Above, Under, and Around the Law

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.independent.com/news/2009/apr/02/above-under-and-around-law/

Thursday, April 2, 2009
By Barney Brantingham

NEWS-PRESS CHARGES: The Santa Barbara News-Press may not have much of a newsroom staff left, but it is certainly keeping plenty of lawyers working overtime from here to Washington, D.C. The paper just got hit with a dozen or so new charges by the National Labor Relations Board.

“The News Press has continued to act outside of the law,” complained Ira Gottlieb, attorney for the Teamsters Union, which represents the newsroom. But News-Press attorney A. Barry Cappello implied that the NLRB is showing favoritism toward the union. “The tactics of the NLRB, in throwing whatever the Teamsters request up against the wall, will be vigorously opposed.”

The federal agency has scheduled a hearing on the new charges at the Ventura College of Law at 1 p.m. on May 11, before an administrative law judge. But Cappello said he might seek a continuance while studying the fresh accusations.

Not surprisingly, the NLRB is accusing the News-Press of bad-faith bargaining, dragging its feet during contract negotiations for the past year-plus. Additionally, the NLRB accused the NP of failing to provide information, hiring temp workers to undermine the union, illegally laying off employees, and other labor-law violations. Meanwhile, the NLRB’s board, shorthanded and awaiting appointments by President Barack Obama, is still considering the News-Press appeal of a 2007 court decision that ordered the paper to rehire eight illegally fired reporters. And a decision is awaited from the 9th Circuit federal appeals court on immediately putting the reporters back to work.

Not long ago, the News-Press published huge ads proclaiming that the Teamsters were guilty of “illegal secondary boycotts” by distributing leaflets supporting the journalists outside local businesses. The practice has long been approved by courts. The NLRB recently tossed out the NP charges.

FULL story at link.