Back to Future, Back to the Bridge

Doc Brown, Marty McFly? No, it's the illegally fired reporters from the News-Press who will be unfurling a banner tomorrow in an early morning press conference reminiscent of their protest action two years ago to get Santa Barbarans to cancel their subscriptions. As a tactic then -- I'm not so sure it was the best one. As one now, maybe they will have some news that will coincide with it. It certainly points toward how nothing has been done on the News-Press' part to address the NLRB decision in the reporter's favor. Here's most of their press release....I wish them the best! -- Sara


Back to the Bridge: A Press Conference and Banner Drop on Feb. 6

Friday, Feb. 6 marks the two-year anniversary of the day that six of us Santa Barbara News-Press reporters were fired — illegally — for holding a banner on the Anapamu Street footbridge encouraging motorists to cancel their newspaper subscriptions. A federal judge ordered our reinstatement in December 2007, but News-Press owner and co-publisher Wendy McCaw appealed that decision — and we are still waiting for justice. In all, nine News-Press reporters have been illegally fired for union organizing.

This Friday, the Teamsters will be returning to the Anapamu Street footbridge to ask motorists to cancel their News-Press subscriptions. Also, we’ll update you on the status of negotiations and on recent developments in our legal case as we continue our fight for reinstatement and a fair employment contract.

More Counts Against The News-Press by NLRB

From the Teamsters....Sara

The General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board has determined after a lengthy investigation and deliberation that it will prosecute the SB News-Press for violating the National Labor Relations Act by hiring and deploying newsroom employees through an employment agency to perform the same work done by Union-represented employees in a putative "temporary" capacity, though they may have performed in that capacity for as many as 16 months. The General Counsel issued a complaint (attached) which says that the N-P violated the National Labor Relations Act by refusing to bargain over the temps' terms and conditions of employment, by paying them less than the people in the unit, and by transferring bargaining unit work outside the unit.

This ruse by the News-Press was central to its longstanding plan to devastate Union support among newsroom employees by dishonestly diminishing the numbers of people it contended were in the unit. With that transparent charade the News-Press has sought and continues to seek to unilaterally decrease the number of newsroom employees represented by the Union, while still having others it disingenuously claimed were outside the unit performing the same newsroom work, in unprecedented fashion. "With the curtain finally raised exposing this longstanding cynical maneuver by the News-Press, perhaps the newspaper will decide it must obey the law", said Ira L. Gottlieb, counsel to the Union. "We hope that management will treat all employees who work in the newsroom fairly and equitably and will no longer use this artifice to decimate the union-represented group for obvious and illegal anti-union reasons", Gottlieb added.

The General Counsel decided to move forward with this prosecution based on charges the Union filed last November. The General Counsel will also prosecute on a number of other labor law violations that have been accumulating since bargaining began almost a year ago, including:

1. Bad faith bargaining (announced in July);
2. Hiring and refusing to bargain over temps as described above;
3. Laying off one alleged temp without bargaining;
4. Failure/refusal to timely provide information about the temps;
5 Assigning a non-unit person (Robert Eringer) to perform bargaining unit work as an "investigative reporter";
6. Discontinuing annual raise policy for 2006 and 2007;
7. Suspending and firing Dennis Moran (and refusing to bargain over those decisions); That set of allegations is not included in the attached complaint because the General Counsel's Office of Advice in Washington, D.C. is deliberating on one further aspect of the Union's charge concerning him before issuing the agency's complaint challenging the News-Press' illegal firing of Moran.
8. Discontinuing annual evaluations policy.

The temps charge, the temp layoff charge, the annual raise charge, and of course the charge protesting Dennis Moran's suspension and firing - when the complaint on that last set of allegations issues as previously announced by the General Counsel - could mean compensation for people in the unit if successful.

The General Counsel is still investigating and/or deliberating on the Union's pending charges against the News-Press concerning failure and delay in providing information requested by the Union, interference with the NLRB's investigative process by Wendy McCaw, and refusal to bargain over mandatory subjects of bargaining.

The complaint sets a hearing date of February 23, 2009, which is subject to change.

