NLRB Dismisses Claim of Anti-Union Layoff at MediaNews Group

By: Joe Strupp The National Labor Relations Board has dismissed a wrongful termination claim filed by a union organizer at a MediaNews Group chain who was laid off two days after being voted in as unit chair.

Sara Steffens, a nine-year reporter at the Contra Costa Times of Walnut Creek, Calif., was voted unit chair of the new Bay Area Newspaper Group-East Bay guild unit on July 9.

A chief organizer of the new Guild unit at the chain outside San Francisco, Steffens was laid off on July 11. She claimed then that she was being let go in part for her union activities and filed a complaint with the NLRB shortly afterward.

The guild unit represents nine BANG-EB papers that are part of MediaNews Group, including the Times and the Oakland Tribune.

On Nov. 28, Regional NLRB Director Alan B. Reichard issued his dismissal of the complaint concerning the termination of Steffens and fellow staffers Rebecca Rosen-Lum and Geoff Lepper.

" ? the evidence was insufficient to establish that but for these three employees' union activities, they would not have been selected for layoff," Reichard wrote in his decision. "In this regard, the evidence was insufficient to establish that the employer harbored animus against these three employees because of their protected activities."

Marshall Anstandig, Senior Vice President-General Counsel for the California Newspapers Partnership, which includes the Bay Area News Group, welcomed the news.

"Needless to say, we are very pleased with the NLRB's decision to dismiss the Guild's claim," he wrote to E&P in an e-mail Monday. "It is always unfortunate to be cutting staff, as you know. However, the allegation here was that we acted unlawfully. We are very pleased to see that the NLRB agreed with our position."

Carl Hall, a local guild representative who helped organize the BANG-EB unit, lamented the decision. "I am disappointed that they didn?t see the evidence the way we did," he told E&P. "I have seen a lot of cases with less-compelling evidence. We are going to evaluate our options."

In an e-mail to E&P, Steffens added: "Obviously this is disappointing -- it was obvious to most everyone in the newsroom why I lost my job. Still, we're planning to appeal, and I feel hopeful about our chances."

In late June, Steffens and 28 other BANG guild employees found out they would be laid off. The layoffs occurred in July and came almost a month after BANG-EB employees voted in the guild, 104 to 92.

"There are several active [union] organizers on the [layoff] list and several who were very outspoken," Steffens, 36, who was co-chair of the guild organizing effort, said at the time. "We haven't been satisfied with the company's rationale about some of their choices."

BANG-EB Editor Kevin Keane issued a statement to E&P at the time that said: ?"These layoffs were driven by the economy and nothing else. Instead of relying on job performance, we eliminated positions that we felt we could no longer afford in this economic environment or in those areas where we felt the work could be absorbed by others. Sara?s beat was poverty and social issues."

The first notice of layoffs came on June 27, a day after the National Labor Relations Board formally certified the guild unit. The new unit was the first guild effort at the chain since MediaNews in August 2007 withdrew recognition of the former Alameda Newspaper Guild, which had represented some 130 staffers at the former four-paper ANG, including the Oakland Tribune.

The union recognition change followed MediaNews' consolidation of ANG's editorial functions with its neighboring five-paper Contra Costa Newspapers, led by the Contra Costa Times.

The consolidation of editorial operations from the two groups came one year after MediaNews purchased the Contra Costa papers from McClatchy as part of its takeover of 31 daily and community papers in the area.

Company officials said at the time that the move was proper because the consolidated editorial unit included fewer than 50% guild members.

Since the ANG unit, which had been under a guild contract since 1998, had only 130 staffers and the Contra Costa staff, which was union-free, included about 170, the guild unit could be removed because it did not represent a majority of the combined workers.