Richmond Paper, Union Reach Tentative Agreement

By: Joe Strupp Just weeks after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced it would issue a complaint against The Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch for failing to bargain in good faith with newsroom employees, the paper struck a tentative agreement with union leaders on a new three-year contract.

The Richmond Newspapers Professional Association, which represents 180 editorial workers at the Media General Inc. newspaper, began voting on the new agreement Wednesday and hopes to have tabulations completed by Friday, according to Jay J. Levit, the union?s attorney. He said the new contract calls for a 7% wage hike over three years.

Union and management negotiators had been trying to hammer out a new contract since July 2000. The previous three-year agreement, which included a salary increase of less than 2%, ended in September 2000. Despite 16 bargaining sessions, the two sides were unable to reach an accord by last January, prompting the union to file the unfair labor charge with the NLRB on Jan. 30.

NLRB Regional Director Wayne Gold said last week that the NLRB had decided in early August to issue a complaint of failure to bargain in good faith against the newspaper later this month, and advised both parties of the decision. Levit said Times-Dispatch negotiators then quickly stepped up their efforts to forge an agreement.

"After it became apparent that the board was going to issue charges, by some strange coincidence, there was a marked change in the company?s attitude," Levit said. "We accomplished in 10 days what we were unable to accomplish during the past year."

Media General Chairman J. Stewart Bryan, who also serves as Times-Dispatch publisher, declined to comment on the situation. But attorney Michael Zinser, who represents the paper, said the tentative agreement proves the paper was bargaining fairly.

"The usual practice would be for the union to withdraw the complaint if the contract is signed and consummated," Zinser said.

But Levit disagreed. The union still maintains that the paper bargained in bad faith during the past year, and said other charges are pending with the NLRB on unfair labor practice allegations that include docking pay for union leaders, disallowing the use of e-mail for union activities, and cutting holiday bonuses for 2001.

"This company believes that the National Labor Relations Act is a game," Levit said. "And the name of the game is to see what you can get away with."