ARBITRATOR RULES AGAINST L.A. TIMES CITING ANTI- UNION ANIMUS

Local 140-N Attorney, Adam Stern notified me today of the Arbitrator's decision regarding a grievance filed against the Los Angeles Times involving Local 140-N, Executive Vice President, Keith Denson.

This decision stands to show that our members have been subjected to Anti-Union treatment at the hands of  Los Angeles Times management and supervision simply because we exercised our right to form a Union.  This is by no means an isolated incident; this behavior by management has been consistently exhibited since we sought to organize and continues today. 

I, along with our full Executive Board and Members hope that this decision will put and end to this type of anti-union sentiment from management and supervision, we are not, nor have we ever been the enemy, please don't continue to treat us as such. 

Great job Counselor, Adam Stern!

The Arbitrator's letter and decision can be read below.

In Solidarity,

Ronnie Pineda

President, GCC/IBT 140-N

Ltr.and.Award.frm.Arb.D'Orazio.re.GCIU.local.140

L.A. Times Management Violate Employee's First Ammendment Rights

Ed Padgett, AKA "The Blogging Pressman" was suspended today by management, pending an investigation, for content he posted on http://www.edpadgett.com/ regarding the production problems experienced on Thursday, June 18, 2010.  An announcement  by the L.A. Times Publisher, Eddy Hartenstein vaguely described the situation;  Ed's post included details and opinions that Ed has every right to post under the same First Ammendment that protects the company's right to publish a newspaper.

 (Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.)— The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Apparently Ed's comments were not well received by management and their feelings got hurt. Thats a shame because management should be more receptive to the constructive critcism that would prevent them from making foolish decisions such as suspending Brother Ed. Ed DID NOT disclose any company or trade secrets that would be detremental to the business, or operation, he merely voiced his opinion based on his more than 30 years experience working for the Los Angeles Times.

No one in management comes close to Ed's years of experience or dedicated service to this newspaper. As a matter of fact, none of his accusers could hold a candle to his ability to operate the behomoth presses that produce the L.A. Times! It has always been an area of contention when managers tell Qualified Journeypresspersons how to do their job, when they are incapable of perfoming our Craft. 

Ed, as many of you are aware of, is our Local Recording Secretary;  management has targeted our Executive Board Members on previous occassions for demotions and dicipline as a form of punishment for exercising our rights under the law to form a union. I intend on filing an Unfair Labor Practice charge tomorrow morning for that very reason.

This is a fight that we as a Union, will not back down from! I have said to the previous management team that if they don't like what is on their radio, change the station, if they don't like whats on their television, change the channel and if they don't like what they read on the internet, DON'T COME TO OUR SITES! They were not created for their benefit to begin with! Yeah I'm talking to you in Chicago,(whoever you are), and locally, Newton, Walker and Malcolm!

The Union will seek a reversal of Ed's suspension as well as retribution for Ed's lost wages. I have spoken to President Tedeschi and he agrees that this is a form of unjust dicipline and we have the support of the International and it's Legal team. I also suspect Ed's Blogging Community will allign their forces in defense of Brother Ed's rights to blog on the internet and voice his opinions that are legally protected.

Since you, management cannot resist, and will never cease reading our blogs, here is a message directly to you.

First, recognized Ed Padgett's rights under the law to post whatever he has a right to publish and reverse his suspension. Second, compensate Ed for his lost wages and this matter will be considered resolved. Should you decide to ignore these recommendations, we are prepared to defend Ed's rights to the bitter end and address this matter publicly, as well as in the legal arena, the choice is yours.

In Solidarity,

Ronnie Pineda,

President,

GCC/IBT Local 140-N

Targeted for Discipline

I have spent the weekend listening to stories from our brothers and sisters in Los Angeles describing the way Walker and Supervision are on a mission to find any reason to write people up. This has resulted in NTF's (note to file) which have again become an issue. Why is it that supervision can stick notes in your file and not discuss the content of these notes with the employees. These are put in your file without your knowledge denying you the opportunity to respond and challenge if wrongly accused.

When discussed with Management, it was stated that we are supposed to be notified that we were observed breaking a rule, what that rule was, and that it was going to be noted and inserted into our file. This procedure appears to not happen as many discovered when they asked to see their files or when receiving their evaluation.

