Keenan nominations open; Nominees announced for EC, RA

Nominations for the coveted Tom Keenan Award, which recognizes the outstanding contributions of a New York Guild member, are open until Friday, May 25, at 6 p.m. EDT.  Nominations can be made by any member.

In determining a winner, the Guild’s Administrative Committee will seek the nominee who “has performed above and beyond the call of duty in service to the New York Local, and best exemplifies the ideals of a true labor leader, in the spirit of Tom Keenan.”

Nominations must adhere to the following guidelines:

* Nominations must be made by members in good standing and delivered by mail or email to Local Secretary-Treasurer Peter Szekely at the Newspaper Guild, 1501 Broadway, Suite 708, New York, NY, 10036, by May 25 at 6 p.m. EDT.

* Written nominations must be signed by the member(s) making the nomination. Emails must come from a verifiable email address belonging to the member making the nomination.

* No self-nominations, please.

This year’s prize will be presented at a general membership meeting later this year.

ABOUT TOM KEENAN

Keenan was the Times Guild unit chair for seven terms, longer than anyone else, before joining the New York Guild’s staff in 1997 as a Local Representative. He became ill with cancer shortly after coming to work for the union. He had also served on the Local’s Executive Committee for the second-longest period of any rank-and-file member in our 78-year history.

In 1999, while Keenan was still alive, the Executive Committee created the Thomas M. Keenan Newspaper Guild of New York Service Award. It is presented each year to a member, or a member who retired within the past year, who is nominated by at least one other active member.

The Administrative Committee, which selects the winner, consists of the Local president, secretary-treasurer, chairperson, three vice presidents and the Local’s representative on the TNG-CWA Executive Council.

Representative Assembly nominates several candidates to fill vacancies on Executive Committee

The New York Guild’s Representative Assembly (RA) has named Michael Dempsey of Consumers Union and Oscar Hernandez of El Diario La Prensa as its candidates to replace Muhammed Khalil of Consumer Reports and Nelson Cuello of El Diario La Prensa. In addition, the RA has named Anna Pierdiluca of Consumers Union as its candidate for Chairperson.  Pierdiluca currently is serving as the RA Vice Chairperson. 

Additional nominations for the vacant Executive Committee posts and the RA Chairperson may be made by petitions signed by not less than 5 percent of the New York Local’s membership in good standing as of May 1.  At least three units must be represented by not fewer than 15 signers each.  Nominations must be sent to Secretary-Treasurer Peter Szekely by 6 p.m. EDT on June 1, 2012.

If no petitions are filed by the deadline, the candidates will be declared elected at that time. In the event of a contest, the election will be conducted entirely by mail ballot.