Expressing confidence that the union and its members are up to the task, Boarman said the key to the future for all of organized labor is the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. He praised Sector locals and members who “have gone above and beyond” to participate with CWA and the AFL-CIO in the campaign to get the bill passed.
Boarman described opposition to EFCA as coming “from predictable sources—big business and the right-wing conservatives who do their bidding.” However, he said, it is surprising and disturbing that so many U.S. senators “have been intimidated and hoodwinked into opposing the legislation” based on “phony arguments.”
Boarman’s comments touched on the Sector’s efforts to “brand” the CWA Printing Setor Label. The intent of the program, he said, “is to try to expand our market share of commercial printing for the 95% of the good employers we have under contract—the shops that are never or rarely a problem; the commercial shops that negotiate and honor decent agreements, establish fair wages, working conditions and benefits, and treat their workers with respect.”
He credited New York Typographical Local No. 6 and its President Art DeIanni for the spadework in setting up the program, which is funded by the CWA Strategic Industry Fund.
Boarman also expressed confidence that the CWA/ITU Negotiated Pension Plan will rally as the general economy recovers. “Your NPP Board of Trustees has monitored the situation throughout this crisis,” he noted, adding: “In March 2009, the trustees acted to protect the fund by adopting a series of changes that save the fund $17.9 million over the next 12 months, and $10.2 million a year thereafter. Some of the changes the trustees were forced to adopt will be painful, but necessary to protect the NPP’s ability to pay earned benefits.”
Criticizing the “entrepreneurial geniuses” who own and manage the newspaper industry, Boarman pointed out that while publishers and chains were buying and selling overpriced properties at a dizzying pace, the internet was “stealing their business.” He said newspaper executives were too busy trying to destroy unions and distracted by efforts to combat rising postal rates to notice.
Boarman reserved special criticism for the Chicago Sun-Times where management tried to sneak a $1.8 million bonus for 20 executives through the bankruptcy proceedings. When the Chicago Mailers local got wind of the plan someone informed the IRS—the Sun-Times parent company owes more than $600 million in back taxes—and suddenly, Sun-Times management withdrew the bonus scheme.
The unions of the newspaper industry have shouldered more than a fair share of the load in keeping the newspaper industry afloat—more than creditors and bankers, vendors, equipment manufacturers and management, he said. “The Sector will continue to work with NABET and the Guild” to find “solutions to this problem that has been festering for more than a generation.”
‘Newspaper executives were too busy trying to destroy unions and too distracted by rising postal rates to notice the internet was stealing their business.’
