Newspaper Guild on shaky ground at Bay Area News Group
June 18, 2008
The recent vote 104-92 vote authorizing the Newspaper Guild to represent qualified Bay Area Newsgroup employees, mostly reporters, may herald potential labor strife. According to Editor and Publisher,
With 225 eligible voters at the nine papers, which include the Oakland Tribune and the Contra Costa Times, fewer than half, 104, voted for the guild, with 92 opposed.
“Most telling: the guild boasted that two-thirds of eligible employees had signed cards; yet, in the final tally … not even a majority of eligible employees [favored the guild],” a statement by a group of newsroom employees named, Why Union-Free, stated on their Web site.
Contra Costa Times Economy writer, George Avalos, and others, have formed an anti-guild website explaining the downside of unionized newspapers. According to Editor and Publisher, “The anti-union group, headed by Contra Costa Times staffers George Avalos and Ann Tatko-Peterson, has been opposing the guild effort, claiming it will not help most workers. It’s Web site is www.whyunionfree.com.
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