On 15th Anniversary of ‘News-Press’ Meltdown, Parent Company Charged with Contempt
National Labor Relations Board Says Ampersand Publishing Failed to Bargain in Good Faith with Union
The National Labor Relations Board observed the 15th anniversary of the newsroom meltdown that shook the Santa Barbara News-Press to its foundation by charging its parent company — Ampersand Publishing Inc. — with contempt for failing to bargain in good faith with the union representing its editorial employees. More specifically, Nicole Lancia, the trial attorney representing the NLRB, accused the News-Press — owned by Wendy P. McCaw — of “engaging in dilatory tactics that frustrate and delay the bargaining process” from 2017 to 2020.
Based on the timeline provided in the contempt action, the News-Press began waging a campaign of delay and frustration in 2007, shortly after newsroom workers voted to be represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, but it would not be until 2017 when a federal court of appeals would officially order McCaw, Ampersand, and the News-Press to knock it off.
For the union and many of the former writers, editors, photographers, and other newsroom workers, the NLRB action marks yet another “win” in a long chain of procedural victories that McCaw has repeatedly ignored or appealed. All but one of the workers who joined the union in August 2006 have long since quit, resigned, died, been fired, or retired.
