Teamsters' Latest Play

It's too bad this whole thing has turned into a Union / Non-Union fight.

That dilutes the issue, which is: We need a quality professional daily!

I'll still read the Indy either way!!

This argument is not "union vs. non-union." T. M. Storke did not have a union shop because everytime a union wanted to form there, he either equaled or bettered what was on offer by the union. This is the People vs. Wendy McCaw.
Ms. McCaw is the traditional reason people have had to form unions-she is unfair, irrational, narcissistic, power-hungry, will not sit down to talk with her people. She has broken many many labor laws and seems to think it is her right to do so. It is probably why she is divorced, not that I know, but if she treated her husband the way she treats her employees, it is no wonder.
FYI, before there were unions, there were no weekends, 40 hour weeks, etc. Unions are formed by a group of people who alone cannot make an unfair employer see reason. Before there were unions, there were no weekends, 40 hour weeks, etc.
McCaw has violated the public trust and thinks of a newspaper not as a source of information for the public, but as her own fiefdom and vehicle to print money. It is impossible to talk with her without a cadre of lawyers in-between.
Think again when you say this is union vs non-union. This is human and fair vs. treating people as machines and unfairly and business vs. the 1st Amendment.

This is WAY more than a union/non-union fight. The News-Press doesn't even attempt to serve the community. People worried about the Gap Fire had to pay to get crucial information — or go elsewhere. The Independent, Daily Sound, Noozhawk and Edhat.com have become the top news sources for the South Coast.

cenglish10 - sounds like you are a union dude.
Moonrunner - right on, right on, right on.

Getting down to basics for me - frequently during the last couple weeks we've seen the sports section consisting of just one piece of paper (that would be pages 1 - 4). Can't even wrap up garbage with that.

Where's the beef SBNP??

While I am no lawyer, it strikes me that the union trying to boycott businesses and their customers is, at the very least, unfair to innocent shop owners and, at most, illegal. Don't the union members realize that if the union gets businesses to pull their advertising revenue, then the News-Press loses money, which means to save what revenue remains they have to lay more people off. If the union really cared about the employees it represents, it seems like they should try bargaining at the table and not boycotting the businesses whose advertising revenue helps to pay its members their wages.

Hi mystikrich,

Perhaps you haven't been keeping up with the news. Journalists at the paper voted 33-6 in September 2006 to join a union. Publisher Wendy McCaw responded by illegally firing several reporters and challenging the legitimacy of the vote. The National Labor Relations Board found she had violated federal labor laws, ruled the reporters should be reinstated, and certified the union vote as legitimate. She is the one not willing to "try bargaining at the table." The vote to affiliate with a union was nearly two years ago.

The teamsters need to pick their battles more carefully. Local businesses that choose to advertise in the News-Press are doing so to stimulate new business for themselves by reaching a broad group of potential clients, the readers. By advertising in the News-Press, businesses are simply making a wise business decision. It is quite pathetic that the teamsters send out their uneducated flyer distributors to threaten local Santa Barbara businesses for the fact that they are advertising in one of our communities major outlets. I encountered a group of the "flyer distributors" the other day and after seeing the way they presented themselves and the unprofessional looking flyer they were attempting to hand out to the public I lost any respect I had for their cause. If they're going after local businesses for advertising in one of the major local outlets (the SB News-Press) than why not threaten everyone that reads the News-Press as well. Additionally, it was interesting to discover that some of the "flyer distributors" do not even live in Santa Barbara, yet they are coming to OUR community, attempting to disrupt our local economy, during these difficult, volatile times nonetheless. Note to the Teamsters: If you want Santa Barbara to take you more seriously, don't send uneducated, misinformed scum bags into our community for your cause.... It only sets you back. Support Santa Barbara and all of our local businesses!

the teamsters new campaign makes sense. the news-press makes its money thru it's advertisers. it's been a long two years since the meltdown. with out this type of actions it will never get resolved. the advertisers should step up and support it's community and stop advertising so that the news-press does the right thing, instead of dragging this longer and longer. plus the union has been asking for the cancellation of the paper and it has been asking advertisers (politely) to stop doing business with that opinion/biased news paper. since day one. the advertisers are funding the news-press mess and they need to stop...

I believe the Teamsters picked their fight very wisely. There are no innocent shop owners. If the shop owner continues to advertise in this newspaper they have disregarded the plea from the community for their support. The shop owners have all been informed of the disputes and illegal actions of the NP. The whole community knows why there is a dispute. Why else would nearly 10,000 people cancel reading the paper.
The advertising dollars spent helps to support the NP
campaign against the newsroom workers.
The volunteers who are passing out flyers are supporting
the efforts for these workers by informing the community of this long bitter dispute. The community has spoken out against the NP and want their paper back. My advice to the shop owners is be wise, support the community that spends their hard earned dollars at your business and find other advertising outlets until this dispute is over.