2 elected, dues offer approved

Milwaukee Newspaper Guild members have elected two new Executive Board members and approved a limited-time offer for prospective union members.

At the local's January membership meeting, members elected day copy editor Karen Samelson as secretary and metro reporter Kawanza Newson to an at-large board seat. Samelson, our Human Rights Committee chair, will fill the term of metro reporter Sarah Carr, who left for a job at another newspaper. Newson, our former secretary, will fill Samelson's board term. Both had been appointed to their new positions on an interim basis before the membership meeting.

Also approved was a plan to stimulate membership by offering one month's free dues to each non-member who signs a union card, in addition to the one-month rebate already paid to the person who signs up the new member. The special dues offer, in conjunction with a membership drive, will be in effect for 90 days, starting Feb. 1.