The BNG and the Globe newsroom
The Boston Newspaper Guild is the biggest union at the Globe, and the union that's currently being asked by the NYT Co. to make the biggest sacrifices to prevent the paper from closing. As such, it's poised to help shape the future of Boston journalism, for better or worse. But only one member of the Guild's seven-member executive committee--Kathy McCabe, the union's recording secretary, who's a correspondent for the Globe North section--actually works as a journalist.
That may change, however. DQM hears that, at last night's BNG meeting, a Globe reporter stood up, asked BNG head Dan Totten to immediately add environmental reporter Beth Daley to the BNG executive committee, and held up a petition bearing the names of more than 130 people who want the same thing. Totten said he'd consider the request.
I've tried to reach both Totten and Daly, but haven't yet succeeded; if I hear from either of them, I'll post their comments here. For now, I'll close by saying that Daley's inclusion/exclusion could help determine whether the Globe's journalists feel like they're being well served by their union reps--or, conversely, that they've ceded their fate to a group of people who don't value journalism and journalists enough.
