Nordstrom Trims Ads in Seattle Papers : Retail: The company said there was no link between the ad cuts and the Seattle Times’ coverage of its labor problems.

A top Nordstrom Inc. executive called a Seattle newspaper’s coverage of the retailer’s labor problems “horrible,” but he said the company’s decision to cut advertising in the paper wasn’t meant as retaliation.

Co-chairman Jim Nordstrom said the company was only taking a closer look at the effectiveness of its advertising.

Nordstrom spokeswoman Megan McKenzie said the company told The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Friday that it was cutting back on its ads. The papers maintain separate editorial and news staffs, but The Times handles advertising and printing for both under a joint operating agreement.

Cindy Demme, vice president for sales promotion, said Nordstrom has been trying different mixes of advertising media in other markets and wanted to try the same thing in Seattle.

Ads were cut from six last Thursday in the Times, including three full-page displays and three smaller ones, to one full-page ad planned for this Thursday.

Known for its upscale clothing and attentive customer service, Nordstrom has come under increasing scrutiny for stormy labor relations and declining profits and stock prices.

Earlier this year, it was hit by a triple whammy: state findings that Nordstrom failed to pay some employees for work done outside their scheduled hours, unfair labor practice complaints by the National Labor Relations Board and a 34% profit slump for the year ending Jan. 31.

The Wall Street Journal also ran a front-page article by reporter Susan C. Faludi detailing complaints of past and present Nordstrom workers.

“If we do cut our advertising anywhere, it’s because we’re not getting a good value for our dollars,” Jim Nordstrom was quoted as saying in Tuesday’s Times, “and frankly, with the rising costs of your two papers, we need to do some re-evaluating.”

Nordstrom said there was no link between the ad cuts and coverage in the papers but added, referring to the Times:

“We think your coverage is horrible, the worst in the nation, worse than The Wall Street Journal because that girl didn’t know us. She just regurgitated what the union said.”

Michael Fancher, Times executive editor, said advertising cuts wouldn’t alter the newspaper’s coverage.

“I think it’s important for readers to understand that when advertisers purchase an ad, they are buying exposure to our readers. Nothing more and nothing less,” he said.

Times ad director Marji Ruiz said Nordstrom is one of the afternoon paper’s top 10 advertisers.

“Our rate increases over the last few years have been less than the national average,” said Jack A. Williams, Times sales and marketing vice president.

Meanwhile Tuesday, the NLRB dismissed a petition seeking to decertify United Food and Commercial Workers Local 367 as the bargaining agent for Nordstrom clerks at the Tacoma store.

A decertification petition also was filed Tuesday against UFCW Local 1001 in the Seattle area, but Larry McCarger, assistant to the NLRB’s regional director, said that attempt might fare no better.

McCarger said the board has a long history of refusing to conduct decertification elections while unresolved NLRB complaints are pending.

The two locals represent about 1,800 employees at six Nordstrom outlets, the only unionized stores in the chain. Nordstrom has 60 stores and 30,000 employees in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Utah, Virginia and California.

One organizer of the decertification campaign is Kathleen Sargent, a clerk in the downtown Seattle store and goddaughter of Anne Nordstrom, sister of co-chairman Bruce Nordstrom.

“The biggest concern that we’ve had is the union has distorted the image of what it’s like to work for Nordstrom,” Sargent told the Post-Intelligencer. “They make it sound like it’s a slave house, and it’s not. It’s a very positive and productive environment.”

The NLRB has accused Nordstrom of attempting to bypass the union and negotiate directly with employees, refusing to provide the union with information for collective bargaining and changing vacation benefits without negotiating with the union.