'Santa Barbara News-Press' Employees Claim Unfair Labor Practices

By: Joe Strupp In the ongoing saga that is the Santa Barbara (Calif.) News-Press, the union seeking to represent newsroom employees at the paper has filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. The four-count complaint claims the newspaper has engaged in "coercive and intimidating treatment of staff members."

The charges, filed Monday, also challenge "the News-Press' suspiciously-timed adoption of a 'conflict of interest' policy that purports to restrict and suppress employees' right to speak in public and publish on the Internet."

The complaints are the latest action in an ongoing internal battle at the newspaper over newsroom allegations of alleged meddling by owner Wendy McCaw and countercharges by the owner of biased reporting and alleged unprofessional behavior by some workers.

The showdown first drew national headlines on July 6 when several editorial employees, including former editor Jerry Roberts and five other editors, quit in protest. In all, a total of 14 editorial employees have resigned.

In a letter to NLRB officials sent Monday, Attorney Ira L. Gottlieb, representing the union, cited a recently adopted conflict of interest policy that allegedly requires employees of the paper to seek permission before posting items on the Internet or accepting speaking engagements as a key employee rights violation.

"These policies are obviously intended to stifle and suppress the very criticism that these reporters have lawfully lodged against management on a blog called savethenewspress.com," the letter stated. "And at least one recent public forum criticizing management at which one senior reporter spoke, as did the union's lead organizer."

Gottlieb is a lawyer for the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which is seeking to become the formal bargaining unit for newsroom employees at the paper. The workers have formally filed to have the union represent them, and have taken steps toward holding a union vote in the near future.

Specifically, the NLRB complaint charges the paper with: "Intimidating a reporter with a baseless disciplinary interview by management because that reporter is known to be a prominent leader and spokesperson in the unionizing effort; arbitrarily changing reporters' beat assignments without following customary procedure for doing so; a major revision of the company "conflict of interest" policy that stifles employees' ability to express public views on their current working conditions; and engaging in illegal surveillance."

Agnes Huff, a spokeswoman for the newspaper, defended its actions and said the complaint had no merit. "These are ridiculous charges, utterly baseless and there is absolutely no chance of prevailing," she said in a statement to E&P. "This is just another example of the type of tactics used by the Teamsters. We have acted in good faith. We will continue to act in good faith. We are in full and complete compliance of the law and we will cooperate fully in the NLRB process. We will defend ourselves against any and all unfair, unfounded and untrue allegations."

Newsroom staffers, meanwhile, stood by the accusations in a group statement released by Gottlieb's office. "We, the newsroom staff, hope that these practices will end immediately so that we can do our jobs in an environment of professionalism," the statement said. "These recent actions by management are clearly meant to suppress criticism that reporters and copy editors have lodged against management."