news press workers victorious!

Some good news for a change! By an overwhelming majority, Santa Barbara News Press newsroom workers voted for representation by the Teamsters' Graphic Communication Conference.

This is a great victory for workers who have been threatened and harrassed by their independently owned newspaper, and is the latest event in a saga which has been covered by everyone from the New York Times to Vanity Fair to the British Guardian. A few articles are linked below:


San Francisco Gate

Santa Barbara Independent

A Journalism Blog

Los Angeles Times

The added importance locally is that the News Press is a consistantly anti-union voice in the community, railing against the living wage and singling out political contributions by public employee unions while ignoring corporate donations to candidates they like. The newspaper, of course, has editorialized against their own employees' drive for recognition, spreading what can only be described as propaganda against unions in general and the Teamsters specifically.

The union has done a good job of reaching out to the community, enlisting the help of environmental, social justice and labor organizations in encouraging supporters to cancel subscriptions. We've all been rooting for the reporters, and everyone who cares about quality journalism and workplace rights have reason to celebrate.