Robert L. Flannes, 85; Times Personnel Chief Urged Good Working Conditions

Robert L. Flannes, a former vice president and assistant to the publisher of the Los Angeles Times, died Saturday after a long hospitalization in Walnut Creek, Calif. He was 85.

The cause of death was complications of pneumonia, said his son Martin A. Flannes.

“He will be remembered by both what he meant to us and what he represented all his career -- to treat people of every rank with respect, thoughtfulness and dignity,” Tom Johnson, a former publisher and president of The Times, said in a statement.

During his more than 30-year career at the newspaper, Flannes worked in several positions beginning in marketing research and later as personnel manager for three publishers.

In 1963, he was personnel manager during an attempt by the AFL-CIO to unionize the newspaper’s pressmen. That year the AFL-CIO won an initial election, but no contract agreement was reached in subsequent negotiations. A new election was conducted by the National Labor Relations Board to determine whether the pressmen still wanted to join the union. The vote was “no.”

“He told me once that unions make sense when management does not look after its employees,” Johnson said. “We never had a union. Every organizing effort was voted down overwhelmingly because the staff trusted Bob.”

The initiatives established by Flannes built a first-rate human resources department, Johnson said in an interview. Flannes used his tremendous influence on publishers to ensure good working conditions for employees.

He insisted that the company provide medical staff at its three plants, in-house health facilities and cafeterias and free employee parking. Flannes also instituted annual industry wage surveys so that Times staffers were paid at or above industry averages, said Johnson, who was publisher from 1980 through 1989 and president from 1977 through 1980.

Flannes retired from The Times in 1982. In later years, some of the measures that he instituted were eliminated or scaled back.

From 1958 until 1970, Flannes also served on the Monrovia Unified School District board of trustees. His tenure began with the creation of the Monrovia School District and included a contentious battle over school integration in the late 1960s. Flannes also was a longtime director of the Los Angeles Boys and Girls Club.

Flannes was born July 26, 1920, in Washburn, Wis., and attended school in Monrovia after his family moved there in 1929. During World War II, he was an officer and pilot in the Army Air Forces.

In 1948 he married Barbara Sanborn; the couple had two sons. Barbara Sanborn Flannes died in 1993.

In addition to his son Martin of Hailey, Idaho, Flannes is survived by son Steven of Piedmont, Calif.; a sister, Margaret F. Juneman of San Juan Capistrano; a brother, Gene N. Flannes of Fort Walton Beach, Fla.; and two grandsons.

The family will hold a private service. Memorial donations may be sent to the Los Angeles Boys and Girls Club, 2635 Pasadena Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90031.