Santa Barbara Saga Continues Nearly Two Months After First Resignations

By: Joe Strupp It's been nearly two months since the ongoing turmoil at the Santa Barbara (Calif.) News-Press began when the first of 16 newsroom employees, including its top editor, quit on July 6 in a dispute over alleged meddling by the owner, and things do not appear to be getting any better.

In just the past week, 11 employees were suspended, new unfair labor practice charges were filed by both employees and management, hundreds of subscriptions are set to be cancelled through an employee-led boycott campaign, and uncertainties remain over when a newsroom vote on union representation will occur.

"Things are much worse, there is a very oppressive atmosphere, retaliation and threats going on," said Dawn Hobbs, an eight-year News-Press reporter and newsroom labor leader. "It is a constant retaliation and we are bound and determined to see it through."

Hobbs was among the eleven employees suspended last week for two days after they delivered a letter to owner Wendy McCaw on Aug. 24, Hobbs said. She said management claimed the action was a violation of the paper's rules. A statement released by Ira Gottlieb, an attorney for the employees, claimed the action was not a violation and did not hamper production of the paper.

The letter demanded that McCaw engage in bargaining with the employees over working conditions and policies. A group of rank and file employees, including Hobbs, have sought representation by the Graphics Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

McCaw could not be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for the paper, Agnes Huff, said the suspended employees engaged in "intimidating and disruptive behavior....They marched en masse through the paper's offices, they were told to go back to work and refused," Huff said.

On Friday, the union filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board, the third such filing in the past several weeks, according to Gottlieb. Management also filed a new charge with the NLRB, claiming the employee's actions with the letter constituted improper behavior.

Gottlieb told E&P that the union hoped to have a representative vote by the end of September, possibly on Sept. 27. "I expect the union will win the election and we can minimize the legal wrangling and sit down and bargain," he said. "It is up to management."

In a statement released today by Huff about the union vote, the newspaper said it "does not intend to delay this process in any way and believes the animosity being created by the union is damaging to all parties. The News-Press wishes to move forward with this regulatory process in a professional and ethical manner, but will not shy away from setting the record straight."

McCaw has said that she does not believe a union is needed at the paper and refused to recognize the bargaining unit in the past.

Union leaders planned a press conference for later today in Santa Barbara, where they expect to reveal the number of subscriber cancellation cards collected during the past few weeks. The union would not reveal how many cards promising cancellations by readers if worker demands were not met by today were turned in, but reports of hundreds of such cancellations have been released in recent weeks.

The newspaper's statement called the press conference "a media stunt," adding that "The News-Press fully expects the union to live up to its reputation by hurling accusations, attacking usual business practices, mischaracterizing the facts and spreading outright lies about its intended target."

Gottlieb said the union may not submit the cancellation cards to the News-Press, choosing instead to go back to those who signed them and ask them to individually cancel to ensure they take effect. "We don't have any reason to trust [the newspaper] and neither do the subscribers," said Gottlieb. "We may have to take another route."

Huff stressed that any cancellation cards turned in by the union do not necessarily indicate a subscription cancellation. "The relationship with the subscriber is with the paper, not a third party," she told E&P. But, she added, they "will carefully review" the cards.

The suspended employees, meanwhile, have yet to find out when they will be off the job, said Hobbs. Huff said that each individual's suspension would be decided by his or her direct supervisor. "That is the way it is done," she said.