Talks Set on Union-Tribune, Teamsters Contract

Although its contract with the Union-Tribune Publishing Company expired at midnight Tuesday, the union representing 77 drivers, van loaders and newsprint helpers doesn’t plan an immediate strike, a spokesman said.

Rick Aceves, secretary-treasurer for Teamsters Local Union 542, said a new round of talks with Union-Tribune lawyers is scheduled for Friday.

“It would show poorly if we went out at midnight (Tuesday night),” Aceves said. “We’ll wait for the meeting on Friday.”

Aceves said key issues in the talks remain a package “that’s not beneficial to employees over the next three years,” including questions about seniority and a clause, which management is seeking, regarding non-compulsory union membership.

Herbert G. Klein, editor-in-chief of Copley Newspapers, said management is “not trying to bust the union”--a charge that was leveled in earlier negotiations with the guild representing editorial employees.

“And I won’t even comment on a term like scab,” Klein said, adding, however, that management has “its own plans” to replace the 77 workers should they strike.

Aceves said that, in the past, the union had enjoyed an “excellent” relationship with Union-Tribune management but that had been compromised in recent years as the company hired a law firm to handle labor negotiations.

“Helen and David (Copley, the owners of the Union-Tribune) have decided to make particular moves as far as labor organizations are concerned,” Aceves said. “We had a nice working relationship, but, it’s the ‘90s.”