Team Guild

Brandon Ortiz, Lexington Newspaper Guild

Linda Foley and her TeamGuild running mates, Scott Stephens for Secretary-Treasurer, Los Kirkup for Sector Chair and Sheila Lindsay for Region 2 vice-president, have the dedication, passion and experience we need to truly Grow the Guild and fight for your future.

Guild leaders across North America have stepped forward with their support. Lexington's Brandon Ortiz is among those who recognize TeamGuild's commitment to every Guild member, no matter how small the Local might be.

Brandon writes,

Linda Foley has always been there for my local, the Lexington Newspaper Guild.

She delivered results when she was president of our small local more than 20 years ago. And she never—not once—forgot about us when she became president of the Newspaper Guild.

In the Lexington Guild’s darkest hour, when corporate bean counters were singling out the weakest in our unit, our part-timers, for cuts in sick leave and health benefits, Linda reached out to us with common-sense advice. With her guidance we tripled our membership, we built a coalition with other labor unions and elected officials, and we mounted the first public campaign in our 39-year history.

Linda marched and spoke at a rally we held, and with her help we sent a very loud and clear message to the corporate bean counters. And we forced them to do what they said they never would—we forced them to compromise.

For Linda, shoring up small locals is not an academic exercise. It’s not something she’s learned from a text book or studied in an ivory tower. For Linda, its something she knows from experience.

I urge all Guild members and activists to vote to re-elect Linda Foley for president of the Newspaper Guild.

Brandon Ortiz
President
Lexington Newspaper Guild

The Future of Your Guild

We're in the closing days of the Newspaper Guild elections with thousands of our colleagues casting their ballots right now -- and thousands more set to vote in the next week. The stakes are significant: Together, we're determining the future of the Guild.

More and more Guild leaders, activists and rank-and-file members are joining TeamGuild  --  voting for Linda Foley for President, Scott Stephens for Secretary-Treasurer, Lois Kirkup for Sector Chair and Sheila Lindsay for Region 2 vice president. They're voting for the proven leadership we need to grow the Guild, mobilize the membership, rebuild our Locals, bring transparency and reliability to the Guild's finances and build a real partnership with CWA.

Hawaii's Wayne Cahill

The voting is underway in the Newspaper Guild leadership elections -- and we've received another TeamGuild endorsement: this one from Wayne Cahill,  the Administrative Officer of the Hawaii Newspaper Guild.

We think Wayne's decision is significant because he had the same dilemma that so many Guild members had: they never wanted to be forced to make this kind of choice.

Wayne writes,

I knew I would have to decide, but I didn't want to break up the team. Both Linda and Bernie have been good for the Guild.  But the team isn't a team anymore.

Today, I marked my ballot for Team Guild --Linda Foley for President, Scott Stephens for Secretary Treasurer and Lois Kirkup for International Chairperson.

It wasn't an easy decision, but for me it was right for the Guild.

I believe President Foley has the best vision for the future of the Guild.  She thinks outside of the box.

We have two newspapers in Honolulu, the Advertiser and the Star-Bulletin.  Linda worked with CWA to get the necessary funding to fight that battle that started almost nine years ago.  She worked with us with ideas and support to stop Gannett from closing that newspaper.

Instead of having Gannett buy and close the Star-Bulletin, we forced the owner to put it up for sale.  We found a buyer and have negotiated two contracts since then.

The Joint Operating Agreement is gone.  We have two competing newspapers in Honolulu.  We not only saved jobs, we created about 200 new jobs.  And we have two independent editorial voices in Honolulu. And we're stronger at the bargaining table with the Advertiser because of the competition.

These are challenging and changing times in our industry.  We need to retain our strong leadership.  We need to retain the vision.

Wayne Cahill
Administrative Officer
Hawaii Newspaper Guild.

CWA President Larry Cohen Endorses TeamGuild