These NTF's are used when preparing evaluations and in most of the stories I listened to, individuals were told they would not receive a wage increase. Is that the true reason, to save a buck and deny a raise or because they are concerned about procedures and safety? At this rate no one in Los Angeles will ever get a raise or maintain employment for that matter.

Two Operators have recently been pulled from their crews for alleged poor performance, again being held responsible for what are most likely mechanical or electrical problems with the equipment. There are so many variables when problems occur and I believe the percentage that are a result of human error are far lower than all others, but that don't matter because they can't write up and discipline the presses. For the longest time operators have argued that smaller runs result in higher waste percentages and some goals they are expected to meet are unrealistic, yet they are accountable for the waste.

The one resounding message that came from the conversations I had with our brothers and sisters in L.A. was that Walker creates a hostile environment in their shop. They feel like they are being harassed by supervision at the hand of Walker. I have been told that even his supervisors question his leadership, but they don't dare cross him or they will be subject to his disciplinary tactics as well. His tactics aren't new, they are reminiscent of his behavior at the San Diego Tribune. When at a rally in San Diego I had the opportunity to speak to some of our brothers in the pressroom and they said they were sorry that we ended up with "STUMPY" His style of management still leaves a bad taste in their mouths just talking about him, they said.

The issues I was made aware of this weekend have been forwarded to our Representatives and we will seek answers and where necessary, resolution. Until then all of you have to be diligent and work as though your job depends on it, because it does!

Vacation Over, Back to the Table

Vacation over and I'm another year older, I won't bore you with what I did. Calls from L.A. brothers about a change in our practices at the end of the shift came to me last week involving a new practice in L.A.'s. pressroom. Leads now have to be walked in after washing blankets to deter washing out the webs. Does management actually give a crap, when we, not them, have to pick them up. This is another way for supervision to police our work and will give management another way to pit us against one another. How will the individuals that wash out webs be viewed by the rest of the crew when the leads have to be put back in before going home? Now add a couple of bars.

It's obvious a complaint was lodged with the office that previous shifts are washing out webs. This is part of the job and happens on every shift and no one should feel compelled to complain when it happens to them. Blankets can be washed without washing them out, if they are done right, but how many of us actually washes the blankets right knowing that we go home as soon as we're done? It is part of our job and we should be washing them thoroughly for quality purposes, but does not justify the change without collective bargaining.

The appropriate, and only solution would be to go back to washing before the run. This would ensure that washing will be done properly and give supervision the opportunity to inspect the blankets if they chose to. If the blankets need further cleaning that can be addressed while the employee assigned to that particular unit is still there. If a lead is washed out, you pick up your own leads, not leads washed out by the previous crew because they were anxious to bolt out of there as quickly as possible. Washing before the run as we used to do has been suggested many times to management and is considered by Russ as only a way to get a bigger bust-out. This was the standard prior to Walker changing the washing process back in 2003 and should be reversed at this time because it hasn't seemed to slow anyone down and it will guarantee clean blankets everyday, every run. We have proposed this in our overall contract proposal and will pursue this change further today.

We will have more information pertaining to the company's written response to our request for information regarding the recent raises given to non-union production employees as soon as the committee meets with our representative Sonny Shannon today. The written response was being reviewed by our attorney in Washington and President Tedeschi. We on the committee are just as anxious as are all of you to learn what our options are in this matter.

I personally hope that the company comes to the table today with a willingness to salvage the progress we felt we had made right up until the closing hour of our last negotiations. As I stated in a previous post, we had expressed a willingness to show some flexibility and it was not fully reciprocated in their latest proposal regarding seniority. Flexibility has been their number one request, yet they have shown none. We are expected to respond to their latest package proposal and will pick up where we left off.

News from this round of negotiations will be posted after we conclude on Wednesday.

Is the new Publisher a Union Guy?

Know Your Rights!

Weingarten Rights:

The rights of employees covered by the NLRA to request union representation during investigatory interviews if they reasonably believe that the interview could result in their being disciplined. Weingarten rights also guarantee the rights of union representatives to assist and counsel employees during interviews which could lead to discipline.

I have been asked if another person may accompany an individual as a witness, if an individual is being asked to answer questions by supervision that may involve disciplinary action against them and above are our rights named after a 1975 Supreme Court Decision, NLRB v. J. Weingarten, Inc.