CANTON'S BOB GEORGE IS LOCAL 1 PRESIDENT

Bob George of the Guild's Canton unit at The
Repository will serve as Local 1 president for 2007. George, a longtime Guild member who has served as unit chairperson and as an Executive Board vice president, was elected by acclamation Nov. 28 at the Executive Board's annual membership meeting.

Also elected to Local office at that meeting, all by acclamation, were Katie Byard of the Akron Beacon Journal unit, first vice president; Debbi Snook, of the Plain Dealer unit, second vice president; Cheryl Diamond, of the PD unit, third vice president; Domenico Serri, of the Repository unit, fourth vice president; and Ron Rutti, of the PD unit, treasurer.

Diamond and Serri are serving their first terms as
Local officers. Byard was third vice president last year, and Snook served as fourth vice president.

Richard Peery of the PD unit served most of 2006 as Local 1 president. He took a buyout and retired from the PD in October. Yuvonne Webb of the Akron unit, who was first vice president, was chosen to finish 2006 as president.

George, a copy editor, has worked at The Repository since 1989. He also had previously worked at The Repository from 1970-79. He is currently the unit chairperson of the Guild's Canton unit.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

Elections of unit officers have been set, and notices mailed out to all Guild members. Unit meetings to elect officers are as follows:

PLAIN DEALER — Tuesday, Jan. 9, noon, at PD (room off cafeteria). To be elected: Chairperson, Vice
Chairperson, Secretary-Treasurer, 11 Executive Board Delegates and up to 11 alternates.

REPOSITORY — Wednesday, Jan. 10, 7 p.m., Canton Guild office. To be elected: Chairperson, First Vice Chairperson, Second Vice Chairperson, Secretary-Treasurer, 12 Executive Board Delegates and up to 12 alternates.

BEACON JOURNAL — Wednesday, Jan. 10, noon, Akron Printers Hall. To be elected: Chairperson, First Vice Chairperson, Second Vice Chairperson, Secretary-Treasurer 6 Executive Board Delegates, and up to 6 alternates.

UNIVERSE BULLETIN — Friday, Jan. 5, noon, UB
conference room. To be elected: Chairperson, Secretary-Treasurer, 2 Executive Board Delegates and up to 2 alternates.

INDEPENDENT — Monday, Jan. 8, noon, AMVETS Restaurant. To be elected: Chairperson, First Vice Chairperson, Secretary-Treasurer, 3 Executive Board Delegates and up to 3 alternates.

If there is a contest for any of the above offices and the unit membership votes for a referendum, such referendum will be held January 17-19, 2007, with ballots to be counted after 5 p.m. on Jan. 19. In order to be nominated, you must be present or send to the unit chairperson, in advance of the meeting, a written, signed statement of your desire to be nominated. Copies of the Local By-Laws are available from a unit officer or on-line at tnglocal1.org.

The annual installation dinner for Executive Board delegates and alternates, Local officers and unit officers will be Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007, at Massimo da Milano Restaurant, 1400 West 25th St., Cleveland.

LONG-TIME GUILD ACTIVIST RICHARD Peery retires;
Yuvonne Webb elected TO SERVE OUT HIS TERM

Yuvonne Webb of the Akron Beacon Journal unit was elected interim Local 1 president by acclamation at the Oct. 24, 2006, executive board meeting of the Northeast Ohio Newspaper Guild held in Akron.

Webb will fill the remainder of outgoing Local 1 President Richard Peery's term for 2006. Peery has taken a buyout at The Plain Dealer and is retiring. Peery turned over the gavel to Webb at the Oct. 24 meeting in the Akron Printers Hall. Peery, a long-time Guild activist, was serving his 12th consecutive term as Local 1 president.


Richard Peery was serving his
12th term as Local 1 president.

Peery also is a former vice president of TNG’s International Executive Board. That position (its name has changed to the Sector Executive Council) is now held by PD Unit Chairperson Scott Stephens. Peery also served on numerous PD Guild unit bargaining and grievance committees and headed the unit's minority caucus.

Webb, who has served Local 1 as its first vice president for the past several years, will serve as interim president through the end of the year. She also serves Local 1 as its human rights coordinator, and represents Local 1 as the treasurer for the Great Lakes District Council.

Nominations for Local 1 officers for 2007 will be taken at the annual membership and executive board meeting, now scheduled for Dec. 5, 2006, in the Guild office in Brooklyn Heights.

Photo courtesy of The Plain Dealer via cleveland.com

DAVID S. BARR AWARD FOR STUDENT JOURNALISTS

Applications are available on-line at www.newsguild.org for The Newspaper Guild-CWA David S. Barr Award for student journalists in high school and college.

The award is $500 for the high school winner and $1,500 for the college winner. Entry deadline in Jan. 26, 2007. The award is intended to inspire and encourage young journalists to focus on issues of social justice and to promote issues of importance to working people. It is named in honor of David S. Barr, who served as The Newspaper Guild’s general counsel for 25 years until his death in 1997.

All entries must be of work published or broadcast between Jan. 1, 2006, and Dec. 31, 2006, that helped to right a wrong, correct an injustice or promote justice and fairness. The awards competition is open to all high school students and to all full-time or part-time college students.

Winners will be announced in March 2007. The awards will be presented May 3, 2007, at TNG-CWA’s annual Freedom Award banquet in Washington, D.C. Barr winners will be provided with transportation and hotel lodging to attend the banquet.

No more than one entry per contestant is permitted. For further rules and an application form, go to www.newsguild.org.

