June 2002 SECTOR NEWS Page 6A

CWAPrintingPublishingand MediaWorkers

Volume 17, No. 6June 2002

The U.S. Government PrintingOffice (GPO), which employssome 3,000 workers in Wash-

ington, D.C., is confronting anew threat from the WhiteHouse to take apart the govern-ment’s printing procurementfunctions and allow individualfederal agencies to farm out anestimated $500 million worth ofprinting work to commercialprinters.

One of the key functions thatthe GPO performs is to super-vise a unified federal printingprocurement policy which pro-vides substantial savings for tax-payers. GPO oversees more than$620 million worth of printing,an estimated $450 million of thattotal is already contracted out toprivate printers. A nationwidenetwork of between 10,000 and12,000 private firms employingsome 240,000 employees are onGPO’s “master bid list.”

The threatened dismantling ofGPO comes in the form of a pro-posed change in federal regula-tions issued in early May by thefederal Office of Managementand Budget (OMB), which wantsto implement its policy onSeptember 1. Once such propos-als are floated, OMB mustreview comments submitted bythe public and interested partiesbefore the regulation can be putinto effect. That comment periodruns for 120 days.

According to Printing SectorPresident Bill Boarman, theWhite House announcementreflects “a fundamental misun-derstanding of what GPO does,an ignorance of the law and—most importantly—total lack ofcomprehension of what GPOhas accomplished in reducingprinting costs and establishing ahighly efficient printing opera-tion that saves taxpayers mil-lions of dollars every year.”

Unfortunately, Boarman said,“the White House will no doubtpress this issue and we’re goingto have to fight back aggressive-ly to keep GPO from beingdestroyed.”

GPO has faced similar threatsin the past. In 1987, the ReaganAdministration made the sameproposal and it withered in theface of massive congressionalopposition. In 1993, the proposalsurfaced again, as part of a “gov-ernment reinvention” effortspearheaded by the ClintonAdministration. The idea was set

p. 6B �p. 6C �

Negotiators for CWA14177 report “mea-sured progress” intalks to resolve the

10-month strike againstthe Buffalo, New York,sports cap manufacturerfollowing a flurry ofactivity at the bargainingtable. CWA PrintingSector President BillBoarman credited themovement at the bar-gaining table to contin-ued pressure on the com-pany through the con-certed boycott, strategicpressure applied by stu-dent activists in promot-ing contract cancellations

Champaign, Illinois Local 444 President John Dixonreports a group of District Managers employed bythe Champaign News-Gazette has voted for repre-sentation by the Local in an NLRB election. The

District Managers, who work with the paper’s distribu-tors throughout the region, will be under a separate unitat the paper. They are meeting now to developcontract proposals for negotiationslater in June.

CWA Staff Representative LindaMorris reports that the drive to bringthe DMs into the union was spear-headed by Dixon, with assistance fromactivists within the group.

The local already has an agreementcovering the composing room, newsand editorial personnel and the mailroom.

Chicago Typographical Union No.16 President Steve Berman reports theaddition of 11 new units over the pastyear, including: H.A. Fried & Co.,Bipartisan Sign, Guaranteed PrintingServices, Kestler Printing, PolpressInc., Design Americom, Ltd., J&WGraphics, Communications By Design,D Graphics, PF Graphics, and ITINSpecialty Printing.

On the West Coast, SouthernCalifornia CWA Local 14904 PresidentHoward Dudley weighed in recently

White House UnveilsPlan to Bypass

GPO

‘YES UNION’CIRCULATION UNIT VOTES ‘YES-UNION’ IN ILLINOIS

with five new units. They are Western Digital, DMAConcepts, South Bay Design, Inkspot and a printing unit employed by CWA Local9400 in Los Angeles.

CELEBRATION: Key figures in the drive by Champaign News-GazetteDistrict Managers to gain representation by Local 444 included DaveSandal, Local President John Dixon, Stephen Primer, CWA StaffRepresentative Linda Morris, Ron Connor and Don MacFarlane. They’reshown here celebrating the outcome in front of the News-Gazettebuilding. The Local represents more than 100 employees at the paper,including the composing room, mail room and editorial personnel.

