NYSUT's secretary-treasurer, Lee Cutler - who heads up the union's social justice initiatives - took on the powerful Albany Times Union newspaper in a strongly worded letter to the editor that appeared in the newspaper's Sept. 20 edition.
An administrative law judge had ruled the newspaper acted illegally when it laid off 11 employees represented by the Albany Newspaper Guild/CWA without negotiating terms of the layoffs with the union. Management has refused to reinstate the employees - as it had been ordered to do - and is now threatening more job eliminations. Meanwhile the Guild has been without a contract for more than a year. In a demonstration of solidarity, NYSUT has refused to place advertisements in the Times Union.