2001.02.26: Election Notice

From: MLetwin@HQWEST.WEST
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2001 3:20 PM
Subject: Election Notice
Importance: High

On March 20, the ALAA Delegate Council will elect replacement representatives to the Union’s Executive Board for: (1)  Health and Safety and (2) Health Benefits.

Duties of these representatives include attendance at meetings of the Executive Board and Delegate Council, and participation in collective bargaining (preparation, subcommittees, negotiation, membership meetings, etc.).

All ALAA members are eligible to run for these positions, whose terms last through the Union’s 2002 elections.

Nominations must be received at ALAA HQ by the end of Tuesday, March 13, 2001.

2001.02.17: LAS Contract Offer (Attached)

From: ALAA HQ (Michael Letwin)
[mailto:MLetwin@legal-aid.org]
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 2:19 PM
Subject: LAS Contract Offer (Attached)

** High Priority **

Attached are (1) Management’s July 16 contract offer; and
(2) ALAA’s original proposals.  Please also note the following:

CDD Comp Time.  This offer does not propose to change CDD comp time in any way.

Retro Checks.  Membership ratification by July 30 will permit inclusion of retro in the August 3 paychecks.  Due to August vacations, however, subsequent ratification would not permit payment of retro until after Labor Day.  Tonight’s Delegate Council will consider the issue of whether and when to scheduling a ratification vote.

E-Mail Discussion.  E-mail discussion of the attached is most welcome.
Writers may wish to limit recipients to the “ALAA Members” distribution list.

2001.02.16: Draft Contract Proposals

2001 Proposals

From: MLetwin@HQWEST.WEST
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 5:06 PM
Subject: Draft Contract Proposals
Importance: High

The attached bargaining proposals, unanimously drafted by the Executive Board, incorporate all serious issues raised in member surveys and other recent discussion.

Some key areas–including affirmative action, continuity of representation and workload–do not appear because they are extensively covered in the already-existing collective bargaining agreement; their application depends on grievances, division/office-level negotiation, and/or participation in ongoing joint committees.

Please review, discuss, and respond (via email, phone or otherwise) to these draft proposals, on which Union representatives will vote at the March 20 Delegate Council;  all ALAA members are most welcome to attend.

In addition, Union reps are invited to contact ALAA HQ concerning EB members’ availability to meet with members in the offices about these and other issues prior to that time.

2001.02.16: WBAI Protest Tuesday

From: MLetwin@HQWEST.WEST [mailto:MLetwin@HQWEST.WEST]
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 5:38 PM
To: Everyone At The Legal Aid Society@HQWEST.WEST
Subject: WBAI Protest Tuesday
Importance: High

(Apologies for any duplication of this email)

ALAA has endorsed a labor/community protest against the ruthless management purge of longstanding Pacifica/WBAI (99.5 FM) staff members (among them Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman and ALAA member Mimi Rosenberg) represented by UE Local 404.

The protest will take place this Tuesday, Feb. 20, 4:40-7 p.m. at Pacifica’s union-busting law firm, Epstein, Becker and Green, 250 Park Ave. (E. 46/47) (4/5/6/7/S to 42 St.).

Info:  Ken Nash, 212.533.6515, <knash@igc.org>.

Background (Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2001)
Robert Knight, long-term news anchor on WBAI’s popular Wake Up Call morning show, was told by the interim Station Manager Utrice Leid this morning that both he and Amy Goodman had been removed from the morning show.

This completes the purge of WBAI’s Wake Up Call, initiated with the firing during the Coup of 20-year station veteran and Wake Up Call Host Bernard White, producer and union shop steward Sharan Harper, and subsequent bannings of Wake Up Call producers Janice K. Bryant, Cerene Roberts, 28-year veteran programmer Mimi Rosenberg, Rosalie Hoffman, Rachel Barr and Ursula Ruedenberg.

Leid, installed in the middle of the night of Dec. 23rd 2000 during the WBAI “Christmas Coup”, is currently occupying the airwaves during the 6-9 AM Wake Up Call slot as the station enters its second week of fundraising.

Leid has installed guards, imposed a gag rule prohibiting on-air discussion of station business and has prohibited the public from entering the station for the listener comment period of the Local Advisory Board meetings. Staff members report that a climate of terror has been created at the station. Leid is Pacifica Management’s principal hatchetperson in NYC.

Info:  Pacifica Campaign, 646.230.9586, <pacificacampaign@yahoo.com>, <http://pacificacampaign.org&gt;, <http://www.savepacifica.net&gt;, <http://www.savewbai.tao.ca&gt;.

2001.02.02: Diallo Memorial This Sunday

From: MLetwin@HQWEST.WEST [mailto:MLetwin@HQWEST.WEST]
Sent: Friday, February 02, 2001 1:08 PM
To: Everyone At The Legal Aid Society@HQWEST.WEST
Subject: Diallo Memorial This Sunday
Importance: High

Several days ago, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it will not prosecute the four NYPD officers who, two years ago this month, shot and killed Amadou Diallo in a hail of 41 bullets.

This Sunday at 5 p.m., the Diallo family and others will convene a candlelight vigil in front of Amadou’s Bronx home, 1157 Wheeler Avenue (Westchester/Watson avenues)(6 to Westchester Ave.).

ALAA endorses this event, and encourages all interested LAS staff to attend.