NBC News Digital NewsGuild Unit Council | Contested Election for Unit Chair

01/31/2020

The nominations period for the NBC News Digital Unit Council has ended, and there will be a contested election for the position of Unit Chair.

The two other officer positions— First Vice Chair and Secretary—are considered elected without contest, as only one candidate accepted each nomination. The Vice Chairs who accepted their nominations are also hereby elected. They are listed below.

Contested Election:
We will be proceeding to a mail ballot election for the contested Unit Chair role. Attached are the rules for this election. Ballots will be sent out by February 10 and must be returned by March 3 in order to be tallied. You must be a member in good standing (have signed a union card) by January 31 in order to vote. We will be scheduling a Q&A session in the next week for any questions about the election. Below are the candidates for Unit Chair:

Unit Chair
Bryanna Cappadona
Tate James

Elected Candidates (Not Contested):
Congratulations to all of the newly elected NBC unit officers!

First Vice Chair
Daniella Silva

Secretary
Helen Ray

Vice Chairs
Arleen Aguasvivas
Emi Boscamp
Dartunorro Clark
Mish Coffey
Amanda Covarrubias
Ashley Domagola
Brooke Drummond
Tyler Essary
Katie Flaherty
Nirma Hasty
Alexander Kacala
Ben Kesslen
Hilary Krieger
Nick Lerman
Shako Liu
Doha Madani
Carly Marsh
Phil McCausland
Zoe Miller
Christine Nguyen
Heather Seidel
Casey Silvestri
Sara Snyder
Andrew Stern
Brittany Terrell
Kevin Urgiles
Megan Wheeler
Yi-Jin Yu

 

NBC News Digital Unit Officer Election

The nomination and election to fill the positions of Chairperson, First Vice Chairperson, and Secretary of the NBC News Digital unit of NewsGuild of New York, Local 31003, The NewsGuild-CWA, AFL-CIO CLC  (the “Unit”)  shall be conducted in accordance with the Bylaws of the NewsGuild of New York, the Constitution of the NewsGuild, the CWA Constitution,  Federal Law, and these rules adopted by the Local Election Committee on January 20, 2020.  

SECTION 1: Officers to be elected: Chairperson, First Vice Chairperson, and Secretary. The Unit may also elect any additional Vice Chairpersons whom it deems necessary pursuant to these rules.    

SECTION 2: Election Date: In the event of a contest, an election shall be held entirely by mail among members of the unit, with results to be tallied on March 3, 2020.

SECTION 3: Term of Office: The term of office for the offices of Chairperson, First Vice Chairperson, Secretary, and any other Vice Chairpersons shall be through October 31, 2022.   

SECTION 4: Nominations:

  1. The unit nomination meeting was held at 6:30 pm on January 16, 2020. Notice of the date, time, and location of the unit nomination meeting was emailed to the unit membership for whom the Local has email addresses, on January 10, 2020 six days before the meeting date.
  2. To be nominated, a member must be in good standing as of January 16, 2020. To be nominated, a member must be nominated by a member who was in good standing as of January 16, 2020, and seconded by a member in good standing as of January 16, 2020. Self-nomination is permitted.
  3. Nominations may be made at the nominations meeting and in writing.

    Written nominations and seconds at the NBC News Digital Unit must be received by Anthony Napoli, Secretary-Treasurer, no later than 11:59 p.m. on January 23, 2020, seven days after the nomination meeting. Only the following delivery methods for written nominations and seconds will be accepted: by hand, U.S. mail, overnight mail, fax, or email. All written nominations and seconds must be delivered to Anthony Napoli via mail (1500 Broadway, Suite 900, NY, NY 10036), fax (212 575-1531) or email (anapoli@nyguild.org).
  4. For all nominations, the nominator or his or her designee must provide Anthony Napoli with an email address and telephone number where the nominated candidate can be reached, and do so by no later than 11:59 p.m. on January 23, 2020, seven days after the nomination meeting.
  5. Anthony Napoli will notify all nominated candidates of their nomination. For a nominated candidate to appear on the ballot, Anthony must receive written confirmation of the candidate’s willingness to run by no later than 11:59 p.m. on January 27, 2020, ten days after the nomination meeting.
  6. If, at the close of the period for nominations, fewer people than two people are nominated for the positions of Chairperson, First Vice Chairperson, Secretary, and/or any other Vice Chairpersons whose election the unit deems necessary, those people shall be declared elected without contest, at 12 a.m. on January 28, 2020.

SECTION 5: Local Election Committee: Unit elections shall be supervised by the Local Election Committee. No candidate for Unit Office may serve on the Local Election Committee.

SECTION 6: Election Notice: An election notice and mail ballot will be mailed to all unit members no later than 21 days before the due date for the return of ballots.

