update.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003054725
Locked-Out 'Blade' Unions Fire Back with Media Blitz, NLRB Charges
By Joe Strupp
Published: August 29, 2006 4:55 PM ET
NEW YORK Locked-out unions at The Blade of Toledo, Ohio fired back at the newspaper Tuesday with a local media blitz aimed at raising awareness of the paper's "lockouts" and the current contract negotiation stalemate.
Larry Vellequette, spokesman for the Toledo Council of Newspaper Unions, said the umbrella labor group had bought space on 15 local billboards and launched a radio campaign of 60-second spots that seeks to denounce the lockout of five of the newspaper's eight unions.
He also claims that the unions have contacted at least 300 Blade advertisers as part of an advertising boycott that launched last week, just days after the lockout began. Vellequette said that at least six major auto dealers have stopped advertising. "I know that some of the advertisers that have pulled out are half a million dollar a year advertisers," Vellequette said. "And they have said they are not signing contracts until this is over."
Blade advertising officials couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Union leaders claim the paper has offered some former advertisers space for free ads as a way to counter the boycott. The unions also are continuing a subscription boycott, which saw some 500 subscribers cancel last weekend via cards turned in by the union.
Blade spokeswoman Luann Sharp, who is also a newsroom editor, said she only knew of three advertisers who had pulled ads, and said at least one had returned. She also disputed the claim that the paper had been offering any free ad space. "I believe that is not true," she said.
Vellequette said the union can survive on unemployment insurance and strike pay as long as necessary. But he hoped the lockouts would be over as soon as possible. "We want to have a paper when we are done, we have to walk a fine line," Vellequette said. "If the boycott is too successful and the Blade never comes back, no one wins."
The ad boycott and media campaign are the latest moves in the ongoing labor battle at the paper, which reached a new level of intensity last week when the paper locked out two bargaining units of the Graphic Communications International Union, which represent a combined 18 employees in the engravers and paper handlers units.
The lockout expanded to three more unions on Sunday when about 200 employees represented by the Teamsters Local 20, Toledo Typographical Local 63, and Toledo Mailers Local 1135 were bared from employment. Those workers handle jobs that include driving papers to drop-off points for carriers, processing some advertisements, and assembling the paper and its inserts, the Blade reported.
In addition, two unfair labor charges have been filed by one of the unions with the National Labor Relations Board since the lockouts began, according to an NLRB official.
Blade officials have claimed the lockouts are the paper's way of pressuring the unions to negotiate new contracts after their last agreements ended in March. Management says the paper needs wage cuts, increased employee health care contributions, and other changes in order to reach profitability.
Vellequette said the unions have agreed to wage cuts and increased health premiums. He said the labor leaders even offered to take an immediate 5% pay cut before any contract is signed as a show of good faith. "They rejected all of it," Vellequette said. "We truly believe the Blade is not profitable and we want to help them."
The five locked-out groups are among seven bargaining units currently engaged in contract negotiations, including the 350-member Newspaper Guild, which remains on the job. At least one of the paper's bargaining units has reached an agreement, the paper said. The 20-member International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local signed a new deal in July that included a 7% salary cut.
Blade officials have said they have been operating the newspaper well without the locked-out workers, noting that only 50 to 60 temporary workers have been needed to replace the previous 200 employees. The unions' contracts require that they get their old jobs back when a new contract is signed. But until then the paper can keep them out.
Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is a senior editor at E&P.
There's something wrong when 200 employees workload is being done by one-fourth that amount.