So why have our members received notice for another election for president of The News Guild?
Incumbent Bernie Lunzer defeated challenger Jon Schleuss 1,282 to 1,021 in the original election. But TNG’s election committee has ordered a rerun due to appeals that cited several concerns, most notably the very high percentage of inaccurate mailing addresses that prevented members from getting ballots in the mail.
So TNG and its locals are redoubling efforts to get up-to-date addresses on its members for the rerun.
Members in good standing of the United Media Guild — those members who were paying dues at some point in the previous quarter — will eligible to vote by mail in the upcoming national election. Ballots will be sent to their homes.
The UMG executive committee voted not to endorse either candidate, adhering to the precedent set the last time TNG held a contested election for president. (Lunzer defeated incumbent Linda Foley that time around.)
Over the years the UMG has worked closely with Lunzer and his staff in Washington D.C. on a variety of issues, including organizing new units, bargaining first contracts and enforcing our current agreements.
UMG vice president David Carson got to know Schleuss while assisting the successful Los Angeles Times organizing drive. UMG president Jeff Gordon, a TNG regional vice president, spoke extensively with Schleuss and other new unit activists at the TNG Sector Conference in Orlando.
Schleuss is stressing the need to improve member engagement, upgrade TNG’s communication capability and provide more support for local leaders.
Meanwhile Lunzer can point to TNG’s unprecedented organizing successes in recent years and his decades of labor leadership at the local and national levels.