With unanimous support, Public News Service staffers win union recognition

June 14, 2022 by

Three weeks after going public with their union, 16 employees of Public News Service (PNS) won voluntary recognition from management May 24 and will begin contract negotiations as members of the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild, TNG-CWA Local 37002.

“We’re thrilled that management [at Public News Service] has voluntarily recognized our union,” the Public News Service Union posted on Twitter. “We look forward to negotiating our first contract, and working with management to create a sustainable and equitable future for PNS.”

The nonprofit, member-supported news organization covers 37 states, providing content to over 10,000 media outlets. The new bargaining unit brings together journalists, editors, audio engineers, and outreach and membership specialists based in locations across the country.

Nadia Ramlagan, a producer from Louisville, Ky., said PNS’s far-flung newsroom complicated the organizing process when it began about a year ago. But it proved a satisfying challenge to overcome.

“We’ve all really forged these deep relationships with one another, despite working remotely,” Ramlagan said. “I feel like my work life has been enriched. No matter what happens with the bargaining process, it’s really been a game changer.”

Workers requested voluntary recognition of their union after a petition for representation drew unanimous support from eligible employees. By granting voluntary recognition, PNS bypassed the lengthy National Labor Relations Board election process.

“I respect and recognize PNS employees’ right to unionize,” PNS founder and CEO Lark Corbeil said in a public statement. “Journalists have a staggering responsibility, and every editorial decision is a choice. Together, we must continue to put forward a collective vision of a just and sustainable future, and journalists’ safety and well being is central to that mission.”

Guild members said their top priorities in bargaining a first contract with PNS will be equitable working conditions and a fairer pay scale. They also will look to negotiations as a way to improve the news outlet and ensure its future viability.

“This is a group of really passionate producers and journalists who all saw ways that we could make our workplace better,” Ramlagan said.

In the last decade, workers at over 200 media outlets have launched union drives, according to the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Locally, workers at MinnPost won recognition of their union with the Guild a year ago, and Minnesota Public Radio News staff members organized with SAG-AFTRA in 2017.

Ramlagan said PNS employees “definitely see ourselves as part of that wave of newsroom, white-collar and nonprofit workers” seeking a voice on the job.

“I think we’re at a crossroads collectively where the state of journalism can run on a system of exploitation forever until it totally collapses, or we change our approach to our industry, so it continues to be viable and sustainable and to attract good people who are in the work for the right reasons,” she said.

Bargaining, like the organizing process, will be a learn-as-you-go experience for most members of the fledgling union. Ramlagan, who has been with PNS for over three years, admitted to “a very limited understanding” of what unions do until recently.

“Everybody seemed to be in the same boat as me in that the idea of having agency as an employee and having the power to change your workplace for the better hadn’t really occurred to me, individually,” she said. “We’ve had some producers who’ve worked for Public News Service for seven to 12 years and are the most supportive of this effort, but they hadn’t taken that action until now.”

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Minnesota native wins election as CWA’s secretary-treasurer

June 29, 2015 by

sara-steffensFridley native Sara Steffens was elected secretary/treasurer of the Communications Workers of America, one of the largest labor unions in the country.

Steffens, 43, was sworn in at the union’s 75th convention in Detroit on June 8.

Steffens was previously acting secretary/treasurer of the NewsGuild-CWA, a sector representing journalists, language interpreters and others. A journalist and community activist, Steffens began her career as a reporter for the White Bear Press.

Steffens’ record of union activism includes successfully leading her co-workers at the Contra Costa Times and other Bay Area newspapers in an organizing campaign. The group is now represented by the Pacific Media Workers Guild in San Francisco.

Steffens and her co-workers were fired by the Bay Area Newspaper Group in 2008 for their activism, but she continued to work with the NewsGuild and CWA.

Steffens ran for CWA office on a slate with Christopher Shelton, a New Yorker and longstanding union activist who ran unopposed for president. Shelton succeeds Larry Cohen, who retired after serving as CWA president for 10 years.

CWA represents 700,000 workers in private and public sector employment in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

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HCMC staff win agreement to cover video interpreting

November 20, 2013 by

MN Guild new logo 3-4-13Hennepin County Medical Center saw no need to consult its staff of professional interpreters before implementing new video interpreting (VRI) technology into its hospitals and clinics.

That was before interpreters mounted a unique mobilization campaign and their union, the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild, filed charges of unfair labor practices against the hospital system in Hennepin County court. HCMC soon reversed course, reaching an agreement covering VRI with union representatives Nov. 15.

