Carl T. Hall, a 12-year veteran of the Chronicle and president of the Northern California Media Workers Guild and Typographical Union, said the union will be a defender of reporters' rights if the two newspapers combine staffs as expected. Hall said he's confident the new Chronicle will not lay off reporters any time soon to save money. The union is effective, he said, and it will go on strike if it has to. Daily Herald, fired him because of a labor dispute. I want to first start off with the idea that reporters, pushing for free speech and human rights, have to have rights in the workplace, too.
Some people can use their talents to just walk in and demand a huge paycheck and get it.
There are people like that, but by and large, most people have to band together with other people in a similar circumstance in order to look nose to nose with the bo ss. That's just unionism 101. At this stage in the merger, Hall thinks the union is in the comfortable position of not having to prove anything. The timing, in other words, is perfect for what the union wants - job security. Hall points to the San Francisco newspaper strike of 1994 as a test of what the union is capable of doing should that job security be threatened.