Feds File Charges Against the News-Press

NLRB Cites Many Illegal Moves by Newspaper Management and Sets
February Hearing

The National Labor Relations Board today, December 28,
filed a complaint against the Santa Barbara News-Press
alleging labor law violations stemming from newsroom unionization
efforts and set a February 26 hearing in Santa Barbara. Charges include the firing of veteran
reporter and union leader Melinda Burns, illegal
gag orders, threatened suspensions, and cancellation of union
activist Starshine Roshell’s column. “The NLRB
general counsel’s decision to prosecute the News-Press for
its serious labor law violations validates the union’s position
that the News-Press is a labor outlaw trafficking in
threats and intimidation to transform the newsroom from a haven of
journalistic professionalism to a den of arbitrary management
fiat,” said Ira Gottlieb, attorney for the
Teamsters Union.

Not so, contends
David J. Millstein, general counsel for the
News-Press. On Thursday afternoon (soon after this article
was initially posted), he explained, “The News-Press
welcomes the opportunity to have these issues heard as part of due
process by the administrative law judge, and intends to further
demonstrate that the management decisions in question were fair,
consistent and undertaken for legitimate and lawful reasons. We are
confident that these claims will be found without merit.”

Newsroom employees recently voted 33-6 to affiliate with the
Teamsters. The NLRB has already set a January 9 hearing at the
Santa Barbara Bankruptcy Court over News-Press allegations
that the election was unfair. Gottlieb termed the paper’s claim
“frivolous.”