Sunday, May 31, 2015
Dan Rickley Rest in Peace
Friday, May 29, 2015
Today in Labor History
May 29 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
Animators working for Walt Disney begin what was to become a successful 5-week strike for recognition of their union, the Screen Cartoonists' Guild. The animated feature Dumbo was being created at the time and, according to Wikipedia, a number of strikers are caricatured in the feature as clowns who go to "hit the big boss for a raise" - 1941
A contract between the United Mine Workers and the U.S. government establishes one of the nation's first union medical and pension plans, the multi-employer UMWA Welfare and Retirement Fund - 1946
The United Farm Workers of America reaches agreement with Bruce Church Inc. on a contract for 450 lettuce harvesters, ending a 17-year-long boycott. The pact raised wages, provided company-paid health benefits to workers and their families, created a seniority system to deal with seasonal layoffs and recalls, and established a pesticide monitoring system – 1996
UAW members at General Motors accept major contract concessions in return for 17.5 percent stake in the financially struggling company - 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Thursday Morning in the Blogosphere
Back in the day when the Tribune Company was owned by Sam Zell
How my father found his way home - Medium
As we whistle past the graveyard... - Don Bauder
Chronicle Herald locks out press room - Chronicle Herald
Second journalist killed in Brazil in less than a week - CPJ
Expect more cost cuts at Tribune Publishing papers - Crain's
Union-Tribune’s new master claims his due - San Diego Reader
PMN Promises Newspapers Will Continue If Guild Strikes - Phillymag
The scariest chart for newspapers has gotten even a little scarier - Nieman Lab
Ocean Beach residents get serious about unsolicited ad circulars - Mercy Baron
Today in Labor History
May 28 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
The Ladies Shoe Binders Society formed in New York - 1835
Fifteen women were dismissed from their jobs at the Curtis Publishing Company in Philadelphia for dancing the Turkey Trot. They were on their lunch break, but management thought the dance too racy - 1912
At least 30,000 workers in Rochester, N.Y., participate in a general strike in support of municipal workers who had been fired for forming a union - 1946Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Leaked Walmart training video warns new employees about joining unions
If you think Walmart simultaneously shutting down 5 stores across the country to fix “plumbing problems” sounds a bit suspicious, it’ll make more sense once you realize that “plumbing problems” is actually code for “unions.”
Walmart is famous for their anti-union antics. But in a leaked training video that hit the Internet, the company actually admits their anti-union stance in a curious way.
Leaked Walmart training video warns new employees about joining unions
Today in Labor History
May 27 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
The U.S. Supreme Court declares the Depression-era National Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional, about a month before it was set to expire – 1935
The CIO-affiliated Insurance Workers of America merges with its AFL counterpart, the Insurance Agents International Union to form the Insurance Workers International Union. The union later became part of the United Food and Commercial Workers - 1959
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Los Angeles Times Media Group is seeking press operators
JOB DESCRIPTION
Responsibilities:
- As a Pressroom operator and working crew lead person, operator is responsible for the overall direction and operation of the assigned press and crew members.
- Responsible for the efficient use of available time and staff to meet make ready production requirements.
- Duties of the operator are to monitor and adjust the folder assembly, and to instruct, direct and work with crew members in the press operation to produce a quality product to meet the distribution schedules.
Qualifications:
- 2-3 years’ experience as a pressperson
- leadership ability
- excellent communication skills
Like New! Newspaper Printing Press (Mission Valley)
"Can print just about any color." (It's "highly unlikely" that the San Diego Union-Tribune, which is outsourcing its printing, placed this ad, says a spokesman.)
