NLRB Accuses the News-Press (Again)

The National Labor Relations Board today re-issued its previous decisions charging the Santa Barbara News-Press with a number of federal labor law violations, according to informed sources.

The charges include the unlawful firing of Dennis Moran, then on the newsroom union group negotiating with owner Wendy McCaw, and the layoff of columnist Richard Mineards.

Actions by the prior NLRB were nullified by the U.S. Supreme Court on grounds that the members had been improperly appointed by President Obama during a Congressional recess. Since then, new board members have been appointed.

Today’s NLRB action ordered that both Moran and Mineards, now a Montecito Journal columnist, be offered reinstatement and back pay, that employees who did not receive wage increases be made whole, and that the company pay the union its bargaining expenses beginning November 13, 2007, through to the last bargaining session.

The decision is also expected to provide a foundation for bringing a new round of charges against the newspaper. The News-Press is expected to appeal, as it has on other NLRB charges. Calls to the paper for comment were not immediately returned.