Contract Stalemate Prompts Guild to Picket Union-Tribune Offices

Reporters and other members of the San Diego Newspaper Guild picketed the offices of the San Diego Union-Tribune on Friday to protest a stalemate in their attempts to reach agreement on a new contract, despite three months of negotiations.

Both sides have been following provisions of the old contract, which expired June 5. Shortly after the contract’s expiration, management informed the guild that the company would unilaterally terminate the conditions of the previously negotiated contract within 60 days if a new agreement were not reached. The company chose to terminate the previous contract provisions at midnight Thursday.

Union-Tribune editor-in-chief Herbert Klein called the 60-day notice a “routine” labor matter and said the company has not decided on its next move.

“I don’t see any major changes taking place, with the possible exception of the check-off on dues, Klein said. He said management had not reached a conclusion on whether it will ignore the provisions of the old contract.

Compromise Rejected

On Thursday, guild negotiators attempted to avert the stalemate by offering to return to the old contract. The previous contract had been in effect since 1985. According to Robert Kemp, guild administrative officer, management rejected the proposal after considering it for less than two hours.

Klein declined to comment on the rejection, saying that he was not in a position “to discuss any part of the proceedings.”

Guild officials charged that management is attempting to break the union, which represents about 1,000 workers at the Union-Tribune, including reporters, librarians and employees in the circulation and advertising departments. The local has been representing workers at the two newspapers for 52 years.

“Management told us, ‘We don’t believe that the union is going to survive here,’ ” said Kemp, who addressed a San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council AFL-CIO luncheon after the morning picketing session.

Ed Jahn, president of Newspaper Guild Local 95, said the dispute is not over economic issues but focuses on “management rights” that company negotiators have insisted be included in any agreement.

“They’re trying to force this down our throats. Giving in to them on the management-rights issue would make the rest of the contract obsolete. Basically, management wants the arbitrary right to change the contract, even after it’s been negotiated. . . . If we sign, we’ll be signing away all our rights,” Jahn said.

Kemp charged that the company’s demand for management rights is a “not-too-subtle attempt” to break the guild. “In effect, they’ve told us, ‘You can keep the name, San Diego Newspaper Guild, and nothing else,’ ” Kemp said.

Klein denied that the company wants to destroy the guild. “We’re seeking certain rights, and they are also. We believe that management is entitled to certain rights,” Klein said.

He also declined to comment on the main stumbling blocks in the dispute, but Jahn said that they include company proposals designed to weaken or break the guild. According to Jahn, the controversial proposals include:

- A company demand that new employees and union members be given the option of joining the guild or not. Union membership is now required for most employees.

- A no-strike clause that would also prohibit guild members from engaging in secondary boycotts and establishing informational picket lines, such as the one set up Friday.

- A loyalty provision that, among other things, would permit the company to discipline employees who make “public disparagements” about Publisher Helen Copley “and/or her representatives.” The provision would also forbid employees from making company documents available to foreign countries.

- An attempt by management to eliminate 261 guild jobs and cut the union’s membership by more than 25%.

Union-Tribune management is using an outside negotiator for the first time in its contract talks with the guild. Publisher Copley hired the Nashville law firm of King & Ballow to represent both papers in the bargaining talks. The firm has a reputation in labor circles as being anti-union and taking an uncompromising stance in labor negotiations. Negotiations for the guild are being handled by local officers.

Klein said the trend in the industry is for management to use an outside firm such as King & Ballow that specializes in “newspaper labor law.”

“If you look at our industry across the country, newspapers are going to experts in newspaper labor law,” Klein said. “This particular company contracts with about 230 newspapers.”

“Why after 52 years of a constructive, positive relationship with the company do we have to face this union-busting attempt?” Jahn said. “We have a publisher who in the past has demonstrated her concern for employees many times but now has gone 180 degrees. We don’t know why this has happened.”

Six unions represent workers at the Union-Tribune, and three are working without a contract. The contracts of the typographical and mailers’ unions expired more than a year ago, and both groups have failed to reach a new agreement. Contracts with the three other unions are scheduled to expire next month, Klein said.

On Friday, Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer Joe Francis called upon other local unions to join the guild on the informational picket line outside the newspapers’ offices.

Klein said company officials were not surprised by Friday’s picketing, which he said was “calculated to gain more public than internal attention.” He said management has made “fair” contract proposals that include “substantial” salary increases.

The guild and the newspaper have scheduled bargaining sessions through August.