h/t Jim Romenesko
Tuesday Afternoon in the Blogosphere
PennySaver is going away for Californians
178 Union-Tribune employees are laid off - U-T San Diego
Relative Strength Alert For Tribune Publishing - The Street
PennySaver magazine disappearing - San Diego Union-Tribune
Correspondents say working in China isn’t getting easier - Poynter
U-T layoff plans supposed to be announced Tuesday - San Diego Reader
Sudan seizes print runs of nine newspapers in media crackdown - The Oslo Times
Newsrooms need to review their practices or they'll get left behind - Editors Weblog
100 newspapers dumped in year, ads down 50%, circulation hits bottom - WA.Examiner
Former USAT exec says killing the print edition would be ‘A friggin travesty’ - Romenesko
Today in Labor History
May 26 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
Men and women weavers in Pawtucket, R.I., stage nation's first "co-ed" strike - 1824
Western Federation of Miners members strike for 8-hour day, Cripple Creek, Colo. - 1894
Actors’ Equity Assn. is founded by 112 actors at a meeting in New York City’s Pabst Grand Circle Hotel. Producer George M. Cohan responds: “I will drive an elevator for a living before I will do business with any actors’ union.” Later a sign will appear in Times Square reading: “Elevator operator wanted. George M. Cohan need not apply" - 1913(Coping with Difficult People: Bosses, supervisors, co-workers, friends, family members... difficult people can make your life hell, but you can do something about it. Based on fourteen years of research and observation, Coping with Difficult People offers proven, effective techniques guaranteed to help you right the balance in bad relationships and take charge of your life.)
IWW Marine Transport Workers strike, Philadelphia - 1920
Some 100,000 steel workers and miners in mines owned by steel companies strike in seven states. The Memorial Day Massacre, in which ten strikers were killed by police at Republic Steel in Chicago, took place four days later, on May 30 - 1937
Ford Motor Co. security guards attack union organizers and supporters attempting to distribute literature outside the plant in
Dearborn, Mich., in an event that was to become known as the “Battle of the Overpass.” The guards tried to destroy any photos showing the attack, but some survived—and inspired the Pulitzer committee to establish a prize for photography – 1937
Dearborn, Mich., in an event that was to become known as the “Battle of the Overpass.” The guards tried to destroy any photos showing the attack, but some survived—and inspired the Pulitzer committee to establish a prize for photography – 1937
May 25
Pressured by employers, striking shoemakers in Philadelphia are arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy for violating an English common law that bars schemes aimed at forcing wage increases. The strike was broken - 1805
Pressured by employers, striking shoemakers in Philadelphia are arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy for violating an English common law that bars schemes aimed at forcing wage increases. The strike was broken - 1805
Philip Murray is born in Scotland. He went on to emigrate to the U.S., become founder and first president of the United Steelworkers of America, and head of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) from 1940 until his death in 1952 - 1886
Two company houses occupied by non-union coal miners are blown up and destroyed during a strike against the Glendale Gas & Coal Co. in Wheeling, W. Va. - 1925
Thousands of unemployed WWI veterans arrive in Washington, D.C., to
demand early payment of a bonus they had been told they would get, but not until 1945. They built a shantytown near the U.S. Capitol but were burned out by U.S. troops after two months - 1932
demand early payment of a bonus they had been told they would get, but not until 1945. They built a shantytown near the U.S. Capitol but were burned out by U.S. troops after two months - 1932
The notorious 11-month Remington Rand strike begins. The strike spawned the "Mohawk Valley (N.Y.) formula," described by investigators as a corporate plan to discredit union leaders, frighten the public with the threat of violence, employ thugs to beat up strikers, and other tactics. The National Labor Relations Board termed the formula "a battle plan for industrial war" - 1936
The AFL-CIO begins what is to become an unsuccessful campaign for a 35-hour workweek, with the goal of reducing unemployment. Earlier tries by organized labor for 32- or 35-hour weeks also failed - 1962
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Today in Labor History
May 24 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
After 14 years of construction and the deaths of 27 workers, the Brooklyn Bridge over New York’s East River opens. Newspapers call it “the eighth wonder of the world” - 1883
(Skilled Hands, Strong Spirits follows the history of the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO from the emergence of building trades councils to the age of the skyscraper. It takes the reader through treacherous fights over jurisdiction as new building materials and methods of work evolved and describes numerous Department campaigns to improve safety standards, work with contractors to promote unionized construction, and forge a sense of industrial unity among its fifteen (and at times nineteen) autonomous and highly diverse affiliates. Arranged chronologically, Skilled Hands, Strong Spirits is based on archival research in Department, AFL-CIO, and U.S. government records as well as numerous union journals, the local and national press, and interviews with former Department officers.)