The VRI agreement gives the Guild unit of more than 125 interpreters momentum as they continue negotiations with HCMC on a new contract, unit chair Santiago Morgan said.

“Fundamentally, we established the principal that if (HCMC) wants to do something like this, they can’t do it without bargaining with the interpreters – because that’s what unions do,” Morgan said.

Interpreters approached Guild leadership with several concerns about VRI, ranging from job security to the quality of service the new technology would allow them to provide.

“We recognize that video can be useful,” Morgan said. “But if you were to ask any of the three participants in the encounter – the provider, the interpreter and, most importantly, the patient – all three would tell you they prefer to have a live interpreter.”

The Guild won work rules to protect interpreters from having to work more than four hours per shift in the VRI call center, and the agreement establishes the right for interpreters to take much-needed breaks between VRI calls, which could come at a breakneck pace if HCMC hooks into a VRI network with hospitals around the country.

“As fatigue sets in, your accuracy just kind of starts to go down the drain,” Morgan said. “If you’re in a long, stressful interpreting session, it’s important to have the right to log off for a few minutes to get gathered again.”

Guild members’ contract with HCMC expires Dec. 31.

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The economic debate hasn’t changed much in 25 years

January 14, 2013 by
A cartoon from the Jan. 27, 1938, Union Advocate presents a familiar problem.

A cartoon from the Jan. 27, 1938, Union Advocate presents a familiar problem.

Business owners say Minnesota’s economic climate is poor, urging lower tax rates and steep cuts to government spending. Union leaders say Minnesota owes its high quality of life to public investments in education and infrastructure that are a catalyst for economic growth.

That’s the debate likely to take place when state lawmakers return to the Capitol next month, and it sounds an awful lot like the “Great Debate” that took place between business leaders and labor leaders in a public forum 25 years ago in St. Paul.

As it turns out, the arguments weren’t all that fresh 25 years ago either, according to the Feb. 1 edition of The Union Advocate: “For the most part the comments were familiar, as both business and labor summarized their positions. The clearest conflict emerged over the questions of workers’ compensation and whether the state has a poor business climate.”

[The Union Advocate’s “This Month in the Archives” feature offers a look back at what our newspaper was reporting from 5 to 100 years ago. Our digital archives are online, searchable and free to anyone. Click here for access.]

Sponsored by the St. Paul Labor Speakers Club, the Jan. 25, 1987, debate drew four participants, two from labor and two from business, including Minnesota Chamber of Commerce President Win Borden.

Businesses will flee Minnesota as the national economy recovers, Borden said, unless the state cuts spending for government services, reduces corporate property taxes and cuts the cost for unemployment and workers’ compensation.

“The tragic fact is some states will be left behind because some states are not as creative as they should be in creating new jobs,” Borden said. “Unfortunately Minnesota is one of those states.”

Eliot Seide, then the area director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, wasn’t buying what Borden was selling. He “chided the business lobbyists for failing to acknowledge what Minnesota gets for its tax dollars – excellent education, a good transportation system and a great quality of life – all factors that attract business,” The Advocate reported.

Seide even seemed a little disappointed to be repeating the same old, tired debate still echoing in the House and Senate chambers today.

“I came here hoping to hear something different,” he acknowledged.

Tom Majeski (left), a reporter for the Pioneer Press, distributed fliers outside the Xcel Energy Center Jan. 14, 2003. About 50 members of the Minnesota Newspaper Guild, took part in the action to protest cuts sought by management during bargaining.

Tom Majeski (left), a reporter for the Pioneer Press, distributed fliers outside the Xcel Energy Center Jan. 14, 2003. About 50 members of the Minnesota Newspaper Guild, took part in the action to protest cuts sought by management during bargaining.

10 Years Ago: Proposed wage freeze drew cold reception from PiPress workers

More than 50 Pioneer Press employees, members of the Minnesota Newspaper Guild Typographical Union, froze their tails off outside a Minnesota Wild game to protest management’s attempt to freeze workers’ wages for three years, The Advocate reported in its Jan. 23, 2003, edition.

Union members at the Pioneer Press, who had been working without a contract since July 2002, distributed handbills to Wild fans heading into the arena. The sheets featured team rosters on one side and bargaining information on the other.

In addition to the wage freeze, Knight-Ridder, which owned the newspaper at the time, sought to “raise the employees’ share of family health-care costs by 50 percent, freeze pension contributions, and extract other concessions, even though the paper is profitable,” The Advocate reported.

