Journalists Secure June 13 Vote for Guild Recognition, Seeking a Say in Decisions...

Journalists Secure June 13 Vote for Guild Recognition, Seeking a Say in Decisions About the Future of Their Papers, Web Sites

OAKLAND, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Journalists at the Bay Area's largest newspaper company reached
agreement with MediaNews Group management today to hold a June 13
employee vote on Guild recognition. The secret-ballot election will
ask non-supervisory news workers of Bay Area News Group - East Bay
(BANG-EB) whether they want to affiliate with the Northern California
Media Workers Guild for collective bargaining on pay, benefits and
work conditions.

"So many of us have been working for months to get to this
moment," said Sara Steffens, an award-winning reporter at the Contra
Costa Times and a co-chair of the organizing campaign. "We're eager
for the opportunity to have a union that works productively with
management like our colleagues at The New York Times, the San
Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, and news outlets across the
Bay Area and across the country. We have a lot of practical,
solution-oriented contributions to make during this challenging time
for our profession."

The National Labor Relations Board will conduct the June election.
If a majority of those voting approve, the company will recognize the
new guild bargaining unit. Leaders of the organizing effort submitted
guild pledge cards from nearly two thirds of eligible workers to the
Board on May 2, triggering the election process.

Many in the industry have been closely watching developments at
the BANG-EB properties since August, when corporate parent MediaNews
made headlines by withdrawing recognition from the 20 year-old Guild
unit at ANG Newspapers, which included the Oakland Tribune and four
other East Bay dailies. The company announced it was canceling
contract talks while consolidating ANG editorial functions with the
newly acquired and non-union Contra Costa Times and affiliated
weeklies to form BANG-EB. In response, journalists from across the
East Bay papers came together last fall to create a new union, dubbing
the campaign "One Big BANG: One Guild Universe." (see
http://onebigbang.org)

"We're looking forward to continuing the productive working
dynamic with management that allowed us to quickly nail down this
election date and related issues," said Michael Manekin, reporter for
the San Mateo County Times and a campaign co-chair. "We're focused on
working together to ensure our papers and Web sites are as efficient
and high-quality as possible. We know management is interested in
those goals too."

The agreement is expected to be finalized no later than Monday,
May 19. Precise locations and hours for the voting are being worked
out, but the Guild and management have agreed that polling places
should be set up at least at these principal work locations: Antioch,
Richmond, Oakland, Pleasanton, Fremont, Walnut Creek and Hayward.

Eligible employees will be all full-time and regular part-time
editorial department employees employed by the BANG-EB at these work
locations: Alameda, Hayward, Fremont, Tracy, Pleasanton, Oakland, San
Mateo, Walnut Creek, Antioch and Richmond.

Online employees who are part of the BANG-EB newsroom staff are
among those eligible to vote. Web producers employed by the separate
California Newspapers Partnership will not be eligible. Sacramento
also was not included among the eligible work sites. The Guild
attempted to make all those individuals part of the election, but the
company maintained they should not be considered part of this
bargaining unit.

More details of the One Big BANG organizing campaign can be found
on the Web at:

http://onebigbang.org

Northern California Media Workers Guild
Sara Steffens, 510-388-0562
Karl Fischer, 925-234-1711

Copyright Business Wire 2008