(Skilled Hands, Strong Spirits follows the history of the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO from the emergence of building trades councils to the age of the skyscraper. It takes the reader through treacherous fights over jurisdiction as new building materials and methods of work evolved and describes numerous Department campaigns to improve safety standards, work with contractors to promote unionized construction, and forge a sense of industrial unity among its fifteen (and at times nineteen) autonomous and highly diverse affiliates. Arranged chronologically, Skilled Hands, Strong Spirits is based on archival research in Department, AFL-CIO, and U.S. government records as well as numerous union journals, the local and national press, and interviews with former Department officers.)
Some 2,300 members of the United Rubber Workers, on strike for 10 months against five Bridgestone-Firestone plants, agree to return to work without a contract. They had been fighting demands for 12-hour shifts and wage increases tied to productivity gains - 1995
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Today in Labor History
May 23 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
An estimated 100,000 textile workers, including more than 10,000 children, strike in the Philadelphia area. Among the issues: 60-hour workweeks, including night hours, for the children - 1903
The Battle of Toledo begins today: a five-day running battle between roughly 6,000 strikers at the Electric Auto-Lite company of Toledo, Ohio, and 1,300 members of the Ohio National Guard. Two strikers died and more than 200 were injured. The battle began in the sixth week of what ultimately became a successful two-month fight for union recognition and higher pay. One guardsman told a Toledo Blade reporter: "Our high school graduation is ... tonight and we were supposed to be getting our diplomas” – 1934
U.S. railroad strike starts, later crushed when President Truman threatens to draft strikers - 1946
The Granite Cutters Int’l Association of America merges with Tile, Marble, Terrazzo, Finishers & Shopmen, which five years later merged into the Carpenters - 1983
Friday, May 22, 2015
Meet the New President and COO of The San Diego Union-Tribune
RUSS NEWTON
- President and Chief Operating Officer of The San Diego Union-Tribune
- Started in newspapers in 1978 at the Wisconsin State Journal in advertising, then moved to the pressroom
- Became a journey person press operator working at The Army Times
- Started career with the Tribune Co. at the Chicago Tribune, working in the pressroom as a crew supervisor, training supervisor and shift supervisor
- Pressroom manager, production manager at the Daily Press in Newport News, Va.
- Packaging Manager at Orlando Sentinel
- Vice President of Operations at Landoll’s Inc. a children’s publishing company
- Joined The Times in 2000 as President of California Community News
- Appointed Vice President of Operations at the Los Angeles Times in 2005, Senior Vice President in 2007, took on Home Delivery Operations in 2009
- Named Senior Vice President at Tribune Publishing over all eight Tribune Newspapers in 2014
- Named Publisher of Times Community Papers in 2015
- Serves on the board of the International Newspaper Group
Today in Labor History
May 22 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
Eugene V. Debs imprisoned in Woodstock, Ill., for role in Pullman strike - 1895
(The Bending Cross: A Biography of Eugene V. Debs: Eugene V. Debs was a labor activist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who captured the heart and soul of the nation’s working people. He was brilliant, sincere, compassionate and scrupulously honest. A founder of one of the nation’s first industrial unions, the American Railway Union, he went on to help launch the Industrial Workers of the World—the Wobblies. A man of firm beliefs and dedication, he ran for President of the United States five times under the banner of the Socialist Party, in 1912 earning 6 percent of the popular vote.)
(The Bending Cross: A Biography of Eugene V. Debs: Eugene V. Debs was a labor activist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who captured the heart and soul of the nation’s working people. He was brilliant, sincere, compassionate and scrupulously honest. A founder of one of the nation’s first industrial unions, the American Railway Union, he went on to help launch the Industrial Workers of the World—the Wobblies. A man of firm beliefs and dedication, he ran for President of the United States five times under the banner of the Socialist Party, in 1912 earning 6 percent of the popular vote.)
