Congratulations to Mark Johnson and Kawanza Newson, two of the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild’s most active members, who were named as finalists for one of the Pulitzer Prizes announced Monday. Johnson, a metro general assignment reporter, and Newson, a medical reporter, were in the running for the explanatory reporting prize, for their Milwaukee Journal Sentinel series […]
Local 51’s Executive Board has appointed Amy Hetzner to replace Bob Helbig as our treasurer. That appointment will last only until our next membership meeting, at noon Monday, May 8, at a location to be announced, when Hetzner will run in a special elect ion to fill the remainder of Helbig’s term, through Sept. 30. […]
Hopefully by now, your supervisor has given you a sheet that explains what your lump-sum discretionary bonus is for 2005. The money is to be handed out on this week’s paychecks. As you probably know, these bonuses are required by contract, in part to make up for the fact that most employees did not get […]
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel staffers took home the most awards in several years in the Milwaukee Press Club’s annual contest. In all, 19 Journal Sentinel newsroom employees shared seven first-place and five second-place awards, including two staffers who won two awards each. The figures include a current employee who won for work at her last newspaper […]
Latest word is that lump-sum bonuses for Journal Sentinel bargaining-unit members will show up on the March 30 paychecks. These bonuses, averaging 1% of 2004 wages, are being handed out in lieu of 2005 discretionary raises. Before your bonus appears on your check, your supervisor should give you a sheet explaining how the bonus was […]
The Milwaukee Newspaper Guild’s next membership meeting will be at noon next Monday, March 13, on the second floor of Turner Hall. This will be a chance to discuss how the new contract is being implemented and to answer any questions that you have about that or other issues. Lunch will be served.
Journal Sentinel Inc. is reviewing its Family and Medical Leave Act form. A newsroom employee recently was given a copy of the form, and the Guild sent it to our lawyer, Barbara Zack Quindel, for review. She raised some issues with the form, related to consent and release of medical records. We have asked the […]
Journal Sentinel management has started telling Guild bargaining-unit members what our lump-sum bonuses will be, so this is a good time to review how those bonuses were calculated. At management’s insistence, our new contract calls for those bonuses instead of the discretionary (“merit”) raises we would have received in 2005. We’ll go back to the […]
Here’s one contractual change to keep in mind as you’re submitting your vacation requests: The “floating holiday,” also known as the “personal day,” also known as the “birthday,” is now known as just another vacation day. So if you had three weeks of vacation and one floating holiday, for example, now you have three weeks […]
Yes, you can refuse to comment. Journal Sentinel employees recently received letters at home encouraging us to go online for a “Get Healthy” survey to assess our health. Those who did so found a lengthy and detailed questionnaire asking just about everything imaginable about our medical history. That led some members of our bargaining unit […]