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Solidarity, Community Help Eugene Guild End Long Struggle
Ending a long battle with a union-busting attorney and an employer who called workers “family” while treating them like the enemy, members of The Newspaper Guild-CWA at The Register-Guard in Eugene, Ore., voted in October to accept the company’s final contract offer.
“I’m very proud that our union hung tough for three and a half difficult years,” Local 37194 President Adele Berlinski said. “The company obviously wanted to bust us when it went and hired (lawyer) L. Michael Zinser all those years ago, but I don’t think management realized how committed our membership was. The resolve of this unit is inspiring.”
The vote was relatively narrow, with 40 percent voting against the five-year contract that offered wage hikes of just 2 to 2.5 percent a year. However, the Guild had persuaded the company to drop a “management-rights bargaining waiver” designed to take away the union’s right to negotiate changes in working conditions.
The Guild’s bargaining team presented the offer to members without a recommendation. The local represents 150 workers in editorial, circulation, advertising and customer service at the 75,000-circulation newspaper, owned by the Baker family of Eugene for 75 years.
In earlier years, the family was tolerant, if not supportive, of the union and recognized that The Register-Guard’s strong labor contracts were part of the reason the paper drew considerable reporting talent to a medium-sized city.
That changed when the family’s third generation took over the paper. Publisher Tony Baker signaled his combative stance from the outset by hiring Zinser, whom he’d previously used to thwart a Guild campaign to organize part-timers.
A Tennessee lawyer known for his anti-union zeal, Zinser soon lived up to his reputation for outrageous conduct. The company either settled or was found guilty of 15 out of 17 complaints of unfair labor practices stemming from Zinser’s advice.
Baker’s stubborn refusal to compromise with the union while continuing to pay Zinser’s hefty fees united union and community opinion against the paper. Scores of fellow union members, community residents and political leaders wrote letters to Baker on the Guild’s behalf and turned out for rallies.
In September, Guild members marched in the annual Eugene Celebration parade. Members wore long red underwear — “union suits” — and carried signs saying such things as “Our Union Suits Us Fine.”
Thousands of area residents lined the streets and applauded wildly, many leaping to their feet and shouting support as the Guild marched past.
“The public was invaluable in helping us prod the company to be more reasonable,” Berlinski said. “We couldn’t have done it without their aid.”
Although money wasn’t the key issue in the contract talks, Guild members had gone more than four years without a raise. In addition to the small annual increases, everyone got a $1,000 signing bonus.
Still unresolved is a contract provision barring employees from using workplace e-mail for union communications. In a case involving another company earlier this year, an administrative law judge ruled the policy is discriminatory, and other court cases are pending. TNG-CWA’s national office contends that employer bans on e-mail use break federal labor law, which assures employees of the right to communicate about the workplace.
The contract also bans workers from wearing buttons or insignia that “interfere with the publisher’s desired image of neutrality,” including union logos or messages. Union attorneys are currently reviewing the contract for possible legal action.
The irony that a defender of the First Amendment would muzzle its own workers was not lost on Berlinski, who called the ban “shameful.”
“I’m very proud that our union hung tough for three and a half difficult years,” Local 37194 President Adele Berlinski said. “The company obviously wanted to bust us when it went and hired (lawyer) L. Michael Zinser all those years ago, but I don’t think management realized how committed our membership was. The resolve of this unit is inspiring.”
The vote was relatively narrow, with 40 percent voting against the five-year contract that offered wage hikes of just 2 to 2.5 percent a year. However, the Guild had persuaded the company to drop a “management-rights bargaining waiver” designed to take away the union’s right to negotiate changes in working conditions.
The Guild’s bargaining team presented the offer to members without a recommendation. The local represents 150 workers in editorial, circulation, advertising and customer service at the 75,000-circulation newspaper, owned by the Baker family of Eugene for 75 years.
In earlier years, the family was tolerant, if not supportive, of the union and recognized that The Register-Guard’s strong labor contracts were part of the reason the paper drew considerable reporting talent to a medium-sized city.
That changed when the family’s third generation took over the paper. Publisher Tony Baker signaled his combative stance from the outset by hiring Zinser, whom he’d previously used to thwart a Guild campaign to organize part-timers.
A Tennessee lawyer known for his anti-union zeal, Zinser soon lived up to his reputation for outrageous conduct. The company either settled or was found guilty of 15 out of 17 complaints of unfair labor practices stemming from Zinser’s advice.
Baker’s stubborn refusal to compromise with the union while continuing to pay Zinser’s hefty fees united union and community opinion against the paper. Scores of fellow union members, community residents and political leaders wrote letters to Baker on the Guild’s behalf and turned out for rallies.
In September, Guild members marched in the annual Eugene Celebration parade. Members wore long red underwear — “union suits” — and carried signs saying such things as “Our Union Suits Us Fine.”
Thousands of area residents lined the streets and applauded wildly, many leaping to their feet and shouting support as the Guild marched past.
“The public was invaluable in helping us prod the company to be more reasonable,” Berlinski said. “We couldn’t have done it without their aid.”
Although money wasn’t the key issue in the contract talks, Guild members had gone more than four years without a raise. In addition to the small annual increases, everyone got a $1,000 signing bonus.
Still unresolved is a contract provision barring employees from using workplace e-mail for union communications. In a case involving another company earlier this year, an administrative law judge ruled the policy is discriminatory, and other court cases are pending. TNG-CWA’s national office contends that employer bans on e-mail use break federal labor law, which assures employees of the right to communicate about the workplace.
The contract also bans workers from wearing buttons or insignia that “interfere with the publisher’s desired image of neutrality,” including union logos or messages. Union attorneys are currently reviewing the contract for possible legal action.
The irony that a defender of the First Amendment would muzzle its own workers was not lost on Berlinski, who called the ban “shameful.”