About 150 members and guests turned out for the event at Maggie O’Brien’s restaurant in downtown St. Louis.
Guild International President Bernie Lunzer was in attendance and swore in the Executive Committee members who were present.
Local 36047 President Gordon also presented service pins to members with 25 years or more.
For the first time in the Guild’s history, the Guilder of the Year award was presented to a non-member: Barbara Camens, the attorney who represented the Guild in its battle with St. Louis Post-Dispatch parent company Lee Enterprises over retiree medical benefits, for her “inspired leadership and tireless efforts on behalf of Post-Dispatch retirees.”
Camens was presented the award by Erica Douglas, the daughter of former Post-Dispatch newsroom employee Robert Douglas, who suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure and died less than a year after Lee cancelled his medical coverage.
Gordon said the memory of Robert Douglas was fresh in everyone’s mind as the Guild fought and worked toward a settlement with Lee over retiree medical benefits.
The Guild fought a 3½ year battle with Lee, reaching a settlement through federal mediation. The settlement includes a confidentiality agreement that prevents the Guild from disclosing its terms.
Camens, long recognized as one of the more talented labor attorneys in the U.S., said unions must often, “take on fights without much chance of success but can still find honor along the way.”
The 334-member Guild represents members at traditional news outlets such as the Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis/Southern Illinois Labor Tribune, St. Louis Review, KSDK-TV, Peoria (Ill.) Journal Star, Pekin (Ill.) Journal Times and the newest member of the Guild The State Journal-Register, of Springfield, Ill.
The Guild also represents members at Unicom-ARC, a public relations firm; Missouri Jobs with Justice, a social justice advocacy organization; Truthout, a national news website and Workers Interfaith Network of Memphis, Tenn., a social justice group.
Attorney Barbara Camens (left) was presented the Guilder of the Year award by Erica Douglas, the daughter of Post-Dispatch newsroom employee Robert Douglas, who died untreated for diabetes and high blood pressure after Post-Dispatch parent company Lee Enterprises cancelled his medical coverage.
Political reporter Jo Mannies (center) received the John Michael McGuire Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her more than 30 years covering politics and policy in the St. Louis region, first for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and now for the St. Louis Beacon website. Mannies was presented the award from Ann Lemons-Pollack (left), widow of last year’s award winner Joe Pollack. At right is Business Representative Shannon Duffy.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Tim O’Neil (left) received the Steward of the Year Award for his role in a grievance that the Local filed regarding a pension freeze and which took nearly a year to settle with Post-Dispatch parent company Lee Enterprises. O’Neil was presented the award by Guild Vice President David Carson.
Guild President Jeff Gordon (left) received the 2012 Activist of the Year Award for his work organizing the State Journal-Register in Springfield, IL. Celebrating with him are SJM reporter Dean Olsen (center) and Guild Business Representative Shannon Duffy.
Christine Byers (right), a reporter at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, won the Guild’s 2012 Terry Hughes Award for writing. Byers’s stories on the death of Anna Brown, a homeless woman who died in police custody after being refused treatment at a hospital emergency room, were cited among her achievements in shining a light on society’s overlooked. Byers was presented the award by 2011 winner Doug Moore.
Former Post-Dispatch Unit Chair Deni Fleming (left) received the Guild’s 2012 Solidarity Award from Guild Representative Mary Casey for “proving that activism doesn’t end with the job.” Fleming was laid off in the middle of Guild’s legal battle with the Post-Dispatch over retiree medical benefits but continued to show up at the local’s office to sort through decades-old bargaining notes and help build a data base supporting the union’s position on negotiated retiree medical coverage. She also took part in the federal mediation, which resulted in a settlement.
Arne Thorbjornson (left), former artist and designer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kevin Madden (center), former reporter for the St. Louis/Southern Illinois Labor Tribune were presented with 25-year pins by Guild President Jeff Gordon.
