Guild wins three of four challenged positions at proposed Forward unit

A Guild drive to organize a business unit at The Forward Association was given a major boost recently when the National Labor Relations Board found that three out of four individuals the company claimed were not appropriate for union coverage were, in fact, eligible to vote in the upcoming election.

The Forward Association had alleged that three positions the Guild was seeking to cover - advertising director, circulation director and development manager - should not be eligible for representation because they were managerial and a fourth position, the benefits administrator, should be excluded because she is a confidential employee. The NLRB agreed that the advertising director is a supervisor and should be excluded from Guild jurisdiction, but that the remaining three are entitled to vote in the Guild election.

The decision, signed by Acting Regional Director David E. Leach on July 22, was the culmination of four days of testimony before hearing officer Rhonda Gottleib.

If the organizing drive is successful, it would mark the third Guild unit at The Forward. For many years, there has been a unit covering the Yiddish-language Jewish Forward publication. In 2003, an Editorial Department unit of the English-language Jewish Forward was organized.