While white locomotive firemen on the Georgia Railroad strike, blacks who are hired as replacements are whipped and stoned—not by the union men, but by white citizens outraged that blacks are being hired over whites. The Engineers union threatens to stop work because their members are being affected by the violence - 1909
Civil Service Retirement Act of 1920 gives federal workers a pension - 1920
President Lyndon B. Johnson announces the goals of his Great Society social reforms: to bring “an end to poverty and racial injustice” in America - 1964
Thursday, May 21, 2015
This memo from Los Angeles Times publisher Austin Beutner to employees
Colleagues,
The Los Angeles Times’ parent company has completed its acquisition of The San Diego Union-Tribune.
This is exciting news for all of us as we bring together two outstanding institutions with a singular commitment to excellence in journalism.
As we move forward, we will reestablish the name of this historic publication, The San Diego Union-Tribune, which has long been synonymous with quality journalism and public service.
The team at The San Diego Union-Tribune will be led on a day-to-day basis by Russ Newton, the new President and Chief Operating Officer. He will report to me in my role as Publisher and Chief Executive Officer.
Russ will work closely with Editor Jeff Light, Managing Editor Lora Cicalo, and Bill Osborne, Editorial and Opinion Director.
What won’t change is The San Diego Union-Tribune’s place as an independent voice of the San Diego community, devoted to informing, engaging and serving its readers.
I look forward to working with all of you.
Austin
Tribune Publishing Company Completes Acquisition of The San Diego Union-Tribune
Tribune Publishing Company Completes Acquisition of The San Diego Union-Tribune And Its Portfolio of Nine Community Weeklies and Related Digital Properties
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tribune Publishing Company (NYSE:TPUB) today announced that it has completed the acquisition of MLIM, LLC, owner of The San Diego Union-Tribune, as well as nine community weeklies and related digital properties in San Diego County. The purchase price was $85 million plus the assumption of obligations for a single-employer pension plan. At closing, Tribune Publishing paid $71 million in cash, after working capital adjustments, and issued $12 million in Tribune Publishing common stock.
The San Diego Union-Tribune has garnered four Pulitzer Prizes and has a 146-year history of providing daily news and information in San Diego, the second-largest city in California and the eighth largest in the United States. In conjunction with the acquisition and expansion, Tribune Publishing formed the California News Group to oversee operations in Los Angeles and San Diego.
About Tribune Publishing
Tribune Publishing Company (NYSE:TPUB) is a diversified media and marketing-solutions company that delivers innovative experiences for audiences and advertisers across all platforms. The company’s diverse portfolio of iconic news and information brands includes 11 award-winning major daily titles, more than 60 digital properties and more than 180 verticals in markets, including Los Angeles; San Diego; Chicago; South Florida; Orlando; Baltimore; Carroll County and Annapolis, Md.; Hartford, Conn.; Allentown, Pa., and Newport News, Va. Tribune Publishing also offers an array of customized marketing solutions, and operates a number of niche products, including Hoy, El Sentinel and VidaLatina, making Tribune Publishing the country’s largest Spanish-language publisher. Tribune Publishing Company is headquartered in Chicago.
