NEW UNIT OFFICERS

De Sa' heads new Guild team at Mercury News

03 Sep 2009

Media Workers Guild

Award-winning reporter Karen de Sa' was elected by her colleagues to lead a new team of Guild officers at the San Jose Mercury News.

Unit members elected de Sa’ by acclamation to serve out the remainder of a three-year term as Mercury News Unit Chair, through December 2010. The previous unit chair, Mary Anne Ostrom, a political writer, resigned from the newspaper this summer.

The Mercury News has one of the best editorial and commercial-ad sales staffs in the country, and even after multiple rounds of devastating layoffs remains one of the premier bargaining units of The Newspaper Guild-CWA. The Merc ranks next to the San Francisco Chronicle as the largest newspaper bargaining unit in the California Media Workers Guild, the regional local formed this year by merger of previously separ. ate Guild chapters based in San Jose and San Francisco.

De Sa’ said it was time for news workers to stand their ground for quality jobs and quality journalism. “If we don’t fight for this, who will?” she said.

The ongoing tumult in the newspaper industry, including deep staff cuts and consolidations by Mercury News owner MediaNews Group, has virtually wiped out the Guild Unit’s top leadership.

Besides Ostrom, Sylvia Ulloa, a page designer who was president of the former San Jose Guild local and a special vice president of the merged Media Workers, recently stepped down along with vice chair John Fensterwald, who left for an extended fellowship, and secretary Jack Davis, a business reporter.

Mercury News Guild leaders made sure the departures would not leave a void for long.

During a lunchtime meeting at the newspaper on Thursday, Guild members volunteered to fill nearly all the key openings and laid groundwork for new organizing projects.

Reporter Lisa Krieger was elected to serve as vice chair of the unit. Three new delegates -- Joe Rodriguez, Tracey Kaplan and Mike Swift -- were chosen to serve on the Local Representative Assembly, joining Bill Russell, a member of the last negotiating committee who already serves on the RA.

Reporter Karen de Sa' was chosen Thursday by her colleagues to serve as the new Chair of the San Jose Mercury News Guild Unit. Her term runs through Dec. 2010.

Their terms promise plenty of activity.

The current labor agreements at the Mercury News and Bay Area News Group-East Bay are due to expire on Halloween next year.

The company recently forced the transfer of two dozen veteran Mercury News employees to the East Bay newsroom when the Merc’s copy desk was consolidated  with the BANG-EB copy desk in Walnut Creek. Because the East Bay is a new Guild unit which just won its first contract, pay and benefits generally are a long way from reaching the levels produced by decades of collective bargaining in San Jose.

The task ahead, Guild members agreed on Thursday, will be to unite the East Bay and San Jose bargaining units in common cause to improve conditions for all – and help ensure the company regains its financial and editorial footing as the economy rebounds.

The new slate of officers elected Thursday represents only the start of the rebuilding de Sa’ hopes to lead at the Mercury News Guild Unit. Other employees are being tapped to serve as committee members or shop stewards, while a new unit secretary is expected to be named soon. Changes in the Guild’s field staff and office locations also are in the works, due to the planned closure of the San Jose office on Brokaw Road and departure of Executive Officer Luther Jackson.

Longtime administrative director Suzanne Arnaud has begun working on a reduced part-time schedule. Carl Hall, a reporter and Guild organizer who recently took a buyout from the San Francisco Chronicle staff, now serves as local representative for the East Bay and San Jose units, working with Guild International Representative Darren Carroll and Executive Officer Doug Cuthbertson.