NLRB to prosecute News-Press Again

A press release from the Teasmters...Sara

The General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board announced after an investigation into the recent discharge of Santa Barbara News-Press reporter and copy editor Dennis Moran, who also serves on the negotiating committee of the Graphics Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, that it will prosecute the News-Press for again violating federal labor law by firing Moran.

"It is regrettable that the News-Press continues to punish its conscientious, hard-working employees because they support, and are active in the Union", said Ira L. Gottlieb, of the firm Bush, Gottlieb, Singer, López, Kohanski, Adelstein & Dickinson, counsel to the Union. "Managment's intimidation tactics are blatant and transparent, but they will not deter the employees who still courageously support the Union and each other in their steadfast efforts to achieve a fair employment contract to improve the working conditions at this newspaper.

"Management will continue to lie about, and misrepresent what's going on at and away from the table, and attempt to frustrate the newsroom employees, but no one is persuaded by distortions from a recidivist labor outlaw. The employees will soldier on." added Gottlieb.

The General Counsel's office announced it will issue a complaint in connection with this violation soon. The General Counsel earlier announced that it will prosecute the News-Press for bad faith surface bargaining, for discontinuing its annual employee evaluations policy, and for failing to provide requested information required for bargaining. The General Counsel is still deliberating upon and investigating several other unfair labor practice charges filed by the Union against the News-Press, including hiring temporary employees to undermine the bargaining unit, refusal to bargain over mandatory subjects of bargaining, and interfering with the NLRB's investigative process. Still pending before the NLRB in Washington are some 15 unfair labor practices found by an Administrative Law Judge in December, 2007 to have been committed by the N-P, including eight unlawful discharges, surveillance, interrogation, and threats of discipline. The total of illegally fired unit empl!
oyees has now increased to 9, not including a supervisor who was also found to have been illegally fired by the paper.

The GCC/IBT won a secret ballot election in September, 2006, winning the right to bargain collectively with the News-Press over terms and conditions of employment for news department employees. The News-Press stalled the onset of bargaining for over a year, and then bargained in bad faith - that is, with no genuine intent to reach an agreement with the Union. In two separate hearings conducted by two Administrative Law Judges since the election, News-Press key witnesses Scott Steepleton (Associate Editor) and Travis Armstrong (Editorial Page Editor) were found not to be credible witnesses.

The NLRB has not yet set a hearing date for prosecuting the News-Press on any of the outstanding charges slated for prosecution.

Watch Out for the Svelte Unionists!

Gosh. I've been trying to hold out on commenting on Travis Armstrong's sophomoric rants posed as editorials for quite some time. In the last month since he spread false rumors about Mayor Blum resigning, I went to Bloggers Anonymous and did some steps. I have respect for anyone that tackles their addiction and totally support 12-step programs AND I'm ready to admit that I have a problem. I read Travis' editorials and they get my blood boiling.

Over the weekend there was a piece on Helene Schneider and her travel expenses that failed to mention other council people that might be running for Mayor. Hmmmm. One council member has been so absent from Travis' rants that it will be no surprise when they are endorsed by the News-Press prior to the election. Even though he kind of made it look like Schneider's husband David might be some kind of paramour in Atlanta, I let that go because at least Travis admitted he had made a mistake in his original piece on the subject -- more than any of us have gotten since he started at the News-Press.

Today, he went after The Teamster's with an accusation that he failed to even make in the content of the opinion piece. What exactly happened? I guess because it is he who is making the accusation -- we are supposed to simply agree that unions are bad. I feel sorry for the reporters who are unionized because they are consistently categorized as "large and intimidating" by Travis. Most of the ones I've seen are actually rather svelte.

The best part of the web version of the piece today though was the following listed below the text which could have been placed above and in the midst:

Need to put dummy text here for the quote. We need to put dummy text here for the pullout. We need to put dummy text here and here and here and here.

News-Press Lays Off Workers; Blame Teamsters? Wha?