(TPUB-F)
Contacts
Tribune Publishing
Matthew Hutchison,
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications
matt.hutchison@tribpub.com
or
Kimbre Neidhart,
Assistant Treasurer & Investor Relations
kneidhart@tribpub.com
or
Los Angeles Times
Johanna Maska,
Vice President, Marketing & Communications
johanna@latimes.com
or
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Stephanie Brown,
Senior Director, Marketing & Public Relations
stephanie.brown@utsandiego.com
Matthew Hutchison,
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications
matt.hutchison@tribpub.com
or
Kimbre Neidhart,
Assistant Treasurer & Investor Relations
kneidhart@tribpub.com
or
Los Angeles Times
Johanna Maska,
Vice President, Marketing & Communications
johanna@latimes.com
or
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Stephanie Brown,
Senior Director, Marketing & Public Relations
stephanie.brown@utsandiego.com
Thursday Morning in the Blogosphere
Big Bear Lake, California
Several USA Today editors take buyouts - Romenesko
Tribune Media declares 25-cent dividend - The News Tribune
Nikki Finke returns with Hollywood fiction site - LAObserved
A Mental-Health Epidemic In The Newsroom - Huffington Post
Boston Herald editorial employees reject contract - Media Nation
Homeless newspaper coming (again) to Tampa - The Tampa Tribune
The great devaluation of the American daily newspaper - Ken Doctor
Journal seeks buyouts amid ‘serious realignment’ - Capital New York
Newspapers' ongoing search for subscription revenue - The Conversation
New Officers Sworn In at Los Angeles Times GCC-IBT Local 140N
New Officers Sworn In
GCC/IBT Local 140-N newly elected (white ballot) Officers were officially sworn in today assuming their positions.
(L to R) Shop Steward, Richard Olmeda, Secretary Treasurer, Timothy Robinson, Sgt. At Arms, Jesse DeGeytere, President, Cesar Calderon, Vice President, John Martin and Board Member, Gerald Leavenworth.
GCC/IBT Local 140-N newly elected (white ballot) Officers were officially sworn in today assuming their positions.
(L to R) Shop Steward, Richard Olmeda, Secretary Treasurer, Timothy Robinson, Sgt. At Arms, Jesse DeGeytere, President, Cesar Calderon, Vice President, John Martin and Board Member, Gerald Leavenworth.
Today in Labor History
May 21 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
Italian activists and anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, widely believed to have been framed for murder, go on trial today. They eventually are executed as part of a government campaign against dissidents - 1921
The “Little Wagner Act” is signed in Hawaii, guaranteeing pineapple and sugar workers the right to bargain collectively. After negotiations failed, a successful 79-day strike shut
down 33 of the territory’s 34 plantations and brought higher wages and a 40-hour week - 1945
down 33 of the territory’s 34 plantations and brought higher wages and a 40-hour week - 1945
Nearly 100,000 unionized SBC Communications Inc. workers begin a 4-day strike to protest the local phone giant’s latest contract offer - 2004
May 20
The Railway Labor Act takes effect today. It is the first federal legislation protecting workers’ rights to form unions - 1926
The Railway Labor Act takes effect today. It is the first federal legislation protecting workers’ rights to form unions - 1926
Some 9,000 rubber workers strike in Akron, Ohio - 1933
May 19
Two hundred sixteen miners die from an explosion and its aftermath at the Fraterville Mine in Anderson County, Tenn. All but three of Fraterville’s adult males were killed. The mine had a reputation for fair contracts and pay—miners were represented by the United Mine Workers—and was considered safe; methane may have leaked in from a nearby mine - 1902
Two hundred sixteen miners die from an explosion and its aftermath at the Fraterville Mine in Anderson County, Tenn. All but three of Fraterville’s adult males were killed. The mine had a reputation for fair contracts and pay—miners were represented by the United Mine Workers—and was considered safe; methane may have leaked in from a nearby mine - 1902
Shootout in Matewan, W. Va., between striking union miners (led by Police Chief Sid Hatfield) and coal company agents. Ten died, including seven agents - 1920
The Steel Workers Organizing Committee, formed by the Congress of Industrial Organizations, formally becomes the United Steelworkers of America - 1942
A total of 31 dockworkers are killed, 350 workers and others are injured when four barges carrying 467 tons of ammunition blow up at South Amboy, N.J. They were loading mines that had been deemed unsafe by the Army and were being shipped to the Asian market for sale - 1950
Monday, May 18, 2015
Today in Labor History
May 18 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
In what may have been baseball’s first labor strike, the Detroit Tigers refuse to play after team leader Ty Cobb is suspended: he went into the stands and beat a fan who had been heckling him. Cobb was reinstated and the Tigers went back to work after the team manager’s failed attempt to replace the players with a local college team: their pitcher gave up 24 runs - 1912
Amalgamated Meat Cutters union organizers launch a campaign in the nation’s packinghouses, an effort that was to bring representation to 100,000 workers over the following two years - 1917
Big Bill Haywood, a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (the Wobblies), dies in exile in the Soviet Union - 1928
Atlanta transit workers, objecting to a new city requirement that they be fingerprinted as part of the employment process, go on strike. They relented and returned to work six months later - 1950
Insurance Agents Int’l Union and Insurance Workers of America merge to become Insurance Workers Int’l Union (later to merge into the UFCW) - 1959
Oklahoma jury finds for the estate of atomic worker Karen Silkwood, orders Kerr-McGee Nuclear Co. to pay $505,000 in actual damages, $10 million in punitive damages for negligence leading to Silkwood’s plutonium contamination - 1979
(The Killing of Karen Silkwood is an updated edition of the groundbreaking book about the death of union activist Karen Silkwood, an employee of a plutonium processing plant, who was killed in a mysterious car crash on her way to deliver important documents to a newspaper reporter in 1974. Silkwood’s death at age 28 was highly suspicious: she had been working on health and safety issues at the plant, and a lot of people stood to benefit by her death.)
