Election to Stand at Los Angeles Times

Gentlemen:

I am pleased to let you know that the NLRB Region 21 ruled in our favor in the LA Times case. The Hearing Officer, Jessica Toton, agreed with our position that the Times' objections were just too feeble, even when the election was close, to warrant a rerun. It was important to note that the alleged "campaigning" the LA Times accused our observers of doing was minimal, did not violate the Board's anti-electioneering rules, and did not take place in the presence of any eligible voter who hadn't already voted. As for the alleged "threat", the Region agreed with us that Ron Pineda was not a union agent for purposes of this proceeding, and that the alleged "threat" about "mixed messages" was vague and could not have affected the outcome of the election since it did not in any event go beyond the one employee who testified about it. Finally, the hearing officer rejected the Times'objection that the union argued to employees that it was going to lose but people should vote for it anyway to make it close and "send a message" as just a campaign statement, which, even if it happened, could not have affected the outcome.

Thank you to all who testified and otherwise helped in preparing and presenting our case at the NLRB.

The paper has until March 30 to file "exceptions" * which are essentially an appeal * to this decision to the NLRB in Washington, DC, and we anticipate the Times will do so, though there is no definitive word on that at this time. The Times has until March 30 to file exceptions with the NLRB in Washington, D.C.

Ira L. Gottlieb
Geffner & Bush
(818) 973-3219

SOURCE Ronnie Pineda