is to make a late campaign stop in Toronto. Both contenders have been on the road electioneering since early March.

As director, Amber is encouraging members of the Canadian cohort to make their voices heard in this proudly democratic union.

"Many members think of their (CWA Canada) Local as being the union, but they overlook the fact that their Local is very closely tied to its national and international tiers," says Amber. "Policies set at the upper levels of the union have a direct impact on what happens in the Canadian Locals.

"This is particularly true when a crisis hits and decisions have to be made on things like strike approval, and support, and ensuring continuance of employer-provided health benefits during a labour dispute."

"It is in our own best interests in Canada," notes Amber, "that we have a good turnout, with people voting for whoever they think will make the best policies and run the union better. It is fundamentally important to every member."

But on an international level, he adds, it is important that Canadians — who comprise about a third of the guild's electorate — "demonstrate that they are engaged with their union and want to have a say in its leadership."

The Canadian Media Guild, CWA Canada's largest Local, with about 8,000 members at the CBC, Canadian Press, Reuters and an array of television networks, surveyed leadership contenders on issues of particular interest north of the 49th parallel. The CMG, which is remaining neutral in the election, has circulated among its membership its assessment of where the candidates stand on Canadian issues, along with the candidates' responses to the questions.

The vote at the end of this month ends a nearly year-long campaign, which started last May when Lunzer announced that he would be running for president.

The first public overtures and signs of a coming battle royale were visible at the TNG sector conference in Toronto in July 2007. Speeches delivered by Foley and Lunzer were undoubtedly crafted to serve as foundations of their upcoming election campaigns.

Since then, the two candidates have been building their respective leadership teams and seeking support from various membership groups throughout North America. Both have made extensive use of the Internet to rally supporters, raise funds and distribute campaign materials via downloads and email.

Animosity between the two camps was evident long before the election campaigns were officially under way following formal nominations at the TNG sector conference in Rhode Island at the end of February. The first signs emerged last October in Oregon when Lunzer and Foley attended a district council meeting, where they "exchanged barbs" over bargaining and financial stewardship issues.

The exchanges became more pointed in January at a meeting in New York, where the Guild Reporter documented Lunzer "criticizing ... Foley’s decision-making style, accusing her of making back-room deals ... (while) Foley’s slate, in turn, is charging Lunzer with incompetence and mismanagement of union funds."

Another controversy erupted when Foley's Team Guild website posted a video in which she criticizes Lunzer for, in her opinion, not offering enough support for press freedoms because he was critical of comments she made in 2005 about (U.S.) military attacks on journalists. Lunzer defends and explains his position in the blog section of his team's website and has posted a few videos of his own.