Media Guild of the West members repeal dues cap, amend bylaws
The members of Media Guild of the West — which represents NewsGuild-CWA journalists and media workers across the greater Southwest — have voted to repeal the Local’s dues cap and to amend the Local’s bylaws, the Media Guild of the West Elections Committee announced Wednesday.
Media Guild of the West’s dues rate is 1.3846%, but biweekly dues contributions were capped at $74.70, allowing members making above $140,272 a year to pay a lower effective dues rate. Members voted to repeal the dues cap 98 to 17. All Media Guild of the West members will now pay a universal 1.3846% rate once the repeal goes into effect in October.
On the same ballot, Media Guild of the West members voted to amend the Local’s bylaws 108 to 6. The changes expand the Local’s ability to accept nontraditional bargaining units (such as freelancer units or so-called “minority” unions) and give the Local more flexibility to meet, vote and conduct business digitally where allowed by law.
Other bylaws changes include the clarification of Local election procedures and emergency dues policies; a change in the dues deadline to make it easier for pre-contract members to opt-in to paying dues; clarification of the duties of Unit Councils and the procedure for gaining representation on the Executive Committee; and the removal of obsolete and gendered language. The Local’s bylaws will be updated online shortly.
Both ballot measures were endorsed by Media Guild of the West’s Executive Committee.
The Elections Committee received a total of 116 ballot envelopes before Tuesday’s 5 p.m. PT deadline for receipt. The committee reported that one of the secrecy envelopes contained two ballots, both of which were deemed invalid. One ballot left the yes and no boxes blank on the bylaws question.
In a separate election this month, Media Guild of the West members elected L.A. Times Guild member Sam Dean to fill a vacant At-Large seat on the Local’s nine-member Executive Committee. Dean received 108 votes, and fellow candidate Gale Holland received 54 votes.
Dean and the incumbents on the Local’s Executive Committee will serve until January 2022. The Local’s next leaders will be elected later this fall to two-year terms.
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Media Guild of the West, NewsGuild-CWA Local 39213, was founded in 2019 and represents unionized journalists and media workers at the Los Angeles Times, Arizona Republic, Pop-Up Magazine, Phoenix New Times, Desert Sun, Austin American-Statesman, Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and Southern California News Group.