Employees at Chinese Newspaper Vote to Unionize

Employees of Chinese Daily News in Monterey Park, one of the largest Asian daily newspapers in the United States, voted this week to unionize.

Organizers with the Communication Workers of America said the vote covering 152 workers is part of a trend by foreign-language media to join unions. The bargaining unit covers all employees, from reporters to printers.

General Manager David Liu said the family-owned newspaper is challenging the 78-63 vote to the National Labor Relations Board because of alleged improprieties during the election. In the meantime, he said, management does not recognize the union and will not negotiate a contract.

Reporter Lynne Wang, a 13-year veteran of the Daily News, said employees called the union last fall after their wages were frozen and they were told to sign declarations that they were “at-will employees” who could be fired at any time. That ruptured an implied agreement of lifelong employment in exchange for loyalty from workers, she said.

“Asian culture is under the influence of Confucius philosophy, in which the workplace is like a family,” she said. “That broke the understanding, and we realized in this country we need something more to protect us.”

The organizing campaign lasted five months, held up by lengthy NLRB hearings on charges filed by the employer, which hired a consultant and law firm to fight the union.

“The pressure was quite intense,” said organizer Stephanie Moore. “And because the whole concept of unions as we know them was completely new to people, it was easier to confuse them.”

In the last five years, an increasing number of foreign-language newspapers and broadcast media have joined unions. In part, the increase reflects changing demographics. But organizers also said there are tremendous pay gaps between English media and those in other languages, regardless of their size or success.

Also, newspaper and broadcast unions joined the Communication Workers of America in the mid-’90s, bringing more resources to organizing drives. And the organizing victories to date have built their own momentum, said Paula Olson, a CWA staff representative who recently organized three Spanish-language television stations and a Korean radio station in California.