Lindsay Connors (LaFountain) earned the annual Guild Service Award presented by the union’s International in recognition of outstanding service. It is the union’s highest honor.

The award was presented Friday at a nationwide meeting of Guild locals in Lake Buena Vista, FL.

​Lindsay was chosen due to her hard work, care for her colleagues and for her strength in continuing to stand up for co-workers.

​“She has been a stunningly effective advocate for her colleagues,” our local wrote in nominating Lindsay.

She did not know she was going to win but gave a beautiful, heartfelt speech.

She discussed her efforts to reconnect editorial and advertising employees and to stand up for fair commissions.

“It is a brotherhood and sisterhood, and that’s absolutely the truth,” Lindsay said. “This is an awesome honor. Thank you so much.”

Guild officers Tim O’Brien, Brian Nearing and Adam McAvoy also attended. Lindsay and Tim did a presentation on how to respond to workplace bullying, and all received training on negotiating health care under Obamacare.

The time has come for all Times Union employees to get raises.

The day after President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address called on business leaders to do what they can to give their workers raises, Guild President Tim O’Brien quietly wrote to Publisher George Hearst asking him to heed the President’s call. The Guild would prefer a contract but proposed a merit raise for all that would not require either side to agree to any other changes.

Last week the Guild launched an effort to show Times Union employees agree: We have all earned a merit raise.

In just two days, a third of the membership went on the Guild website and clicked to send the message they too want a merit raise for all.

Please go to albanyguild.org/raise to add your voice. We all merit a raise!

Tomorrow marks the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Newspaper Guild of Albany.

And we do have to say, we look pretty damn good for our age.

We invite members to come to the cafeteria from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday to celebrate with FREE CUPCAKES! And we’ll show you how you can swiftly apply for a much-deserved raise.

The Newspaper Guild of Albany has endorsed a bill that would allow employees to sue over workplace intimidation, threats and harassment.

The union took the rare step of backing a bill due to the extreme circumstances faced by some employees at the Times Union.

The union endorsed a bill by State Senator Diane Savino that would allow workers to sue when facing workplace threats, bullying and intimidation.

Under current law, employees can only sue if they can prove they were discriminated against based on race, religion, age or gender. Savino’s bill would allow workers to sue if faced with workplace bullying, harassment and abuse.

“Our union does not endorse political candidates or contribute to their campaigns because that’s a sensitive issue for our editorial members,” Guild President Tim O’Brien said. “On rare occasions, we have endorsed specific pieces of legislation. Given the extreme mistreatment of some of our members, and management’s utter failure to rein in the bad behavior, we support Senator Savino’s legislation to make extreme workplace behavior illegal.”

Times Union advertising employees have been subject to unprecedented bullying and intimidation. The Guild surveyed workers, and almost 83.3 percent said workplace stress was interfering with their quality of life. Almost half said they had sought medical attention.

The union is prepared to meet with Senator Savino and other legislators about the bill, and its members are prepared to testify as to its necessity. The only other bills the union has endorsed in recent years are a federal shield law to protect journalists from being forced to disclose sources and the Employee Free Choice Act to level the playing field for workers looking to unionize.

The new edition of the Guild International’s newspaper, The Guild Reporter, includes a piece on the recent seminar on workplace bullying conducted here in Albany.

It also details the events in the Albany and Kingston locals that inspired the seminar.

Read it here.