The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild

TNG-CWA, Local 32035

The Journal Newspapers

Chronology of Events

Related to the Illegal Dismissals at the

Prince George’s and Montgomery County Journals

July 2002: Reporters at the Lanham-based Prince George’s Journal daily newspaper and their colleagues at The Montgomery Journal in Rockville launch organizing drives for elections where news staffs can vote on whether or not to join the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild. The Guild, affiliated with the Communications Workers of America and the AFL-CIO, is a respected union that represents editorial and commercial employees at The Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, and other media outlets.

August 2002: Journal publisher Ryan Phillips, whose Alexandria, Va.-based company also produces the Northern Virginia Journal -- hires anti-union consultants from New York to discourage Maryland reporters, and gives raises to Northern Virginia -- but not to Maryland -- staffers. Despite the employer’s anti-union campaign, the Guild drive continues. Organizers at each paper collect a majority of signatures requesting Guild representation. On Aug. 26, the union petitions the National Labor Relations Board for a representation election.

September-October 2002: On Sept. 12, lawyers for the Guild and the publisher argue the terms of an election before the labor board. The Guild seeks to limit the vote to about 15 editorial employees of the two Maryland papers since Virginia reporters, at this point, have barely begun to organize. Journal lawyers want to include more than 35 employees of the Northern Virginia Journal.

November 2002: As the labor board continues to weigh which newspapers should be part of a Guild vote, Ryan Phillips on Nov. 8 unexpectedly announces plans to close both Maryland editorial offices effective Friday, Dec. 6 and consolidate operations in Alexandria.

Phillips assures Maryland reporters that their newspapers will continue to be published, and that -- if they wish to stay on -- they can keep their jobs and “telecommute.”

Journal Managing Editor Scott McCaffrey says that as part of the reorganization, there will be new reporters hired at the Prince George’s Journal. When a reporter asks for details about this, since hiring had been frozen at the newspapers allegedly because of the Guild effort, he says, “We would expect people to drop out…There are no plans to get rid of anyone.”

The relocation announcement prompts Guild attorneys to refile with the labor board for a vote to include the editorial employees of all three Journals—agreeing to what Journal attorneys had favored.

On Nov. 27, attorneys for both sides agree on a Dec. 12 election. The election is to be held at the Northern Virginia Journal, where Maryland employees expect to relocate. In preparation for the move and election, Maryland reporters intensify their efforts to reach out to their Northern Virginia colleagues and explain why they favor the Guild. News of this effort is reported to the publisher’s top managing editor.

December 2002: On Dec. 2, at about 5 p.m., the entire Lanham news staff of The Prince George’s Journal, including leaders of the organizing effort and other Guild-eligible staffers, are fired. At the Montgomery Journal, virtually all reporters -- including the chief organizer and three other Guild-eligible workers -- are terminated with no advance warning and no severance pay. Locks are changed on the doors and fired employees ordered to promptly clear out their desks and leave the premises.

On Dec. 6, Journal management closes the editorial offices of The Prince George’s Journal and Montgomery Journal. Outraged by the employee terminations, Guild officials file charges of unfair labor practices against the Journal with the labor board, asking it to suspend the impending election because the dismissals -- coming 10 days before the scheduled vote -- have made a fair election impossible. The Guild also asks the labor board to reinstate the illegally terminated employees with back pay, and reopen the Journal offices. The NLRB agrees to suspend the election, and is currently investigating the dismissals.

Meanwhile, the staff-less Maryland newspapers -- now produced in Virginia -- contain wire service copy, warmed-over reprints and none of the comprehensive local news subscribers expect.

The top elected officials of both Prince George’s and Montgomery have expressed dismay that publications designated “newspapers of record” in each county -- a designation that insures lucrative revenues that flow from legal advertising -- no longer have local offices and no longer provide local news coverage. At Guild press conferences in January, county officials denounced the firings as illegal actions aimed at denying workers their legal right to a union and a voice at work. Officials in both counties are reviewing whether to cease running legal notices in the two Maryland Journals.

For more info, contact:

Local 32035 Staff Rep:
Calvin Zon
Local Representative
Work phone: 202-785-3650, x17
e-mail: czon@wbng.org

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