75 Years Ago: Minnesota Box Company landed on do-not-patronize list

The St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly put Minnesota Box Company on its do-not-patronize list, prompting the city’s unions begin pressuring area brewing companies and bottlers to make sure the union label appears on their crates and boxes carrying its products.

Trades and Labor President Ray Wentz put Minnesota Box on the list after management refused to include employees laid off during a “seasonal slump” in a union election.

Minnesota Box President N.J. Lennartson “has frequently stated that he did not believe any of his employees wished to join a union, and his attitude has been one of antagonism against unionization,” Wentz told The Advocate.

Landing on the list meant Minnesota Box would have trouble competing with manufacturers entitled to use the union label on their boxes and crates, Box Makers business representative Charles LaVaque said.

“The St. Paul Bottling company and the Superior Bottling company use nothing but union-made boxes for their soft drinks,” LaVaque said. “The Hamm Brewing company also uses union-made cases, and we urge our friends to insist on union-made boxes, shipping cases and wooden cartons.”

100 Years Ago: Democrats in St. Paul Fire Department fired

St. Paul Mayor Herbert Keller drew sharp criticism in a front-page story in The Union Advocate’s Jan. 31, 1913, edition, after the city’s Fire Commissioners fired nine St. Paul firefighters for being “too old to be efficient” any longer.

The Advocate suspected there was an additional reason for the firefighters’ dismissal: “the fact that they are all Democrats.”

Keller, who held office from 1910 to 1914, claimed to be running a non-partisan administration. The city’s union leaders weren’t buying it.

“None of (the fired firefighters) is really too old to be efficient, but the mayor wanted their places for some of his political friends,” The Advocate claimed.

The firings added insult to injury for city firemen, who had been granted only a “small increase in pay” by Keller’s administration months earlier.

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Video: Catholic Spirit workers, supporters protest outside cathedral

June 24, 2012 by

Catholic Spirit employees and their supporters picket outside the Cathedral of St. Paul.

UPDATE (June 25): The Minnesota Newspaper Guild reports five members in The Catholic Spirit bargaining unit have been laid off. The remaining eight have until the end of the week to decide whether or not to accept non-union positions in the archdiocese’s Office of Communications starting July 2.

The Guild contends the archdiocese violated a provision of its contract requiring 30-days notice for any layoffs.

The layoffs hit four full-time workers and one part-time sales representative. Two of the full-time workers had given more than 27 years of service to The Catholic Spirit; two others had 11-plus years of service. They received checks for severance pay, accrued vacation and wages through the end of this week.

Both workers quoted in this story received layoff notices.

*****

With the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis set to dissolve their union at the end of the month, workers at The Catholic Spirit newspaper took their concerns directly to the church Sunday, protesting outside morning mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

The protest – organized by the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation and the Minnesota Newspaper Guild, which has represented workers at The Catholic Spirit since 1965 – drew about 50 supporters from the faith and labor communities.

Protesters talked with parishioners about the archdiocese’s refusal to honor Catholic Spirit workers’ request to keep their collective bargaining rights – a decision, workers say, that ignores church teachings regarding the value of labor unions and collective bargaining in a socially just workplace.

“I sure don’t refer to this as social justice, if this is how you treat people that have worked for you for as many years as we have,” Catholic Spirit employee Marilyn Rivera said. “I think it’s pretty un-Christian, to be honest with you.”

Deb Rotter, who has worked at The Catholic Spirit for 28 years, said she is “heartbroken” by the archdiocese’s decision to walk away from nearly 50 years of collective bargaining with the Guild. She said workers are still waiting for an explanation from Archbishop John Nienstedt.

“I’m very disappointed in him,” Rotter said. “I don’t understand why he’s treating us this way, and I’m heartbroken.”

The Guild is asking supporters to contact Archbishop Nienstedt and ask him to respect The Catholic Spirit workers’ request to keep their union. To reach the archbishop, call (651) 291-4511, or fill out the e-mail form on the archbishop’s website.

Click here to read The Union Advocate’s full report on The Catholic Spirit dispute.

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Workers will protest archdiocese for dissolving Catholic Spirit union

June 20, 2012 by

Workers will rally outside the Cathedral of St. Paul on June 24, protesting the archbishop’s decision to strip 13 workers of their union rights.

The Twin Cities labor community will rally behind workers at The Catholic Spirit newspaper Sunday, protesting Archbishop John Nienstedt’s decision to strip 13 workers at the archdiocesan publication of their union rights.

The protest will begin at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, June 24, at the Cathedral of St. Paul. It is being organized by the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation and the Minnesota Newspaper Guild, which has represented workers at The Catholic Spirit since 1965.

