AP Breaking...Agency (NLRB) dismisses claim by Santa Barbara newspaper against union

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/04/08/financial/f104255D25.DTL

(04-08) 10:42 PDT LOS ANGELES, (AP) --

A federal agency has dismissed a claim brought by the Santa Barbara News-Press against an employees union, concluding the newspaper failed to provide sufficient evidence that the union tried to interfere with newspaper sales.

In an April 3 ruling, the National Labor Relations Board rejected arguments by newspaper management that the Graphics Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters coerced or threatened employees and others to hurt sales of the paper at the Santa Barbara Farmers Market.

The newspaper also claimed Teamsters members impeded pedestrians at the market from buying the newspaper.

"The News-Press has now filed no fewer than 10 charges against the union, and all have been investigated and dismissed by the federal labor law agency," Ira L. Gottlieb, an attorney for the Teamsters, said in a statement Tuesday.

The News-Press is owned by Ampersand Publishing LLC, which is headed by Wendy McCaw. A call seeking comment from the News-Press was not immediately returned.

The ruling marked the latest dispute between the News-Press and the union since July 2006, when nearly every top editor at the paper quit in protest over what they said was the owner's interference with news coverage.

Newsroom employees voted to form a union two months later, and they have been fighting with the newspaper since then over the legitimacy of the vote, which has been certified by the NLRB.

[XemaSab]

1. I saw a movie about this the other day, "Citizen McCaw."

GREAT film. Right now it's only playing in Santa Barbara, but they're hoping to get it on tv, in film festivals, and ultimately on DVD.

There's a quote in there from the guy from the Teamsters handling this case that says the owner of the News-Press is the best recruiter the Teamsters ever had. :P

www.citizenmccaw.com

[tabatha]

2. Good news.

The owner of the newspaper used lawyers to get a huge divorce settlement.
She has tried to use lawyers again - but failed this time.

Here is a movie:
http://citizenmccaw.com/