The Santa Barbara Independent reports that The Santa Barbara News-Press ironically chose May Day to lay off ten of their workers, including sports writer Barry Punzal. No severance....just a form for COBRA and documentation for unemployment with a final check after 25 years at the paper. See Craig Smith's Blog for a copy of the memo to employees. Here's what Punzal told The Indie:

“I didn’t even see it coming,” said Punzal. “They just ripped out my heart is what they did, because I gave my heart and soul to that place. . . . They should have just put a gun to my head.”

News-Press uber-attorney Barry Cappello says declining circulation and the union caused the layoffs. Cappello, who has clearly benefitted greatly from months of court appearances, failed to mention that the paper could have saved a great deal of money by simply keeping the illegally fired employees many, many months ago in July of 2006. McCaw and Company have had plenty of opportunity to settle with the Teamsters but have chosen not to -- now they are going to cry wolf?

The truth is that while the News-Press laments the loss of pet parrots on the front page, neighboring newspapers aren't seeing the same kind of losses in circulation and have actually risen or at least held steady during the same time period. The lack of logic defies understanding. After 25 years, you would think the News-Press would at least give Punzal and other long timers a few months severance. Ouch.

News from the NLRB Front: Latest SBNP Charges Dismissed

This press release is in from the Teamsters:
============================================

NLRB Dismisses News-Press' Latest Meritless Charge Against Teamsters

On April 3, 2008, Region 31 of the National Labor Relations Board dismissed another meritless charge filed by the Santa Barbara News-Press against the Graphics Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The charge falsely claimed that union supporters Melinda Burns, Melissa Evans, Rob Kuznia, Dawn Hobbs and Tom Schultz interfered with the News-Press' sale of newspapers at the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market. The Region, in dismissing the charge, noted both that there was insufficient evidence of any violation of the National Labor Relations Act by the Union, and that the SBNP had filed this set of charges too late.

This dismissal further illustrates and reiterates the SBNP's repeated cynical pattern of attempting to harm the reputations of union supporters without basis in fact or law by inserting their names into legal charges falsely accusing them of alleged wrongdoing and publicizing the filing (see March 5 News-Press story), fully aware that
misrepresentations such as these contained in legal filings are ordinarily entitled to legal protection, regardless of their merit.

This is an abuse of the law enforcement machinery and resources of the NLRB. The News-Press has now filed no fewer than 10 charges against the Union, and all have been investigated and dismissed by the federal labor law agency.

Citizen McCaw Friday March 7th Premiere

I wanted to give a shout out to the producers of Citizen McCaw which will hold a premiere on Friday, March 7th. It's sure to be an excellent documentary on the News-Press Mess. After you see it, report back as to what you thought!

Conversaton Starters: In the News...

A couple of news and conversation topics for the weekend:

• Craig Smith questioned a Santa Barbara News-Press editorial from yesterday which cries conspiracy in relation to the De la Guerra Plaza redesign and parking in front of their world headquarters.
  
  
• The Santa Barbara Independent reports that the News-Press and the Teamsters are at it again. The Teamsters, who had filed an unfair labor charge earlier this week, are now a recipient of a charge which claims Dawn Hobbs and Tom Schultz impeded delivery of the newspaper. Perhaps we should set up a boxing ring in De la Guerra Plaza....
  
  
• Anyone miss the Amgen Tour coming through town? Was it worth the City of Santa Barbara saying they didn't want to pay for the police time? Probably....but it sure sounds like the race was exciting. Here are some pictures at edHat.
  

News-Press Refuses Raises since 2006 -- is the Union the Issue? Charge Filed...

Got this from The Graphics Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters today:

=========Teamster Press Release=========

The Graphics Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters will file an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board today against the Santa Barbara News-Press, protesting the newspaper's across-the-board unprecedented, punitive, retaliatory discontinuance of its practice of offering annual raises to its newsroom employee in 2006, the year the union organized and won an election conducted by the NLRB.

Based on information recently provided to the Union by the SBNP at the Union's request, it has come to light that newsroom employees had regularly received "annual" raises since owner-publisher Wendy McCaw purchased the newspaper in 2000, with the significant and clearly not coincidental exception of the year 2006.