Beacon Journal ELECTS OFFICERS

The Akron Beacon Journal unit elected officers at a
unit meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 18, to fill vacant
positions. Elected by acclamation were:

Chairperson: Stephanie Warsmith
First Vice Chairperson: Bob DeMay
Second Vice Chairperson: John Higgins
Secretary-Treasurer: Katie Byard

Warsmith had been the secretary-treasurer, but now takes over as unit chairperson following the departure of Andale Gross, who took a job with the Associated Press in Kansas City. The above officers will complete the terms for 2006 and serve until the annual unit election of officers in January.

Split decision in Eaton arbitration
With Plain Dealer | POSTed May 6

     A decision by arbitrator James Clair Duff in the Sabrina Eaton grievance upholds the right of reporters to do freelance work on their own time. It also mandates that if a reporter has doubts about a situation, a supervisor should be consulted.

     The split decision, received May 3, denied the Guild’s grievance that Eaton, a reporter in the Plain Dealer’s Washington, D.C., bureau, was disciplined without regard to just and sufficient cause. Eaton had planned to travel to Iowa to do a story on U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Cleveland, to gather information for a story for Mother Jones magazine. She was told by her supervisors that writing for the magazine would impugn the integrity of the Plain Dealer and compromise her future coverage of Kucinich. She was told she would be discharged for insubordination if she went.

     Duff ruled the edict to not even make the trip was overreaching on the part of the paper, and ordered Eaton be reimbursed for her airline tickets. Duff was emphatic in stating that his decision was “not a proper occasion” to legislate any “code” of ethics for the parties. “Generally speaking,” Duff wrote, “employees’ outside work activities are, in this country, granted freedom from employer’s control ... Common sense dictates limitations to that general rule, however. ...”

     Duff noted that “little framework” for his decision existed, but that he was convinced “... certain of the ‘guidelines’ promulgated by Mr. Clifton in October of 2000 have cogent application to resolution of this dispute." However, he said Clifton’s October 12 document “... does not literally direct reporters to always ask supervisors for permission to do freelance assignments.”

     He said staff members should “... discuss specific circumstances with supervisors to resolve any doubt about any situation.” Because of the specific facts in this case, Duff said Eaton’s assumption that she had unrestricted discretion “... cannot be accepted as being warranted or valid. ... The decision made by The Plain Dealer is, although debatable, not unreasonable under all of the circumstances.”

     Duff referred several times to the number and complexity of circumstances involved in this case, and called it a “delicate dispute.” And while saying the weight of the evidence allowed the Plain Dealer to prevail, he also noted: “If this case involved only an undertaking to freelance for Mother Jones the result might be other than what it is here found to be.”

Convention delegates chosen

Local 1 members voted at the April 25 Executive Board/General Membership meeting to send a full delegation to the TNG Sector Conference and CWA Convention.

The following nine delegates, elected at the meeting
by acclamation, will attend the TNG Sector Conference
July 6-8 in Las Vegas:

• Richard Peery, Plain Dealer, Local 1 President
• Scott Stephens, PD unit chairperson and vice
president from Region 3, to the Sector Executive
Council
• John Coyne, PD executive board delegate
• Rachel Dissell, PD executive board delegate
• Andale Gross, Beacon Journal unit chairperson
• Kathy Antoniotti, BJ first vice chairperson
• Domenico Serri, Repository first vice chairperson
• Mark Davis, Local 1 executive secretary
• Rollie Dreussi, Local 1 Local Representative

Elected as alternates were Susan Jaffe, PD executive board delegate; and Paula Schleis, BJ second vice chairperson. Stephens, Davis and Dreussi were elected, by acclamation, to attend the CWA Convention, July 9-11, in Las Vegas.

SCHOLARSHIP FUND | Posted 7 February 2006

CWA District 4's Robert D. Johnson Memorial
Scholarship Fund, administered by the Cleveland
Foundation, is now accepting applications for the
2006-2007 academic year. Applications must be
postmarked by April 30, 2006. Awards will be
announced mid-June, 2006.

The fund was established in memory of District 4 Vice
President Emeritus Robert D. Johnson. A random drawing is used to select the scholarship awards. Applications can be obtained by contacting the District 4 office in Cleveland (440-333-6363).

Applications can also be downloaded from the Cleveland Foundation's website: www.clevelandfoundation.org

• From the homepage, click on "Scholarships"
• Click on "Individual"
• Scroll to Robert D. Johnson Memorial Scholarship
Fund
• To download the application, click on the icon. You
will need Adobe Acrobat or will be prompted to
download the free program. Print application using normal print command.

Our Local number is 34001.

Please make special note of the application deadline
date of April 30, 2006.

CWA Joe Beirne Foundation Scholarship
for 2006-2007 School Year

This scholarship is open to CWA members, their
spouses, children and grandchildren (including
dependents of laid-off, retired or deceased CWA
members). Applicants must be high school graduates or
at least high school students who will graduate during
the year in which they apply. Undergraduate and
graduate students returning to school also may apply

Thirty partial college scholarships of up to $3,000
each, are awarded each year to applicants from the
U.S.A. and Canada. Winners also receive a second-year
award contingent on academic accomplishment of the
first year. Winners are chosen by lottery drawing and only winners are notified.

Application must be made on-line.

Applications are accepted between December 2005 and March 31, 2006. An essay is required. If applying, your CWA Local number is Local 34001. CWA District number is District 4.

LOCAL 1 OFFICERS 2006

The following were elected Local 1 officers for 2006
by acclamation at The Local 1 Executive Board and
Annual Membership meeting Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005:

President, Richard Peery (Plain Dealer);
First Vice President,Yuvonne Webb (Beacon Journal); Second Vice President, Edd Pritchard (Repository);
Third Vice President, Katie Byard (Beacon Journal);
Fourth Vice President, Debbi Snook (Plain Dealer);
Treasurer, Ron Rutti (Plain Dealer).

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