Wage disparity was unfair

Early in my career, I was working a Saturday shift and sitting at another reporter's desk to be closer to where the editors sat than at my own desk in the back of the newsroom. I reached into a drawer for a pen and saw a pay stub. Of course, I shouldn't have looked at it but of course, I did — I was curious how much they paid this reporter, who was something of a mess. Every story seemed to require a correction; one of those corrections actually needed a correction of its own. As it turned out, this reporter was being paid much more than me and other reporters I checked with. Soon, after much outrage over the unfairness of it all, a Guild organizing effort began. I left for another job while it was underway, and it would take a couple more papers before I landed at one, The Sun, that had a Guild unit. During one of the job interviews, an editor warned, "You'll have to join the Guild, you know." I said, "Happily!"
Jean Marbella
columnist
Baltimore Sun