November
26, 2005
Who
we are
The Lake Superior
Newspaper Guild exists for one reason. Power. In 1934, employees
at what became the Duluth News Tribune wanted to make this a better
place to work, and they organized to achieve that. Our contract
is the result of their work and the work of hundreds of others in
the years since.
It's a task
that continues today. We represent and protect the interests of
about 140 full-time and regular part-time employees in editorial,
advertising, market development, new media, business office, information
systems, circulation and maintenance departments.
We negotiate
the contract that determines pay, benefits and countless other issues
that affect those employees every day at work. We work to ensure
that the company honors the contract and labor laws and regulations.
We defend workers in grievances and disciplinary actions by the
company.
We're one of
two Guild locals in Minnesota. The other is the Newspaper Guild
of the Twin Cities, which represents 900 employees at six newspapers,
including the Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
The Lake Superior
Newspaper Guild carries the designation "Local No. 8'' because
we were the eighth local formed after newsman Heywood Broun founded
the union in 1933. The Newspaper Guild has more than 34,000 members
in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
In 1995, Guild
members voted to merge with the Communication Workers of America,
a union with more than 700,000 members in telephone companies and
many other areas of information-processing and technology. The Guild
operates as a separate sector, or division, inside the larger union.
The change gave access to many of the staff, research and other
resources of the CWA.