SECTION 7: The Ballot:

  1. The Local Election Committee shall be responsible for the preparation of the ballot. The ballot shall be arranged so that the voter will have the choice of voting for individual candidates by marking boxes to the left of each candidate’s name. Slate voting shall be permitted.
  2. In designing the ballot, the Local Election Committee will place candidate names in a manner chosen by the Local Election Committee consistent with the TNG Constitution, Article XI(5)(d). 

SECTION 8: Voter Eligibility: All members of the NBC Digital News unit in good standing as of January 31, 2020, may vote in the unit election. Instructions for members not receiving a ballot on how to obtain a duplicate ballot will be provided on the Local’s website.

SECTION 9: Voting Procedure and Ballot Count:

  1. The election will be conducted by mail ballot. The Local Election Committee may, in its discretion, retain the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) to help with the mailing and counting of election ballots. If retained, the AAA shall provide services described below.
  2. The AAA under the supervision of the Local Election Committee, or the Local Election Committee, if the AAA is not retained, shall mail ballot packages to all members by no later than February 10, 2020.  For a ballot to be counted, a voter must mail the ballot back, in conformity with the voting instructions, so that it is received at the AAA Post Office Box by no later than 1 p.m. on March 3, 2020.
  3. The ballots shall be collected by no earlier than 1 p.m. on March 3, 2020. Interested candidates and/or their observers may observe the pickup of the ballots from the Post Office Box.
  4. AAA, under the supervision of the Local Election Committee, or the Local Election Committee, if the AAA is not retained, will count the ballots. The count will continue until completed. The Election Committee will supervise the process to ensure that only ballots of eligible members are counted, using an up-to-date eligibility list.
  5. The results shall be tentatively certified by the Chairperson of the Local Election Committee and immediately sent to the Local President.
  6. The ballot envelope shall contain an instruction slip. It shall state, in sum and substance: “After marking your vote on the enclosed ballot, fold it face in. Do not otherwise mark the ballot.  Do not put your name or any other identification on the ballot. Place the folded ballot in the smaller envelope and seal it. Do not sign or otherwise mark the smaller envelope containing the ballot. Place the smaller envelope containing the ballot in the addressed return envelope. Sign and print your name on the designated lines in the addressed return (outer) envelope (hand written and hand printed signatures only). No ballots returned in an unsigned outer envelope will be counted. Only ballots in the official return envelopes in the Post Office Box by 1 p.m. on March 3, 2020, will be counted.”

SECTION 10: Election Disputes: Disputes regarding unit elections shall be decided by the Local Election Committee. All election protests and appeals of any nature must be received by the Local Election Committee within ten (10) days of the tentative certification of the results. Such protests should be emailed to the Local Election Committee counsel at hkolko@cwsny.com. The Local Election Committee shall rule on any such challenges and shall within twenty (20) days of the tentative certification of the results make a final determination or certification. Appeals from rulings of the Local Election Committee shall be made to the Local Executive Committee, and must be received by the Local Executive Committee by no later than within twenty-seven (27) days of the tentative certification of the results. Such protests should be emailed to the Local Executive Committee, c/o hkolko@cwsny.com.

SECTION 11: Campaign Procedures:  All candidates must be treated equally by the Local regarding the opportunity to campaign. Union and employer resources may not be directly or indirectly used to support the candidacy of any candidate. Union officers and employees may not campaign on time paid for by the union, and members may not campaign on time paid for by the employer. Union members may support the candidate of their choice, and in the exercise of that right, may not be subject to penalty, discipline, or reprisal of any kind by the Guild.

SECTION 12: Inspection of Membership Lists: Once, within 30 days prior to the election date, each candidate has the right to inspect a list containing the names and last known addresses of all Guild-represented members subject to a collective bargaining agreement. No candidate may photocopy or photograph the list. The list will be maintained at the Guild office in New York.  Any candidate wishing to inspect the list must contact Anthony Napoli, Guild Secretary-Treasurer, or local Administrative Assistant, at 212-575-1580, to schedule an appointment.

SECTION 13: Distribution of Campaign Literature: The Guild will comply with reasonable requests by a candidate to distribute campaign literature at the expense of the candidate. Any candidate who wishes to mail campaign literature must contact Mark Krevitsky at Candid Litho. His email address is mkrevitsky@candidww.com and his phone number is 212-431-3800. Payment instructions and terms, prices, and other instructions and requirements will be set and provided by Mr. Krevitsky.  Candidates may also send emails to the personal email addresses which the Guild has. The vendor for this service is AMFAX Corporation.  The contact person there is John Petallides.  You can reach him at 212-785-5900 or 917-806-3456.  His e-mail address is jp@amfax.com. Payment instructions and terms, prices, and other instructions and requirements will be set and provided by Mr. Petallides. 

SECTION 14: Observers: Each candidate is entitled to have observers present when ballots are stuffed and mailed, picked up, and counted. A candidate may act as their own observer.

SECTION 15: Preservation of Records: The Guild will preserve records of this election for one year.

SECTION 16: Notification of Membership: The Guild will notify the unit membership of the results of this election in its newsletter, in the Unit shop paper, and on its website.

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