Pressroom Flyer

UNION ELECTION/REPRESENTATION HISTORY IN NEWSPAPER PRESSROOMS

The Union would have you believe that it is the “answer” to all employee problems. If this was really the case, you would think that presspersons would be flocking to the Union. In fact, just the opposite has happened. When given the chance newspaper presspersons have been saying "NO" to the Union. In fact, since 1990 newspaper presspersons at these forty-five newspapers have said "NO" to the Union.

Bellington (WA) Herald
Bristol (CT) Press
Burlington (VT) Free Press
Boise (ID) Statesman
Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette
Chattanooga Times & Free Press
Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer
Danvers (MA) North Shore
Community Newspapers
Dubuque (IA) Telegraph Herald
Elmira (NY) Star-Gazette
Fresno Bee
Gadsden (AL) Times
Galesburg (IL) Register-Mail
Glens Falls (NY) Post-Star
Grand Rapids (MI) Press
Great Falls (MT) Tribune
Hackensack (NJ) Record
Hagerstown (MD) Herald-Mail
Houston Chronicle
Iowa City Press-Citizen
Jersey City (NJ) Journal
Lincoln (NE) Journal Star
Longview (WA) Daily News
Montgomery (AL) Advertiser
Mount Vernon (WA) Skagit
Valley Herald
Muskegon (MI) Chronicle
Neptune (NJ) Asbury Park Press
Norfolk (VA) Virginia Pilot &
Ledger Star
Orange County Register

Pittsfield (MA) Berkshire Eagle
Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal
Rochester (NY) Newspapers
St. Cloud (MN) Daily Times
St. Joseph (MO) News Press
Sacramento Bee
San Mateo Times
South Bend (IN) Tribune
Steubenville (OH) Herald Star
Stockton Record
Syracuse Newspapers
Texarkana (AK) Gazette
Topeka (KS) Capital Journal
Tucson Star, Citizen
Utica (NY) Observer Dispatch
Winston-Salem (NC) Journal

At some of these newspapers the pressroom employees refused to vote the Union in. At others the Union was already in and was voted out (which isn’t easy). And, at a few, no vote was ever necessary because either the Union had clearly lost support or just walked away.

In addition to these newspapers, of course, presspersons at the Los Angeles Times have repeatedly and overwhelmingly rejected the Union.

The Union did win elections at the Boulder (CO) Daily Camera and the Nashville Tennessean in the mid-1990s but was voted out at both newspapers two years later. The Union also won an election in a small (22 employees) production department at the Wall Street Journal’s LaGrange, Georgia, printing plant.

Then there is the Fresno Bee. Although employees at the Fresno Bee rejected the Union in 1993, the Union tried again and won in 1998. It was never able to negotiate a contract and some pressroom employees went more than three years without a pay increase before the Union gave up and walked away. What would it mean to you and your family if you went three years without a pay increase?

If the Union won at the Los Angeles Times, the Company would bargain in good faith. And we are not saying that any of the things that happened at these other papers, like the Fresno Bee, would automatically happen here. But consider the Union’s record – consider the FACTS.

WHY GAMBLE? - VOTE “NO”