"The employer told us there were pre-2006 years when no newsroom employees received annual raises, but the spread sheet the employer provided a few weeks ago at our request showed the facts to be otherwise", said Ira Gottlieb, attorney for the Union. "In every post-2000 year a large number of newsroom employees did receive annual raises, and it was only 2006 in which no one at all in the newsroom received a raise".

"We asked the News-Press at the bargaining table to explain why this was so, why we should believe this was not a change in established practice intended to retaliate for the advent of the Union, and received no explanation at all." Gottlieb added. "We had no choice but to file this charge to right this wrong."

The Union is seeking an order from the Labor Board compelling the News-Press to consider and grant annual raises to all newsroom employees who worked there in 2006.

Teamster/SBNP Contract Negotiations About to Begin - Baron Shoots First Salvo

More than a year after the News-Press employees election to join the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, contract negotiations are finally scheduled to begin this week with management of the Santa Barbara News-Press.

The negotiation sessions this week will be held Tuesday and Wednesday (11/13 and 11/14) at an undisclosed, neutral location in Santa Barbara.

Here is a portion of the letter sent to News-Press employees from Teamster Chief Negotiator Nick Caruso related to the upcoming contract negotiations. Conciliatory in nature -- let's hope the feelings are mutual between labor and management.

Until now, the fight has focused on ongoing disputes between employee and employer. Contract Negotiations are an opportunity for the participants to find common ground (if they so choose) and build an Agreement based on both the shared and distinctive needs of the respective parties. Labor brings the collective voice of the employees to the table and offers the expertise of these professionals with regard to more effectively applying their craft. In exchange we seek fair compensation and working conditions. Management will bring legitimate business concerns. Preferably, we can work together to resolve our differences and through the process of exchanging proposals and ideas, an Agreement can begin to evolve.

I have worked closely with the Union Committee Members to draft your expressed issues into proposals that we will present to the Employer. The proposals represent the collective vision of what the newsroom can and should be from the Employees’ perspective. The Committee Members are dedicated to that vision and will fight to whatever extent necessary to create a better workplace than exists today.

Up to this point, the Employer has adamantly opposed recognizing the employees’ legal right to bargain overcompensation and working conditions. Now that the day has arrived, we are hoping Management will begin to acknowledge that there may be some benefit in listening and discussing what the newsroom professionals have to offer.

The upcoming contract negotiations make me wonder if News-Press Co-Publisher Arthur Von Wiesenberger wasn't trying to begin a preemptive strike in the Pacific Coast Business Times this morning when he blamed the Teamsters for their significant drop in subscriptions. Of course it is always easier to blame others for your own mistakes.

Here's the quote:

When asked to comment Nov. 6, News-Press co-publisher Arthur von Wiesenberger wrote in an e-mail that a union-orchestrated “smear campaign” against the newspaper was to blame for the publication’s drop in circulation. The News-Press “will not bow to this intimidation,” von Wiesenberger wrote.

“These subscriber cancellations have demonstrated the relative success of the injury that has been inflicted on the News-Press,” von Wiesenberger wrote.

Isn't this great? The free market is at work! Both sides have had their say and the News-Press has certainly outspent The Organized by a factor of at least 10 to 1. Despite the amazing amount of funds that McCaw and Company have paid to defend their right to say what goes on the front page -- it seems The Organized have the upper hand. How long can falling subscriptions on Sunday be bolstered by hubris? Yes -- the free market works, but will neo-Libertarians like Wendy McCaw and Travis Armstrong admit that now?

For a more detailed analysis of the PacBizTimes article, you can see Craig Smith's post earlier today.

Another WWST? How much did it cost?

Craig Smith opines that the NLRB Hearing cum waiting game could cost Wendy McCaw half a million. What was she thinking?

Couldn't you bring back The Organized or even the Illegally Fired Journalists and make life hell for a few months and have them quit in disgust for a few hundred thousand less? I would be happy to take a commission equaling the difference but do not think I could live with myself. Then again, maybe she knows what Dawn Hobbes, Tom Schultz and the like are made of.

WWST? It Was Anti-Coyote!

