51: March 2007

First Responder program quietly dies
Departure opens two posts
Deadline for CWA scholarships nears
Board seeks arbitration in cases
Members will meet March 27

First Responder program quietly dies

Journal Sentinel Inc. has taken away one of your benefits. The reason you probably haven’t heard is because the company never issued an official announcement that it dumped the First Responder program downtown.

You’ve probably never had to rely on a First Responder. For that matter, you’ve probably never had to rely on a firefighter. But you’d never want to do away with your local fire department, would you?

In the past, if you or someone near you had a medical problem, you would call the operator or 611 (remember, the company doesn’t trust us to call 911), and the lobby guard would have called the pagers carried by each First Responder. First-aid kits were stationed throughout the building, and a responder would grab the kit and go. Sometimes two, three or four responders would show up.

Now, you’ll still call 611, but security personnel will be trained to handle such emergencies. However, because one of the guards probably will have to stay at the front desk, it’s likely only one will respond to an emergency.

One of the nice things about having so many people in the First Responder program was that they would be all over the building. Someone with basic training could reach the scene in the first few crucial minutes, make an assessment of how serious the incident was and either take care of the situation or call for professionally trained medical personnel.

The program has been twisting in the wind for the last couple of years, with no retraining for responders whose training had lapsed and no effort to replace those who left.

In a letter to First Responders, the company said it ended the program because production employees had moved to the Burnham facility, so “the State Street location is now mostly a work force of office employees and light duty workers.” Apparently, the company thinks that office employees and light-duty workers never need medical assistance.

But of course, it comes down to money. The letter continues: “Also, continuing the program anywhere in the company requires additional cost for updating volunteers and maintaining the program.”

That would be the cost of paying for somebody to conduct the training, for the salaries of those being trained and for people to fill in for those being trained. What are we talking about here, $5,000? $10,000? $20,000? Think of that money as an insurance premium.

If a First Responder saved one life in five or 10 years, would it have been too much to pay?

Departure opens two posts

The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild is looking for an Executive Board member and a Webmaster. That can be two different people, but they both would replace Mandy Jenkins, who has handled both jobs.

Jenkins, a JSOnline producer, is leaving for a job at the Cincinnati Enquirer. Last fall, she was elected to her first one-year term as an at-large board member and appointed to her second term as Webmaster. We’re looking for people to fill out Jenkins’ terms in each position.

The board member will be elected at our second-quarter meeting (not the March 27 meeting but the next one) and will serve through Sept. 30. If you’re interested in that seat, please contact President Jennie Tunkieicz.

The Webmaster is an appointed position with a term that runs until early October. If you’re interested in that job, please contact Communications Chair Larry Sandler.

Also, the board named copy editor Russ Maki as wage data coordinator. He will check payroll printouts to make sure employees are paid in accordance with the contract. Maki also joined a joint Guild-management committee looking at cafeteria opereations.

Deadline for CWA scholarships nears

March 31 is the deadline to apply for the scholarships offered by the Communications Workers of America’s Joe Beirne Foundation for the 2007-’08 school year.

The CWA, the Guild’s parent union, is offering 30 college scholarships of up to $3,000 each to CWA members, their spouses, children and grandchildren, including the dependents of retired, laid-off or deceased members. Applicants must be high school graduates; high school students who will graduate during the year in which they apply; or undergraduate and graduate students returning to school.

For applications and more information, see the foundation’s Web site, www.cwa-union.org/members/beirne/.

Board seeks arbitration in cases

The Guild board voted recently to seek arbitration in two grievance cases — those involving changes to the pension plan and to employee retiree benefits.

In both cases, changes were made and announced to plans without any prior discussion with the Guild. Our argument is that these represent benefit changes that are part of the contract and need to be part of the negotiating process.

In the pension case, the company dictated that employees hired after May 1, as well as non-vested part-timers, would be placed in the new Annual Employer Contribution plan. (Full-time employees here before that date and vested part-timers had a choice of staying in the old pension plan or switching to the Annual Employer Contribution plan.)

Changes in employee retiree benefits were widespread, including eliminating future coverage for employees who were under 50 as of Dec. 31, 2006. Because of a lack of progress in talks, the Guild board took the step of seeking arbitration, which potentially could involve both parties presenting their case to a state arbitrator agreed to by both sides.

Members will meet March 27

The Guild’s next quarterly membership meeting will be at noon Tuesday, March 27, on the second floor of Turner Hall. We will have an update on pending grievances and discuss any other concerns members want to raise. We’ll have lunch, too. All dues-paying members are welcome.