Palentines Day Project
A Palentine’s Day Project
Challenger Schleuss wins re-run election for president of NewsGuild
Challenger Jon Schleuss has won The NewsGuild-CWA election, unseating incumbent Bernie Lunzer to claim the presidency.
The unofficial tally Tuesday showed Schleuss, a Los Angeles Times graphics and data journalist, with 1,979 (56.7%) votes and 1,514 (43.3%) for Lunzer.
Schleuss, whose four-year term begins immediately, ran on a platform to reform and modernize the 87-year-old union.
“We now have a stirring of wind at our backs, and we must build on our accomplishments,” he said in a news release. “It won’t always be easy, but our mission is to continue to grow the Guild and fight to preserve the future of journalism.”
Lunzer led the Guild through its greatest period of growth in decades, organizing 60 workplaces and 3,000 workers in the last four years.
The international referendum, in which all CWA Canada members were eligible to vote, was an unprecedented re-run of the spring contest. The union’s election committee determined that over 1,000 members had been effectively disenfranchised when mail-in ballots were sent to out-of-date addresses, mostly at the Canadian Media Guild (CWA Canada Local 30213). Locals are responsible for maintaining up-to-date member addresses.
The independent American Arbitration Association, which was contracted to conduct the election, reported that almost 3,600 ballots had been received by the Dec. 9 deadline. Each Local could choose whether to conduct in-person voting between Nov. 12 and 17 or arrange for members to receive mail-in ballots.
With more than 20,000 members, including 6,000 at CWA Canada Locals, TNG is the largest journalists union in North America. It is a sector of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and is affiliated with, but has no involvement in governance of the autonomous Canadian union.
The two candidates were nominated at TNG’s 80th Sector Conference held in Florida at the end of January. Attending as a guest, Schleuss became a TNG member in good standing immediately prior to the start of the conference.
Schleuss, 32, was a key player in the successful 2017 campaign to organize editorial employees at the famously anti-union Los Angeles Times, where he has worked since 2013.
The 62-year-old Lunzer — who worked at the St. Paul Pioneer Press for 10 years, then as administrative officer of the Minnesota Guild from 1989 to 1995, when he became TNG’s secretary-treasurer — has been president since 2008.
Joe Bernie Scholarship
http://ottawanewsguild.ca/website/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/beirneposter2020.pdf
Stand!, a musical that tells the story of the Winnipeg General Strike, opens in theatres on Nov. 29.
After years of effort, the movie Stand!, a musical that tells the story of the Winnipeg General Strike, opens in theatres on Nov. 29.
Please share the attached message with your members and do all you can to help promote the movie on social media.
I would also encourage Locals to buy tickets and provide them to members free of charge, either to your whole membership or hold a free lottery for a limited number of tickets. Once tickets go on sale, around Nov. 1, I will provide you with a link to the Cineplex site.
Solidarity!
Martin
Martin O’Hanlon
President, CWA Canada
The Media Union
Dear Sisters & Brothers:
It is with much gratitude to the labour movement that I announce the Stand! movie musical Canada-wide release at the Cineplex theatres listed below – on Friday, Nov. 29th.
The movie, already called the “next Norma Rae”, is the result of a partnership between the labour movement in Canada and the United States, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and the movie’s producers.
Tickets go on sale around Nov. 1. In order to maximize the impact of the movie, attendance at the first three days of the release – Friday, Nov. 29 to Sunday, Dec. 1 – is critical to being held over in theatres for a second or third week.
In the meantime, please consider sharing the movie now. The website www.stand-movie.com has a link to the trailer. You may also download the trailer or embed it online with this link: https://vimeo.com/363210881
Thank you in advance for helping to advance labour’s cause through the movie. It is an honour to bring this story to the world.
Sincerely,
Danny Schur
Composer/Producer/Co-writer
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A list of theatres where Stand! will be playing (more being added daily):
Silvercity Victoria
Galaxy Nanaimo International Village
Vancouver Silvercity Riverport / Vancouver Silvercity Mission
Scotiabank Theatre Edmonton
Scotiabank Theatre Chinook
Scotiabank Theatre Saskatoon
Galaxy Regina
Scotiabank Theatre Winnipeg / Cineplex McGillivray Winnipeg
Scotiabank Theatre Ottawa
CPX Hamilton Westmount London
CPX Vaughan Silvercity Windsor
CPX Oshawa
Galaxy Barrie
Galaxy Guelph
Yonge & Dundas, Toronto
Forum Montreal
CPX Laval
CPX St. Foy
Scotiabank Theatre Halifax
Mount Pearl – St. John’s NFLD