I'm not sure what News-Press co-publisher Wendy McCaw was thinking when she took the stand and defined what bias was for the masses today. Contradictions flew left and right as she told the courtroom what it is in her world. She said she works more than 40 hours a week and 5 days a week in the office -- I wondered why the NLRB attorney's didn't ask for the sailing records for the Calixe as this statement seems to contradict public record.

My favorite misdirection from McCaw was the following quoted in The Independent:

When asked is (sic) she had a right to control the content of the news section, she replied, “I believe I have a right to that, but I don’t choose to exercise that.” Bias was a lingering problem for McCaw throughout her ownership because, as she explained, “We didn’t want the paper dictating what people should be believing.”

We didn’t want the paper dictating what people should be believing. Wow. That's rich considering the following also from The Independent about faxes she sent to her editors about articles printed in the newspaper:

...another asked why an article about a Hannah-Beth Jackson (she had written “HBJ”, though couldn’t recall on the stand why) press release did not cite the role of the Sperlings or the Wendy P. McCaw Foundation in saving the Ellwood Mesa; and a fourth said that “bad editing” was at fault for the front-page placement of a story about architect Brian Cearnal’s lawsuit against McCaw.

If WPM doesn't know who HBJ is or why lack of mention of her own foundation is showing bias, I am very surprised. I am not keeping count, but has every News-Press executive "contradicted their testimony" as of yet? Yet another article was biased, according to McCaw, because it was "anti-coyote" -- almost anthropomorphic in nature, is it because the meercats, coyotes and otters deserve to get more than the true story told? By no means are coyotes or other animals inanimate -- but this women makes sure they sit above the fold and above the banner, and then tells us she doesn't influence the newsroom.

There is likely more about this story very soon at Craig's Blog. I'm fascinated that we finally got a glimpse into -- WWST?

Before we see the typical "Let the market decide!" comments -- let me just ask those of you that want to write that whether you want to read front-page stories about the bastardized trickle-down effect McCaw talked about today? Reagonomics on animals as unbiased news -- isn't that taking laissez-faire a bit far?

Major Victory for Teamsters!

Craig Smith reported today that the NLRB has "adopted an administrative law judge's findings and recommendations that upheld the 33 to 6 vote in favor of unionization, in effect, overruling the News-Press' objections to the outcome of the election".

What does this mean? The Graphic Communications Conference of the Teamster's Union is now the bargaining unit for the newsroom employees at the News-Press. As Craig points out, the hearings we have been posting about will continue as they are about a different issue but this is good news for the rank and file in the newsroom.

Lou Cannon on News-Press Mess

Here's a link to Lou Cannon's piece on the Mess today in the Los Angeles Times.

Teamsters File Objection to 97 Theses

The 97 objections that the News-Press nailed to the wall, like so many theses from Martin Luther, has received a formal objection from the Teamsters. In an article on the Indy Media Blog, Matt Kettman reports that the objections were filed on April 11. Many thanks to the SBIMB for publishing the PDF listed above.

BlogaBarbara is mentioned on quite a few of the legal filing pages. A citizen stringer who passed this information along pointed out that Teamster attorney Ira Gottlieb may have invented a new term in saying the infamous 9/11 comment was "depublished". In any event, Gottlieb did a good job at pointing out the obvious -- the News-Press objections to the union election lacked merit for many reasons already mentioned here, in the hearing and in the press.

I've been sensing a bit of News-Press Mess fatigue in the ether of late and hope that although we need to move on in some ways -- the findings of the NLRB are a serious matter to which we have seen no indication from Ampersand of having any intention to following. They've proven this by saying they have a commitment to local news and then making their first post-NLRB hearing hire a gossip columnist -- rather than the eight reporters who were illegally fired. McCaw and Company are hoping we do not notice or are so tired of the mess that we begin to ignore it.

Union Strife? Tell the whole story...