Click here to view complete details of the protest.

Click here to read The Union Advocate’s full report on The Catholic Spirit dispute.

In an overhaul intended “to create a more integrated communications function,” the Archdiocesan Office of Communications will absorb The Catholic Spirit and some of its 13 workers at the end of this month – but not their union contract.

In negotiations, Guild members asked representatives of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which publishes The Catholic Spirit, to continue recognition of their bargaining unit voluntarily. The archdiocese denied that request.

Workers say that decision ignores church teachings that address the value of labor unions and collective bargaining in a socially just workplace.

The Guild is asking supporters to contact Archbishop Nienstedt and ask him to respect The Catholic Spirit workers’ request to keep their union. To reach the archbishop, call (651) 291-4511, or fill out the e-mail form on the archbishop’s website.

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Archdiocese strips Catholic Spirit workers of their union contract

June 14, 2012 by

The Catholic Spirit is the award-winning official publication of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is moving forward with plans to dissolve the bargaining unit of workers at its official newspaper, The Catholic Spirit, when their current collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of this month.

In an overhaul intended “to create a more integrated communications function,” the Archdiocesan Office of Communications will absorb The Catholic Spirit and some of its 13 workers, but not their union contract.

In meetings with lawyers for the archdiocese last month, Catholic Spirit workers, represented by the Minnesota Newspaper Guild, requested the archdiocese voluntarily continue to recognize their bargaining unit within the expanded communications office. The archdiocese denied that request, prompting Guild members to send a letter to Archbishop John Nienstedt seeking clarification.

“The only reason we were given for the unit disappearing so far is that the Guild unit does not fit within the central corporation’s needs,” said Chris Pierskalla, chair of the Guild’s Catholic Spirit bargaining unit. “That hasn’t been expounded upon.”

The Guild is asking supporters to contact Archbishop Nienstedt and ask him to respect The Catholic Spirit workers’ request to keep their union. To reach the archbishop, call (651) 291-4511, or fill out the e-mail form on the archbishop’s website.

The Guild has represented workers at The Catholic Spirit since 1965. Prior to the communications overhaul, the bi-weekly newspaper, with a circulation of 82,000, operated “not independently, but with autonomy” from the archdiocese, Pierskalla said. The archbishop served as publisher, but the newspaper “operates basically at the direction of the associate publisher and his staff.”

The arrangement has fostered award-winning results. The Catholic Spirit and its staff members have collected several awards from the Catholic Press Association, including first place in the General Excellence category in 2009.

It remains unclear how the newspaper will fit into the archdiocese’s new communications strategy – and how the transition will affect The Catholic Spirit’s 13 workers. Guild members, Pierskalla said, are feeling uncertain about their wages, benefits and job security.

“We’ve had two meetings, and we still don’t know what the transition plan is,” he said. “Jobs aren’t necessarily going to move over the way they are now. We know they are not moving the newspaper as it is over there; they are changing. But as of yet we don’t know what the changes are.”

In a statement released today, the archdiocese confirmed plans to continue publishing on a bi-monthly schedule, but acknowledged that some Guild members will lose their jobs at the end of the month due to “overlap in functions.” For workers absorbed into the office of communications, their Guild contract will be replaced by a non-negotiable employment agreement called “Justice in Employment.”

According to the archdiocese’s release: “This employment agreement, which has been in place in the Archdiocese since 1999, provides a number of features that provide extensive protections for employees. In addition, the Archdiocese provides an Office of Conciliation to assist employees in protecting their rights afforded under the ‘Justice in Employment’ agreement.”

Pierskalla and other workers say they would prefer to keep their collective-bargaining rights.

“I would like to stay within the unit,” Pierskalla said. “I would like to have collective bargaining. If this were to be lost, what I would miss most are those opportunities to be treated like a peer at the table. Not to assume immediately that I won’t be treated that way by management going forward, but it’s an unknown right now.”

As a religious entity, the archdiocese appears to be on firm legal footing in dissolving the Catholic Spirit bargaining unit. But workers say the archdiocese, in refusing their request for voluntary recognition, ignores Catholic doctrine supporting their right to union representation.

In their letter to Nienstedt, workers cited the writings of Pope John Paul II. The letter states: “Laborem Exercens, under The Importance of Unions, No. 20, states: ‘All these rights, together with the need for the workers themselves to secure them, give rise to yet another right: the right of association, that is to form associations for the purpose of defending the vital interest of those employed in the various professions.’”

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