Long Beach : Newspaper Staffers Protest

Reporters, photographers and artists at the Long Beach Press-Telegram are withholding their names from the newspaper this week to protest what they say are the company’s “union-busting” tactics.

Members of the Los Angeles Newspaper Guild, AFL-CIO, say more than 75 staff members are protesting the company’s continued employment of King and Ballow, a Nashville law firm specializing in labor relations, which they say is attempting to break up the newspaper’s unions. The one-week boycott ends Monday, two days before a hearing by the National Labor Relations Board, which will decide on the newspaper’s request to eliminate 30 home delivery employees from the union, said Jim Smith, a spokesman for the guild.

Michael Schwartz, the Press-Telegram’s executive city editor, said the boycott by guild members is “their right” and declined further comment. Most staff-produced stories will read “From staff reports,” and drawings and photos will have a “Press-Telegram” credit line, without individual names.