Media unions chart new course for recovery
13 Jan 2009
California Media Workers Guild
BALTIMORE -- Delegates from three allied media unions began a new push forward Monday through the morass of layoffs and bankruptcies.
"Its really tough right now and there’s a lot of despair,” said Bernie Lunzer, president of the Newspaper Guild. “But we think if we work together, we can kill the despair with hope." Podcast
He spoke at the conclusion of a three-day conference in Baltimore where delegates including Media Workers President Michael Cabanatuan, shown here standing during a break-out session, tried to get a grip on media economic trends. (Check out Cabanatuan's Media Guild Blog: "Fighting for the Future.")
The 150 participants were drawn from the Guild, typographical and broadcast branches of the Communications Workers of America. It was the first significant gathering of all three CWA media sectors, which plan to collaborate on organizing and other core projects.
Larry Cohen, president of the CWA, spoke on prospects for the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill to restore worker rights to organize and bargain effectively for first contracts. Podcast
Read more, and listen to podcasts with alternative-business model experts Robert Lang and Lee Egerstrom. (Photo by Maurice Thomas III, NABET-CWA Local 52031.)