Persistence pays when it comes to mobilizing to get a contract, panel members said this weekend at a TriCouncil meeting of The Newspaper Guild held in Albany.

Guild leaders from Pittsburgh, Scholastic Magazine and the Associated Press all talked about their efforts to win contracts.

Delegates were especially impressed by the actions taken in Pittsburgh, where employees of the Post-Gazette had gone more than eight years without a pay raise.

“The power we had at the negotiating table was because of the mobilizing effort,” said Mike Fuoco of the Pittsburgh Guild. “When I said our members are not going to take this, they knew I wasn’t bull—-ing.”

But Guild leaders also cautioned against thinking one or two actions would make a change. Pittsburgh mobilized for more than a year, and it was that dedication and commitment to the effort that won an agreement.

“They don’t react to a mobilization,” said Lou Grieco, administrative officer of the Detroit Guild. “They react to the fear of more.”

Albany Guild leaders took note of the different methods that were used, and we expect to borrow some of those ideas. (That’s why we are holding off on the details.)

Also at the meeting, which drew 37 delegates from 14 locals, Guild International President Bernie Lunzer discussed a proposal to change the union’s name to the NewsGuild to reflect that members work at other news outlets in addition to newspapers. That change will be voted on at the union’s sector conference this January in Orlando, Florida.

Also planned for that conference is training and discussions on how to negotiate over advertising commissions and unrealistic sales goals, important issues in Albany.

How did Guild locals at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Scholastic and the Associated Press win contracts?

Albany Guild members can find out at 1:30 pm Saturday at the Ramada Inn off Everett Road in Albany.

Union members from those units will participate in a panel discussion on successful mobilizing at a regional meeting of Guild locals from the MidAtlantic, Midwest and Great Lakes regions. The Albany Newspaper Guild is hosting the event from 9 am to 5 pm Saturday and 9 am to noon Sunday.

EXTRA, EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT THE NEWSIES STRUGGLE FOR FAIR DEAL AT THE TIMES UNION

People at Proctor’s Theater in Schenectady who attended Saturday’s North American premier of the touring production of Newies _ a musical based on a newsboys’ strike more than a century ago _ got a chance to hear about the real “newsies” at the Times Union.

Guild members handed out the leaflets that you can see on the previous post, which describe how hard-working families at the TU have had their wages frozen for seven years as the company refuses to negotiate a fair contract.

Hundreds of flyers were distributed and people seemed genuinely interested in learning about the situation, with some expressing surprise that wages had been frozen for so long.

Visitors to “Newsies” today got to read all about how Times Union employees have gone 7 years without a raise.

Sometimes, helping someone can be as simple as picking up the phone. The members of the Albany Newspaper Guild believe that this is one of those times…

As those who have been following our situation know, the hard-working families at the Times Union have endured a wage freeze for seven long years. This has gone on as the number of jobs have been reduced, leaving fewer people to handle an increasing amount of work.

Attempts to reach a compromise settlement appear to be stalled. The company will offer only paltry one-shot payments in exchange for the union forfeiting any control on outsourcing jobs and seniority in layoffs. This is unacceptable, and would be to any union in the Capital Region.

Only public opinion appears to have a possibility of inducing a change in this stance by the Hearst Corp. After all, as the voice of our community and its standards, the Times Union itself reproached Gov. Andrew Cuomo when he froze the wages of state management confidential workers for five years, saying it was unfair to heap such a burden on the backs of working families. Should a different standard apply within the walls of the Times Union itself? The Guild thinks not…

If you agree, please share this post on your Facebook and Twitter accounts, and pick up the phone, call the number in the photograph _ 454-5555 _ and say so.