UNION PICKETS JOURNAL HQ

Broadcast Engineers Say Company does not Bargain in Good Faith

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld.com

By Michael Horne

Workers from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers #715, representing 44 broadcast engineers employed by Journal Communications, Inc., are picketing outside the company's headquarters at 333 W. State St. this afternoon, Monday, July 28th, 2008.
A website (www.whytrusttmj4.com) invites readers to "Show your support" by contacting company management.
Union members have been working with "status quo conditions of an expired contract agreement" since January 2008, according to the website. The company has made plans to reduce unit size by 50 per cent, shift jobs to lower-paid workers, reduce wages and benefits, merge or eliminate job responsibilities, and nearly eliminate the role of seniority, the union says. The union has successfully negotiated with the company for over 70 years.
The union represents Journal Broadcast Group employees at WTMJ-TV; WTMJ-AM and WKTI-FM in Milwaukee. The company operates 35 radio and 12 television stations throughout the country.
On June 30th, 2008, the union's attorney, Mark A. Sweet, [U-Minnesota '94] filed an amended Unfair Labor Practice Charge [30CA18047pdf] with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the media firm of refusing to bargain in good faith "by declaring an impasse when there was no impasse." The union has made frequent filings against the company in the past, not with signal success. According to the union, Journal Communications is represented by a "high-priced white shoe lawyer." Journal Communications corporate counsel Mary Hill Leahy, [Georgetown '82] says the firm is represented in this matter by David W. Croysdale [Michigan '66], a partner with Michael Best and Friedrich, LLC.

POLITICS TO THE FORE!
[Corrected version: August 4th, 2008. Dep't of Mistaken Identity.]
Dan Kohl, a 4.6 handicap golfer who hopes to become the next Representative to the Assembly for the northeast 22nd assembly district, was not the same Dan Kohl who scored a Hole-In-One while golfing at Morningstar Golfers Club in Waukesha about a week ago, as reported in this item. Sorry! Kohl campaign director Peter Knudsen assures us his candidate is knocking on doors as the September 9th Democratic primary contest looms against contenders Andy Feldman, Guy Johnson and Sandy Pasch.

In other Hole-In-One news, Doyle administration confidante and fixer Marc Marotta, whose handicap of 9.9 is up two points from last year, aced a hole at Tripoli Country Club during a recent outing.
--Michael Horne

PLEASE TUNE IN TUESDAY

[Updated Wednesday, July 30th, 2008: Here is a link to the broadcast if you would care to listen to it. -- Ed.]

I invite you to tune in to "Lake Effect" on WUWM-89.7-FM at 10 o'clock (a.m. or p.m.) tomorrow, Tuesday, July 29th, 2008, when I will be discussing an article I wrote for the August Milwaukee Magazine about bicycle messengers. You'll have to pick up a copy of the magazine to read the story and to compare a 2008 recreation of an 1891 bicycle messenger photograph with the original. Both were taken downtown at the Chamber of Commerce [a.k.a. Mackie] Building, 219 E. Michigan St., now home to Michael T. Murphy's Swingin' Door Saloon and Eatery.
I'll be joined by STS bicycle courier Eric O'Gallagher and we'll talk about the impact of bicycle messengering on the economy, the community, the environment and on the consumption of beer in Milwaukee. Also, I make a pretty good case that Edward Steichen, the great photographer, should be considered the Father of the Bicycle Messenger Industry. And it all started right here in Milwaukee.
--Michael Horne