NEGOTIATORS FOR NEW ERAHOPEFUL OVER ‘MEASURED PROGRESS’

by universities, and newcorporate pressure frommajor New Era cus-tomers, including MajorLeague Baseball, FortuneBrands—which marketsTitleist golf products—and the Foot Locker Co.

After more than 10months on strike, detailsof the dispute over acompany decision toimpose 30 percent paycuts on CWA-represent-ed production workers,long-standing sweatshoppractices and serioushealth and safety viola-tions are well-known.

Photo by Gwend Johnson

The Committee for Economic Justice recently honored CWALocal 14177, representing New Era employees in Derby,New York, for contributions the local’s members havemade to workers worldwide. The local has hosted garmentworkers from Asia to publicize sweatshop practices in theindustry in the U.S. and worldwide.

SN

Sector News

Page 6B SECTOR NEWS June 2002

p. 6A �

[New Era]The company has been the focus ofseveral extensive news stories inmajor daily papers and saturationcoverage within the labor movement.

In May, members of the Buffalo-based CWA local traveled coast-to-coast to address groups of campusactivists and to conduct demonstra-tions at shareholder meet-ings of some of New Era’sbiggest customers. Repre-sentatives of the local werein Chicago to demonstratein front of the FortuneBrands shareholder meet-ing. Fortune Brands mar-kets golf products underthe Titleist brand. Buffalolocal members werejoined in that protest byCWA members and lead-ers from the Chicago area,including a contingent ofChicago Mailers Local 2led by President BobbyMaida. Following themeeting, Fortune Brand executivesconvened a meeting with Localmembers to discuss the dispute.

Local 14177 President JaneHowald described the meeting as“extremely helpful.” She said“Fortune Brands is anxious to putdistance between its company andNew Era.”

At press time, the union waspreparing for a similar visit to theFoot Locker company’s shareholdermeeting in Florida to conduct a sim-ilar demonstration.

Howald explained that the unionwill continue to pressure major cus-tomers such as Fortune Brands, FootLocker and Major League Baseballas well as collegiate buyers from 100major universities to find other

sources than New Era for ball caps“as long as New Era continues topursue policies that put it outsidethe mainstream of decent corporatebehavior.”

The keystone of New Era’s busi-ness is its contract with Major LeagueBaseball. That relationship has be-come badly strained as well, sincetwo key U.S. Senators—Ted Ken-nedy (D-MA) and Charles Schumer(D-NY) —wrote to Baseball Com-missioner Allan H. “Bud” Selig todescribe the details of the dispute.

The letter went on to askSelig “to exercise the pre-rogatives of Major LeagueBaseball under the terms ofyour exclusive agreementwith New Era and torequest that the companytake positive steps toresolve the issues with itsworkers or risk the suspen-sion of the agreement.”

Similar demands havebeen lodged directly withNew Era with Yankeesowner George Steinbren-ner and Peter Angelos,owner of the BaltimoreOrioles.

To the outside world, New Eracontinues to display a defiant tone,sending flurries of press releasesand letters to campus publications totry to portray the union’s boycottefforts as a sinister plot to damagethe company’s reputation.

But New Era has managed totarnish its image without muchhelp from other sources. Over thepast several months, student shop-pers in various parts of the countryhave turned up scores of examplesof violations by New Era of thestandards of collegiate marketingrequirements.

For instance, agreements on filebetween New Era and the CollegiateMarketing Association indicate thatthe company had agreed to produce

Photo by Gwend Johnson

Chicago Mailers Local M-2 President Bob Maida helps New Era picketerspublicize their dispute to shareholders attending the Fortune Brandsannual meeting in Chicago in May.

New Era strikers have been on the picket line for 10 months. Thanks toassistance from an alliance of unions, student, community and religiousorganizations—and with help from elected officials—the strikers and theirissues have received nationwide publicity.

caps within the U.S. for campussales. However, as students from theMidwest, Northeast and the Southhave documented, more than a fewNew Era Caps displaying officialuniversity logos and images havebeen produced in China and theDominican Republican. The evi-dence is in the caps that studentshave purchased right off the shelvesin local retail stores.

For example, LSU student activistCaitlin Grabarek recently wrote:“LSU students took a little trip to

Studentshoppers in

various partsof the

country haveturned upscores of

violations byNew Era.

