'SEATTLE TIMES' TAKES UNION TO COURT

By: Joel Davis Both Sides Disagree On 'Permanent Replacements'


Alleging that the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild hasn't
fulfilled its side of a deal that ended a seven-week newspaper
strike, The Seattle Times is suing the union in federal
court.

The Times' suit seeks to enforce a part of the settlement
agreement mandating that the Guild promote the paper in exchange
for the Times restoring union members to pre-strike
positions.

Guild spokeswoman Liz Brown told the Seattle-based Pugent
Sound Business Journal that the union has not spent Guild
funds promoting the Times because "they haven't removed
permanent replacements from our members' jobs."

The suit may come down to semantics as both sides disagree over
the definition of "permanent replacements."

"The suit was over the interpretation of the return-to-work
agreement with the Guild," Times President and Chief
Operating Officer H. Mason Sizemore told E&P. "The court
will decide whether the Times has fulfilled its agreement
on permanent replacements. We obviously believe we have."



Joel Davis (jdavis@editorandpublisher.com) is West Coast editor for E&P.



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