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CWA Working to Save Jobs As Denver JOA Moves Forward
CWA leaders are moving swiftly to ensure that members’ jobs will be protected in the wake of a proposed joint operating agreement between the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News, a plan the papers’ owners are asking its unions to support.
The newspapers’ announcement in May that they were ending their century-old war stunned their staffs and readers, who had been led to believe that both papers were thriving and would remain independent for years to come.
Immediately, Post owner Dean Singleton and the News’ corporate parent, E.W. Scripps Co., asked CWA President Morton Bahr, Newspaper Guild President Linda Foley and Printing Sector President Bill Boarman to support the JOA. CWA represents about 2,200 workers at the two papers, 1,400 of them Guild members. Another 500 or so are printers and mailers.
While it would be unusual for the Guild to back a JOA, Foley said the fact that the companies have asked for the unions’ help is significant. “They’re pledging to work with us and that’s positive,” she said, noting that newspaper owners in Detroit, Seattle and Honolulu, all sites of JOAs, made no such overtures.
But CWA hasn’t given the papers an answer. “We’re weighing their request in the context of our overall relationship with these corporations, which is complex,” Foley said. “For us to support a JOA would be very much against a position we’ve taken in the past, and in order for us to do that, we’d have to be convinced that it’s in the best interest not just of the employees but of the Denver community and the industry as a whole.”
A joint operating agreement has to be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice, a process that would be eased considerably by the unions’ support. Under the proposal, both papers would continue to be published Monday through Friday. The News would come out alone on Saturdays but Sunday — the most lucrative day of the week for a newspaper — would belong to the Post. The papers’ finances would be handled by a new, joint company.
Foley said the papers’ owners have promised “very minimal, if any, job loss” as a result of the JOA. “That’s very important to us, and we need to nail them down,” she said.
Boarman agreed. “We have to be very cautious and make sure we clearly understand how all this will work and how it will affect our members,” he said. “It’s going to take some time to sort all that out. Whatever we do, whether we oppose it or support it, we have to protect the jobs of our members there.”
CWA and the other unions at the paper have some clout, Foley said, because the owners need their help to get the JOA approved without a court fight.
The papers’ other unions include Teamsters, Machinists and two Graphic Communications locals. Tony Mulligan, administrative officer for TNG-CWA Local 74, is heading the unions’ Unity Council. He said the shock of the news has given way to a “wait-and-see” attitude toward the JOA.
“We’ve taken no official position,” Mulligan said. “Right now, we’re still trying to gather information.”
The newspapers’ announcement in May that they were ending their century-old war stunned their staffs and readers, who had been led to believe that both papers were thriving and would remain independent for years to come.
Immediately, Post owner Dean Singleton and the News’ corporate parent, E.W. Scripps Co., asked CWA President Morton Bahr, Newspaper Guild President Linda Foley and Printing Sector President Bill Boarman to support the JOA. CWA represents about 2,200 workers at the two papers, 1,400 of them Guild members. Another 500 or so are printers and mailers.
While it would be unusual for the Guild to back a JOA, Foley said the fact that the companies have asked for the unions’ help is significant. “They’re pledging to work with us and that’s positive,” she said, noting that newspaper owners in Detroit, Seattle and Honolulu, all sites of JOAs, made no such overtures.
But CWA hasn’t given the papers an answer. “We’re weighing their request in the context of our overall relationship with these corporations, which is complex,” Foley said. “For us to support a JOA would be very much against a position we’ve taken in the past, and in order for us to do that, we’d have to be convinced that it’s in the best interest not just of the employees but of the Denver community and the industry as a whole.”
A joint operating agreement has to be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice, a process that would be eased considerably by the unions’ support. Under the proposal, both papers would continue to be published Monday through Friday. The News would come out alone on Saturdays but Sunday — the most lucrative day of the week for a newspaper — would belong to the Post. The papers’ finances would be handled by a new, joint company.
Foley said the papers’ owners have promised “very minimal, if any, job loss” as a result of the JOA. “That’s very important to us, and we need to nail them down,” she said.
Boarman agreed. “We have to be very cautious and make sure we clearly understand how all this will work and how it will affect our members,” he said. “It’s going to take some time to sort all that out. Whatever we do, whether we oppose it or support it, we have to protect the jobs of our members there.”
CWA and the other unions at the paper have some clout, Foley said, because the owners need their help to get the JOA approved without a court fight.
The papers’ other unions include Teamsters, Machinists and two Graphic Communications locals. Tony Mulligan, administrative officer for TNG-CWA Local 74, is heading the unions’ Unity Council. He said the shock of the news has given way to a “wait-and-see” attitude toward the JOA.
“We’ve taken no official position,” Mulligan said. “Right now, we’re still trying to gather information.”