Dues Deduction Case: Albany Guild Wins Round Two in Federal Court

NY Local Chalks Up String of Victories Against Times Union Newspaper

Adding to an impressive series of legal victories for TNG-CWA members at the Times Union in Albany, N.Y., a federal appeals court has upheld a lower court's decision regarding the newspaper's abrupt end to payroll deduction of union dues.

The Times Union, owned by Hearst Corp., stopped deducting dues and remitting them to the Albany Newspaper Guild at the end of a contract extension in April 2009. The Guild filed a grievance, but the company refused to arbitrate.

The Guild, which represents about 250 workers at the newspaper, sued the Times Union in federal court and won. In effect, the lower court ruled that the contract's expiration didn't affect the agreement between employees and employer for dues deduction.

The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals not only upheld the decision, but said the conclusion was "entirely consistent" with a ruling in a similar case involving the Guild and the Providence Journal in Rhode Island.

The Albany Guild also triumphed when the National Labor Relations Board prosecuted the Times Union for laying off 11 workers in 2009 and declaring an impasse in negotiations. An administrative law judge ruled both actions illegal, ordering management to reinstate the employees with back pay and to resume negotiations.

Instead, the Times Union filed an appeal to the full NLRB, "a delaying tactic with virtually no chance of victory," Albany Guild President Tim O'Brien said, adding that the newspaper's "liability in the case now exceeds $500,000 and grows every day."

"The time has come for the Times Union to stop waging its losing legal war against its workers," O'Brien said. "We have continued to offer flexibility at the bargaining table. If the company put half the effort into reaching a settlement that the union has, we'd be done by now."

National TNG-CWA President Bernie Lunzer said the Albany local's strong leadership and the "excellent, creative counsel" of Guild attorney Barbara Camens made the legal victories possible.

"We hope this latest victory will open the door to a good negotiated settlement for our members," Lunzer said. "Ultimately, it is their strength, their commitment to fight for a fair contract, that is most important. Legal action is a remedy that we will seek whenever and wherever we have to, but it's not a substitute for a motivated, mobilized membership."