Allied Plans Official Web Site; Local Councils Urged to Marshal Information

The International Allied Printing Trades Association is planning tolaunch a web site featuring an up-to-date directory of labelshops. The site will include listings by state, along with informa-

tion on individual specialties featured by those shops, addresses,phone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses.

Listings will be restricted to only those companies that completeand return the forms. The Association is relying on Local AlliedCouncils to follow up on companies within their jurisdictions.

The Association has distributed survey forms providing space forthe requested information along with licensing agreements thatmust be signed for the official files of the Association.

Local Allied Councils have been asked to collect and return thesurveys and licensing agreements no later than Labor Day, Monday,September 2, 2002.

Forms should be returned to William J. Boarman, President,International Allied Printing Trades Association, 501 Third St.N.W., Suite 950, Washington, D.C. 20001-2797.

Any Local Allied Council which has not received survey forms orlicensing agreements should contact the International Associationby mail at the address above, or fax request to (202) 434-1245.

[Web Resource]

Sears in the Mall of Louisiana theother day and found somethingquite curious: a lone New Era SECLSU Sugar Ball baseball cap on salefor only 50 cents. Quite a bargain!The tag on the sweatband says‘Made in the Dominican Republic’.Looks like New Era ‘forgot’ to dis-close something important.”

In recent weeks, San Diego StateUniversity, LSU and Ohio State havejoined the march of universities can-celing exclusive agreements withNew Era. SN

SN

June 2002 SECTOR NEWS Page 6C

p. 6A �

aside again, after GPO convinced the White House thatthe concept had no merit.

Andrew Sherman, official spokesman for GPO, saidthe agency is gravely concerned about this newest initia-tive to dismantle GPO’s printing function.

“The OMB proposal would be a disaster for theagency. It would force a cut of about two-thirds of ourwork force and it would have a devastating effect on thework that would remain for GPO. We just wouldn’t beable to do the core work we now perform for theLegislative branch of government,” Sherman said.

Hundreds of the agency’s workers are represented byColumbia Typographical Union No. 101-12 in Wash-ington, D.C. Those employees set type, code and key-stroke, proof-read and perform pre-press functions forthousands of federal and congressional documents.

Under GPO’s supervision, government printing costsare tightly controlled and quality and efficiency aremaintained. Costs recovered by GPO’s efficiencies per-mit the agency to run its internal printing operations at abare minimum.

About 10 percent of GPO’s white collar workers areassigned to oversee printing bids and delivery schedulesfor commercial printers.

GPO’s in-house products include the CongressionalRecord which is an overnight, verbatim report of con-gressional proceedings. The massive Federal Register isanother huge project produced with the help of PrintingSector members. The GPO also prints 7.9 million U.S.passports annually, a function which requires extremesecurity.

In its proposed regulation, the federal Office ofManagement and Budget described the GPO as a“monopoly” and claimed that the government couldsave up to $70 million annually by giving the work to pri-vate printing companies. OMB Director Mitchell Danielssaid a directive issued by his office is intended to end theGPO’s brokerage function to allow private printers to biddirectly to 130 government agencies and the WhiteHouse for printing contracts.

The “monopoly” label particularly rankled PublicPrinter Mike DiMario. The fact that the agency sends 75percent of its volume out to private sector printersknocks down that myth, he said.

In a statement responding to the OMB proposal,DiMario said:

“I encourage all GPO organizations supporting ourprinting and printing procure-ment efforts for executive branchagencies to continue providingour customers with the best pos-sible service at the most economi-cal price. We have longstanding,productive partnerships with ourcustomer agencies, the printingindustry and the library commu-nity and our responsibilitiesunder those partnerships will beupheld. Our customer agenciesand the public depend on us forthe work we do and we won’t letthem down.”

As the “public printer” GPOhandles most of the printing forfederal agencies, including estab-lishing competitive bidding pro-cedures for private printers andmaking those documents avail-able to the public.

Another important functionGPO serves is that it maintainspublic access for all government

documents through its extensive web site services and alibrary network.

Boarman has said the union will challenge the WhiteHouse plan. “OMB’s public statements are, at best,extremely misleading about what GPO does. This isn’tthe first time we have confronted efforts to underminethe GPO’s functions. We will enlist the labor movementand public interest groups to counteract this latesteffort,” Boarman said.