(The Killing of Karen Silkwood is an updated edition of the groundbreaking book about the death of union activist Karen Silkwood, an employee of a plutonium processing plant, who was killed in a mysterious car crash on her way to deliver important documents to a newspaper reporter in 1974. Silkwood’s death at age 28 was highly suspicious: she had been working on health and safety issues at the plant, and a lot of people stood to benefit by her death.)
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Healing Prayers Needed for my friend Larry Cornwall
Larry Cornwall wrote:
I have been in the hospital and they have determined that there is a mass in my brain larger than a golf ball.
My speech has been slurred and garbled. The doctors were hoping it was sarcoidosis, which is in my lungs. Unfortunately it's been determined that a I have malignant tumor in my brain.
I will keep fighting as I always do.
Thank you for all your friendship and support. I thank of all of my family.
I am having a biopsy in my brain on Monday.
Please don't ask about shows yet I don't know the status. Of course I want to be back as soon as possible.
I really will be bummed it looks like I need to cut my hair for the first time. I'll need to have to donate it to some one.
Or maybe I can make a wig for myself.
it's been a tough year but I have a lot to be thankful for. My incredible family. I have traveled the world and met great new and old friends. My Baja and fishing has been world class.
I wish you the best of luck and life.
Be good to everyone.
I hope to see you soon at one of the shows. If not I hope to see you guys on the other side.
Love you
Today in Labor History
May 16 -- Union Communications Services, Inc.
Minneapolis general strike backs Teamsters, who are striking most of the city’s trucking companies - 1934
U.S. Supreme Court issues Mackay decision, which permits the permanent replacement of striking workers. The decision had little impact until Ronald Reagan’s replacement of striking air traffic controllers (PATCO) in 1981, a move that signaled anti-union private sector employers that it was OK to do likewise - 1938
Black labor leader and peace activist A. Philip Randolph dies. He was president of 
the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and first Black on the AFL-CIO executive board, and a principal organizer of the 1963 March on Washington - 1979
the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and first Black on the AFL-CIO executive board, and a principal organizer of the 1963 March on Washington - 1979Friday, May 15, 2015
Friday Afternoon in the Blogosphere
The rise and fall of the 'Irish Press' - Irish Times
No changes anticipated as result of UT sale - Ramona Sentinel
2015 Gerald Loeb Award Finalists Announced - Business Wire
With Warren, Tribune rounds out its strategy - Capital New York
Six month newspaper circulation reports are gone for good - Poynter
For generations of youth, newspaper was first job - Daily American News
Digital First Media opts not to sell newspapers as CEO quits - Albany Business
The LA Times Gives The New York Times A Taste Of Its Own Medicine - LAist
Florida Newspaper Really, Really Regrets This Front-Page Gun show ad - Gawker
Is the answer to declining print advertising really to give up on print? - Talking New Media
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
