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 Newspaper's New Owner: "Please Get to Know Us First!' Petition is Sent to the National Labor Relations Board |
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Compiled By GayToday
Washington, D.C.-Acting on behalf of what they call "a majority of non-managerial employees of the ^Washington Blade"--the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild (WBNG) has petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to conduct a union representation election.
The union sought the secret-ballot election after claiming that ^Blade management had refused to either voluntarily recognize the Guild as the employees' bargaining representative or to agree to a neutral third party determination whether a majority of union-eligible employees had signed cards seeking Guild representation. The NLRB has scheduled a June 15 hearing on the election petition. A majority of some 18 eligible ^Blade staffers-those who are not managers or confidential employees-had signed Guild cards. The union seeks to represent the newspaper's reporters, copy editors, photographers, graphic artists, ad sales, circulation and administrative employees. The gay-oriented weekly, published here since 1969, was purchased May 25 by Window Media, LLC. The ^Blade's new owners also own gay and lesbian-oriented publications in New York, Atlanta, New Orleans and Houston. In addition to seeking a representation election, Guild attorneys filed an unfair labor practice charge against the ^Blade, charging Window Media President William Waybourn with threatening to fire two Guild sympathizers at the newspaper if they engaged in pro-union activities. Mr. Waybourn told ^GayToday that he is not hostile to a union but that "we simply don't see it as necessary at this stage. We've owned the ^Blade for only two weeks now," he explained, "and we'd like those who want to form a union to get to know us first."
Mr. Waybourn told ^GayToday: " We understand that our employees are concerned about the changeover. We're excited about our acquisition of the paper and we're hopeful about what we think are our great new ideas. What can a union offer that we don't?" The employees said last week in a press release that they believed "Guild representation will help ensure workplace fairness at a time of sweeping changes brought about by corporate buyouts and 'information age' technological advances." They called their decision to unionize a "groundbreaking development in the evolution of the gay press." Currently, the only known gay publication in the United States that has unionized is^ Lavender, a news magazine in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ^Lavender employees, who recently voted for Guild representation, are now bargaining their first contract. "We respect the right to organize," owner William Waybourn said of the Guild group, "but we just don't think this is the answer. The process has begun, however, and we'll see where it goes." |