GPO UNDER FIRE FROM THE BUSH WHITE HOUSE

12-Volume, 20-Pound DocumentWas Largest-Ever Federal Register

The Federal Register has been published bythe federal government every business daysince 1936. On May 3, 2002, the publica-

tion set a record: its largest-ever issue, a12-volume, 20-pound document containing6,654 pages. What was so important as torequire such a huge book? Eleven of the 12volumes for that day contained public com-ments to the proposed Justice Departmentsettlement with the Microsoft Corp. Theother volume was a 184-page section withthe regular material for that day’s register.

In addition to the printed book, the May 3Register was also uploaded onto the GPOWeb site (GPO Access). That’s another taskthe GPO performs on a daily basis. Beginningat 6 a.m. each day, the Register is published inan electronic form.

Member Fired, Owner’sRelative Hired;Arbitrator Says ‘No Way’

An arbitrator in Detroit has orderedWillens Words and Pictures to paynine months back pay and to re-

hire David Winters after finding thatthe company had discharged Winterswithout just cause.

Winters, who had 34 years of expe-rience and 22 years worth of “priority”in the composing room of WillensMichigan, had been stunned on August2, 2001, when the company informedhim “that there had been a change inthe climate of business and that myservices were no longer needed, andthat I was to give them the keys to thebuilding, to unpack my desk and therewould be no job available to me toclaim within the company.”

The company posted a notice thatday stating that the position thatWinters had filled had been cancelledby order of the foreman.

August 2 was a busy day for thecompany’s personnel department. Inaddition to firing Winters, the companyposted another note announcing thatthe former sister-in-law of JohnTombrillo—with less than five years ofseniority—had been promoted to fore-man in the composing room.

The union’s contract with Willensprovides employees with the right todemand a written explanation for adischarge. When Winters invoked thatright, the company refused. At thatpoint, Winters brought his situation tothe attention of Chapel Chair ElaineWillette who was told by the companythat Winters had not been fired, butlaid off. At that point, Local PresidentKen Maxwell demanded a meeting ofthe joint standing committee atWillens, which deadlocked 2-2 overwhether the company’s actions hadviolated the labor agreement. At thatpoint, Maxwell invoked arbitration.

Arbitrator Elliot I. Beitner didn’tneed to deliberate long to come upwith his decision.

Beitner found no evidence that thegrievant was incompetent to performthe duties of foreman or other posi-tions within the unit. Furthermore,Beitner noted, the company hadacknowledged Winters’ value by givinghim a $100 weekly raise within a yearof his firing.

“The employer has not establishedany of the three reasons (under the con-tract) that would justify dismissingWinters,” Beitner noted, concluding thatthe “termination was not for cause.”

He ordered full back pay, reinstate-ment and restoration of Wintersseniority and benefits.

[Grievance]

Media stakeouts are a familiar sight at the GPO’s mainoffice as reporters await release of significantgovernment reports, from congressional reports tomajor government announcements. This photo wastaken in 1998 as the media waited for the release ofthe controversial Starr report which the GPOprepared and printed in record time.

SN

SN

SN

Danville Paper Gets a BreakOn Backpay Liability

Arbitrator Donald W. Cohen issued a pass for the Danville Commercial-News when he ruled that the publisher had only 12 weeks of back payliability in a case brought by Central Illinois Typographical Union No.177. The decision was based on the arbitrator’s opinion that the employ-

er had sufficiently proved that the grievant failed to make a reasonable effortto find other employment after a 12-week “grace period.”

Cohen had been called on in a follow-up to an earlier decision by arbitratorRobert McAllister who had ordered reinstatement of the Commercial-Newsprinter represented by Local 177. McAllister had substituted a one-week sus-pension in lieu of firing.

The Local went back to arbitrationwhen the publisher refused to pro-vide a full 14 months of back pay,pension payments and night shiftdifferentials to the grievant, minusthe one week of pay for the suspen-sion.

The company claimed that thegrievant had admitted that he hadnot tried to find employment duringthe time that he was off the job,therefore the company owed him noback pay.

Although the employee had regis-tered with state unemployment offi-cials and had applied for work withthe nearby Champaign Gazette-News, he responded to the companycharges by pointing out that at 60years of age and after 43 years in thenewspaper industry, he just wasn’twell prepared for any other type ofwork.

