Keenan nominations open; Guild vote set for Kaplan ESL teachers

The Guild is pleased to announce the opening of nominations for its annual service award in honor of Tom Keenan, a former chairperson of The New York Times unit who died in 2000.

Each year, the Keenan award recognizes the outstanding contributions of a Guild member. Nominations, which can be made by any member, are open until Friday, May 25 at 6 p.m. EDT.

In determining a winner, the Guild’s Administrative Committee will seek the nominee who “has performed above and beyond the call of duty in service to the New York Local, and best exemplifies the ideals of a true labor leader, in the spirit of Tom Keenan.”

Nominations must adhere to the following guidelines:

* Nominations must be made by members in good standing and delivered by mail or email to Local Secretary-Treasurer Peter Szekely at the Newspaper Guild, 1501 Broadway, Suite 708, New York, NY, 10036, by May 25 at 6 p.m. EDT.

* Written nominations must be signed by the member(s) making the nomination. Emails must come from a verifiable email address belonging to the member making the nomination.

* No self-nominations, please.

This year’s prize will be presented at a general membership meeting later this year.

ABOUT TOM KEENAN
Keenan was the Times Guild unit chair for seven terms, longer than anyone else, before joining the New York Guild’s staff in 1997 as a Local representative. He became ill with cancer shortly after coming to work for the union. He had also served on the Local’s Executive Committee for the second-longest period of any rank-and-file member in our 78-year history.

In 1999, while Keenan was still alive, the Executive Committee created the Thomas M. Keenan Newspaper Guild of New York Service Award. It is presented each year to a member, or a member who retired within the past year, who is nominated by at least one other active member. The Administrative Committee, which selects the winner, consists of the Local president, secretary-treasurer, chairperson, three vice presidents and the Local’s representative on the TNG-CWA Executive Council.

Kaplan ESL teachers want Guild;
NLRB schedules election for June 7

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has scheduled an election for June 7 to enable more than 90 English teachers at Kaplan Inc. to decide whether they want the Guild to represent them on the job.

The Guild petitioned the NLRB for an election after an overwhelming majority of the instructors, who teach English as a second language (ESL) at Kaplan International Centers in New York City, signed Guild cards. The NLRB requires a minimum showing of 30 percent to hold an election.  

“Kaplan teachers want what most employees want: a voice in the workplace and better working conditions,” said Bill O’Meara, president of the Newspaper Guild of New York. “What’s remarkable about these employees is that they’re actually doing something about it.”

Kaplan Inc., with $2.5 billion in revenues last year, was founded in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan and provides higher education programs, professional training courses, test preparation materials and language instruction around the world. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Washington Post Co. and is headquartered in New York City.

“We had a good working relationship with the Washington Post Co. when it owned Newsweek magazine, and there’s no reason that can’t be the case with Kaplan too,” said O’Meara.

Emily Flitter of Reuters
elected to Executive Committee

Emily Flitter of Thomson Reuters has been declared elected to a seat on the Executive Committee after no opposing petitions were filed for the vacant position before the May 4 deadline.

Flitter, a journalist who covers the Treasury market, primary dealers and Wall Street's interactions with government, was nominated without opposition at the April 24 meeting for the Local’s Representative Assembly.

The Executive Committee seat became vacant in March when Flitter’s predecessor, Moira Herbst, left her job at Thomson Reuters, and consequently the Guild’s jurisdiction, only weeks after she being elected. Herbst had succeeded Priscilla Sutton, who had held the seat for several years but left the Executive Committee at the end of 2011 when her administrative group at Thomson Reuters was eliminated.