August 2, 2006

 

IMAGING SPECIALISTS VOTE

UNANIMOUSLY TO JOIN GUILD

Now That’s Entertainment

 

A brisk two-month organizing campaign culminated Thursday, July 20, when five production associates of Entertainment Weekly (EW), published by Time Inc., voted unanimously to name the Newspaper Guild of New York as their bargaining agent.

 

Production associates prepare photographs to be published at EW, a function that is done by imaging specialists at other Time Inc. magazines. The Guild is the bargaining agent for workers at several Time Inc. magazines, including Time, Life, Fortune, Fortune Small Business, Sports Illustrated, Money, and People.

 

But when the Guild petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for an election for the production associates and assistant production associates at EW, the media giant said that Time Inc. wasn’t their employer.  It insisted the five individuals were, instead, employed by EW.

 

The Guild performed some research and determined that EW, indeed, is a subsidiary of Time Inc., unlike Time, Sports Illustrated, et al. That didn’t discourage the five individuals who wanted to be represented by the Guild, or the union’s willingness to bargain on their behalf, however. We petitioned for an election at EW.

 

Time Inc. was once an organization that was friendly to its employees and to the union that represents them. That was years ago. This time, during the election period, the company campaigned against the Guild, conducting meetings with the potential members and sending them e-mails that attempted to trash the Guild.

 

We held our own meetings with the production associates, one-on-one, talked to them on the telephone, and sent our own e-mails, responding to the company’s misleading allegations point by point.

 

The five members of our Local’s newest unit have held their first meeting, electing a chairperson and beginning the task of formulating proposals for what they’d like to see in a first contract.

 

N.Y. Guild President Barry Lipton commented: “The Guild is pleased that these workers have unanimously chosen us as their union, in spite of great pressure from their employer to do otherwise. We look forward to working with them in an effort to significantly improve their working lives.”

 

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08/02/06