For more than a year, KR facetiously said that no one hired by the new owner of the Long Beach paper was severed by KR, even though workers were not part of the sales agreement and suddenly no longer worked for Knight-Ridder. It also argued at arbitration that severance should be forward looking: that is, it should only be paid to people to tide them over until they get a job.

However, the Guild was able to show that: (1) the Guild's contract is clear on severance being accrual-based: that is, it looks back on the years a worker served and is a reward for service based on seniority and the highest level of pay; (2) KR knew there would be wage cuts, benefit cuts and other financial impacts to those workers hired by the new owner; (3) KR previously failed to achieve at the bargaining table a stipulation that severance only be awarded in case of pro-active termination vs. sale of the paper; (4) it paid severance to some other workers who were hired by the new owner; (5) KR's records of who its workers were and when they were hired were incredibly inaccurate; and the list of evidence goes on.

In addition, testimony presented at the arbitration hearing in late January -- including statements made by a former manager testifying on behalf of the Guild, and statements made by KR's witnesses as well -- strongly bolstered the Guild's case.

As a result, KR moved from full denial of severance to offering a significant majority of the amount owed, though not the full pound of flesh many angered members rightfully feel they are entitled to.

At a meeting of the affected workers Sept. 13 to debate the merits of accepting the settlement vs. going forward with a full decision from the arbitrator for the full amount sought, it was decided by the majority that the amount finally being offered was recognition that severance was owed and mitigated the risk of losing the case -- strong as it was -- given the often odd and seemingly capricious vagaries of both contract law and many arbitration decisions.

"This is a win for labor, a win for the affected members -- all of whom were severed by Knight-Ridder -- and a win for justice," said Local President Gary North after the vote. "Without the Guild, our workers would have been left with nothing.

"I'm particularly proud of the democratic debate that ensued at the meeting, the civil and cogent arguments from the many people present, and the knowledge that the Guild stood strong in the face of continuing corporate attacks on the Local and its members.

"I especially want to praise and thank (former Press-Telegram Unit Chair) Natalie Shore for her unstinting, untiring efforts on behalf of this case; Ellen Greenstone, our valiant and dedicated attorney; (former Local treasurer) Mike Easterbrook for his meticulous, time-consuming research of our records and in particular past bargaining notes; Vicki Di Paolo, our dedicated bookkeeper and officer manager; and the many members who contributed information, testimony and more to this effort.

"I also want to thank TNG-CWA for its dedication and leadership in assisting the Local through this time of great upheaval in the journalism industry, with regard to this severance case and with regard to the many attacks leveled against the workers by Knight-Ridder and MediaNews."

KR sold the "assets" of the Press-Telegram to Garden State Newspaper Group, part of Dean Singleton's MediaNews "clusters," on Dec. 17, 1997. One hundred twenty people instantly lost their jobs and virtually everyone else was given only a few minutes to decide if they would accept a new job from the new owner for far less pay, no sick leave benefit, in some cases no vacation leave, increased insurance premiums for less coverage and so forth.

However, the P-T's publisher has stated he will now reinstate sick leave and vacation pay because a contract is so close at hand -- or is it? See next item.

Regardless of what is settled, the contract will fall far short of what had been in place when Knight-Ridder sold the P-T "assets" to Dean Singleton's MediaNews affiliate Garden State Newspapers Group on Dec. 17, 1997.

As with the the improvements at the Daily News, they pale in comparison to the previous P-T contract developed during nearly 60 years and which Media News killed thanks to a legal loophole: Because MediaNews bought only the "assets" of the P-T and not the "company," the National Labor Relations Board in essence ruled that the contracts age-old "successor" clause did not call for continuation of the contract BECAUSE IT DID NOT EXPLICITY MAKE REFERENCE TO ASSET SALES -- even though to one and all the paper kept publishing and for all intents and purposes IS THE VERY SAME NEWSPAPER ... except that the quality has dropped even further than before.

Bargaining continued in August but is on hold until the Guild receives a response -- long overdue -- from MediaNews as to whether it will agree to a Guild shop as well as wage proposals. A final response is being sought for Sept. 16.

Until now, MediaNews has held hostage the pay, benefits and working conditions of the Press-Telegram's reporters, copy editors, photographers and circulation workers, who have had NO sick leave, NO continuing retirement plan, circulation workers don't even get VACATIONS and are required to lift bundles that are physically too heavy to lift, pay was slashed severely (but MediaNews led the public to believe it was reduced only slightly), and nearly 200 people were left jobless between Christmastime 1997 and Easter 1998. MediaNews shuttered the P-T printing plant, outsourced the Guild-represented transportation department (a legal battle has ensued over unilateral dissolution of the department), as well as custodial, shipped other jobs out of town including customer service, and even downsized the size of the printed product.

Highlights of the improved contract at the Daily News (which has been hemorrhaging staff due to poor pay, poor benefits and poor management) include:

• salary increases of 3%, 2%, and 2% with a signing bonus of 1% of salary for the period 1/1/99 - 4/30/99;
• merit pay pool increases of 0.8% per year based on total payroll;
• sick leave accrual (there was none before);
• three weeks vacation after 3 years instead of 5;
• increased contributions to the 401(K) plan;
• improved bereavement leave;
• increased night differential to $3 per shift from $2.
• and improved ability to withhold byline or credit line for journalistic reasons.

The underpaid news staff are being required to write more stories per day and with less time to research and probe, are writing for five or more papers -- and their bylines even say "staff writer" for all five -- but their wages are held down because, according to MediaNews, they are only working for a single small-town paper. They also do not receive residuals and secondary pay whenever their stories and photos are reused or purchased over the Web, etc.

Such working conditions are undermining the journalism profession and driving good workers out of the industry. News is often no longer in-depth, investigative, or complete; news about unions and workers are generally ignored or suppressed.

Meanwhile, news media in general continue to consolidate and converge through the introduction of new technology including wide access to the Internet.

Confronting this challenge of reduced jobs and pay, increased outsourcing, and demise of working conditions and journalistic ethics, The Newspaper Guild (TNG) and its parent union Communications Workers of America (CWA) have made a major commitment to organize workers in the various news media. To this end, TNG-CWA has made a multiyear commitment to supercharge the L.A. Newspaper Guild Locals with multiple resources, to the extent that the L.A. Guild will soon be taking a vote to rename the Local as the Southern California Media Guild.