One of these days you will know who I am because you will see me reaching into garbage cans near Starbucks because I see a headline that just has to be written about :)

Today's was one of them in that Travis Armstrong decided to add another chapter to my forthcoming book from the SDLG Center for Union Busting Studies. Today's editorial tried hard to raise fear in our hearts that unions are the cause for just about every social ill one could think of. If you are an aspiring union buster, today's lesson is to purposely leave out information so that your readers think every union is the Teamsters Union (just make sure you say for the twentieth time that they have ties to organized crime as this is a key part of your strategy). Next, make it look like the Teamsters are predator-like and want to attack and devour every employer in Santa Barbara County. Won't we be in real trouble then?

One of my main issues with Armstrong is how he conveniently leaves out key information. To my knowledge, Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons workers do not belong to the Teamster's Union. I believe they would be Food and Commercial Workers, no? If one of you could confirm that, I'd appreciate it. Next, Armstrong makes sure that we think the food workers striking and this spread of unionization will "disrupt" our lives. Maybe his life is disupted by Teamster organizing -- not mine! Finally, he can't let a day go by without attacking government. His oft repeated comments about SEIU and election contributions continue to fail to also point out that law enforcement unions have had a far greater impact on local elections than SEIU. Finally, union member or not, rising employee retirement and health care benefits costs are not the fault of collective bargaining -- it is because we have an older population that is retiring later than anticipated years ago. Blame the unions all you want -- but they have the same benefits management and non-represented employees have and they are probably very similar to Armstrong's own at the News-Press.

Washington Post's Woodward Backs The Organized

In a press release from The Organized today -- a list of speakers for the upcoming rally on Saturday was announced. Although he will not be present, a statement from famed Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward will be read which concerns a News-Press ad on March 8th which wrongfully used a quote from him. The statement will say that the quote was used out of context and against the unionization effort. other scheduled speakers include Congresswoman Capps, Mayor Blum, several union representatives and three of the illegally fired reporters from the paper -- Dawn Hobbs, Melinda Burns and Tom Schultz.

The rally is scheduled for 1:30 pm at De la Guerra Plaza.

PR: SBNewsRoom.com to Launch April 2

To: All Media

From: The Illegally Fired Journalists of the Santa Barbara News-Press

Date: Thursday, March 15, 2007

Re: Santa Barbara Newsroom Web site and news broadcast

We, the eight illegally fired journalists of the SBNP, are starting our own online news site and broadcast news program -- called Santa Barbara Newsroom -- in an effort to provide the community with the quality local journalism it deserves while we await reinstatement to our jobs.

SantaBarbaraNewsroom.com is scheduled to launch on April 2. A half-hour news program will follow, airing regularly on Channel 17, Santa Barbara's public access station. The original broadcast time slot and re-run times will soon be announced. A link to a rebroadcast of this program will also be on the Web site.

Both the Web site and the broadcast program are sponsored by the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The newsroom staff voted overwhelmingly last September to join the Teamsters in an attempt to restore integrity to the Santa Barbara News-Press through a union contract.

This multi-media effort will allow us to continue to publish the stories we have taken such great pride in providing our community. It will also enable us to provide timely updates to developments concerning our unionization effort and the pending unfair labor practice charges our Teamster attorney has filed against Wendy McCaw, the owner and co-publisher of the Santa Barbara News-Press.

Six of us were illegally fired on Feb. 5 and 6 for protesting the previous illegal firing of two other reporters.We expect the National Labor Relations Board to aggressively prosecute the company for these wrongful terminations and seek back pay and the reinstatement of each of these highly respected and award-winning journalists.

The eight fired reporters, who will now staff Santa Barbara Newsroom, are: Melinda Burns, John Zant, Dawn Hobbs, Tom Schultz, Anna Davison, Barney McManigal, Rob Kuznia and Melissa Evans.

The crisis that has brought us to this point began at the Santa Barbara News-Press last July when seven editors walked off the job, they said, because they could no longer uphold their standards of ethics and integrity. Since then more than 40 professionals have been forced out or fired.

NLRB to Prosecute News-Press Over Firings

The NLRB will be prosecuting the Santa Barbara News-Press for unlawfully firing Melinda Burns, Anna Davison, John Zant, Barney McManigal, Dawn Hobbs, Tom Schultz, Rob Kuznia, and Melissa Evans in retaliation for their support of the Teamsters union. [See more at Craig Smith's Blog]