Within the next week some very interesting things should be happening which will show management that we are not just 32 people in a newsroom trying to decide whether or not to unionize.
Some of you may feel alone, but know this is furthest from the truth.
We have the backing of dozens of people who know where we are because they’ve been there. Our fellow journalists from Local 51, the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild, know how much we love what we do - the freedom to write, polish, create and photograph that next great idea. They know if we didn’t have families, we would do it for free, but they also know that wouldn’t be a great idea… because what we do and how we do it is of great value to people.
We also have the backing of the entire News Guild Union and the Communication Workers of America… and that my friends, is a great place to be.
Sometimes us creative types think we operate better in isolation. We aren’t known to do battle with our employer, except of course when it comes to our craft. Many of us have probably never asked for a pay raise, thought of asking for time-and-a-half after working an eight-hour day, or thought there was a need for a pay classification. And I’m sure the notion of turning in three stories before we went on vacation or even better yet, (I’ve personally done this) writing on our vacations, didn’t cause us much concern.
But now the dynamic is different… it’s different because I now feel the sting of being told I don’t contribute to generating revenue, that those red marks on a piece of paper some how dictate that I should continue the status quo while being spoon fed fear.
Being a writer has often been called an affliction, a disease, and an incurable one at that, but does it mean that we need to be taken advantage of?
The Journal Sentinel has backed off covering the suburbs because we get paid half the salaries of our counterparts; they don’t pay us if we work over eight hours a day; we don’t get paid a differential for working weekends, holidays or evenings; we don’t have a policy for grievances; and we don’t have a pay structure in place. They also do not post open positions that JS has for reporters and management has mentioned we won’t even be considered for them because we are a weekly newspaper.
Why is that acceptable to us? Because we love what we do and we fear not being able to do it.
I remember the words that my advisor said to me when I went back to school after a seven-year stint of trying to convince myself that I wasn’t a writer, Ginny McBride told me, “You’ll have to start out at a weekly and you won’t make any money.”
I accepted that notion once, but now… I think better of myself.
