City-Wide Guild News

Sept. 3, 2002

Suburban Press Gets Organized

Workers at the Prince George's and Montgomery Journals said "Union Yes" last week, reports the Washington Baltimore Newspaper Guild.

Seeking "a voice at work, fairness and respect, job advancement, job security, improved compensation and working conditions and higher professional standards of journalism," a majority of the editorial employees at the Journals last week petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to conduct a union representation election.

If successful, the Journals would become the first unionized suburban newspapers in the Washington metropolitan area. The Prince George's, Montgomery and Northern Virginia Journals are published by Journal Newspapers, Inc., a privately owned, Alexandria, Virginia-headquartered company. The new union would include all non-managerial editorial employees -- some 17 reporters, editorial assistants and photographers -- at the two newspapers.

Last week, Journal management hired two New York-based management consultants to conduct "captive audience" meetings at the two Journals where employees were urged to reject unionization.

The Guild and the Journal employees organizing committee responded immediately, urging publisher and president Ryan Phillips "not to squander any more Journal resources on high-priced professional union-busters, to let employees make a free choice without further interference, to bargain in good faith for a fair contract, and to work in partnership with your employees and their new union to make the Journal newspapers even better."

The NLRB is expected to schedule a representation election within six weeks.

The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild represents employees of the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Bureau of National Affairs, Agence France Presse, and Catholic News Service.

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