While Cohen conceded that thegrievant’s “age and specializationin the work force did serve to limithis job opportunities,” he ruledthat after a “grace period” of unem-ployment, the grievant could beproperly expected to take moreaggressive action to find employ-ment. Furthermore, he said, thegrievant’s decision to enroll in col-lege after he was fired “took himout of the job market” for anextended period of time.

Volume 17, No. 6, June 2002

Printing, Publishing and MediaWorkers Sector of theCommunications Workers ofAmerica, AFL-CIO, CLC

Headquarters—501 3rd Street,Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20001-2797.

Address President William J.Boarman on all matters of administra-tion, law, scales, finances, etc., at 501 3rdStreet, Northwest, Washington, D.C.20001-2797. Telephone (202) 434-1238/1248.

Trustees Union Printers Home• William J. Boarman, President • AlRudy, Vice President • Billy J. Austin,Secretary-Treasurer. ContactAdministrator, Union PrintersHome, at 101 S. Union Blvd., ColoradoSprings, Colo. 80910. Telephone: (719)634-3711.

Editorial Correspondence: TheSector News is edited by KenefickCommunications under the direction ofthe PPMW president. Editorial corre-spondence should be directed to GregKenefick, editor, Sector News, 141 EastLake Drive, Annapolis, MD 21403.

Page 6D SECTOR NEWS June 2002

® 3TRADES COUNCILALLIED PRINTING

WASHINGTON

UNIONLABEL

Chicago PensionerDonates Month'sIncome for DisasterRelief Fund

A pensioner from Chicago Typo-graphical Union No. 16 who wishedto maintain his anonymity recentlydonated $1,333.25 to the CWADisaster Relief Fund. The total rep-resented the entire value of onemonth's pension fund for theretiree, with an added sum from hischildren and grandchildren.

Local 16 reports that it collectednearly $3,000 through the end ofDecember, 2001, mostly from mem-bers and retirees who were movedto help the victims of terrorist at-tacks on America on September 11.

The Local has sent American Flaglapel pins to members who con-

FORMER GUBERNATORIALCANDIDATE ELECTED TO HEADNORTHERN CAL LOCALWhen Gloria La Riva was sworn in as president of Northern California

Media Workers Local 21, she set several firsts. She was the firstSector local president to have run for governor of California (she rantwice as the candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party), and the firstformer candidate for mayor of San Francisco (a post she ran for once).

La Riva has long been a local activist in the San Francisco area. Shehas also been Chapel Chair at the San Francisco Newspaper Agencysince 1999, and a veteran of more than 20 years at the Agency.

A native of New Mexico and a former student activist at BrandeisUniversity, La Riva learned her craft working for an alternative news-paper in Rochester, NY. She earned her card after leading an unsuc-cessful organizing drive in Rochester.

La Riva is also the first woman ever elected to head the Local in its130 year history.

tribute $5 or more to the DisasterRelief Fund.

Pete Pascarella Legacy for Union Printers Home

Pete Pascarella, a 50-year ITUmember, passed away on February21, 1999, at age 73. He bequeathed$30,000 from his estate to the UnionPrinters' Home.

Brother Pascarella was a familiarguest at Sector Conferences andITU Conventions.

Born in New York City in 1926,Brother Pascarella applied forapprenticeship with New YorkLocal 6 in 1951 following an honor-able discharge from military service.He was issued a journeyman's cardon January 26, 1956.

New York Mailers Local 6 hosted the annual Mailers Conference, April19th and 20th for local union delegates from all over the nation. Local 6President Wayne Mitchell said the main business of the Conference wasinformation exchange among locals on contract developments, grievancesand arbitrations and changing technology in the mailing industry. “We alsoheard from Sector President Bill Boarman and Hunter Phillips, theSector’s Mailer-Coordinator, on developments within CWA,” Mitchell said.Here, during a break in the session, delegates got together with Boarman(fourth from right) and Phillips, right.

Unsung Hero at NYTUnsung hero

John Wu, a mail-

er with the New

York Times, was

a key figure in

the long cam-

paign by New

York Mailers

Local 6 to win union representa-

tion for advertising sales person-

nel at the Chinese World Journal.

According to Local President

Wayne Mitchell, Wu helped the

union overcome language barri-

ers with the new group where

some members are unfamiliar

with English.

SN

SN

Generous Sector MembersSupport Causes of Choice

Sector News