Opinion ID: 3065405
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Restore journalism ethics to the Santa Barbara

Text: News-Press: implement and maintain a clear separa1454 MCDERMOTT v. AMPERSAND PUBLISHING tion between the opinion/business side of the paper and the news-gathering side. 2. Invite back the six newsroom editors who recently resigned . . . . 3. Negotiate a contract with the newsroom employ- ees governing our hours, wages, benefits and working conditions. 4. Recognize [the Union] as our exclusive bargaining representative. The next day, July 14, the Union and its employee supporters held a rally in front of the News-Press building where these same four demands were read aloud. At another event staged four days later, News-Press reporters held up four signs, each stating one of the demands from the July 13 letter. The News-Press delivered its response to the employees’ July 13 letter on July 17. The response stated that the newspaper “respected the employees’ right to decide whether or not . . . to have union representation” but declined to recognize the Union or to invite back the editors who had resigned. At an internal staff meeting in late July, city editor Scott Steepleton answered employees’ questions concerning McCaw’s involvement in the news department by saying that, as the owner of the paper, McCaw “had the right to be part of whatever she wants to be part of.” The paper later published editorials criticizing the Union and proclaiming that it was “standing firm against allowing outside Union organizers to influence news coverage or interject bias into reporting.” At an event on July 20, 2006, the employees unveiled their campaign to persuade readers to cancel their subscriptions by September 5 “if [the employees’] demands were not met.” They distributed pledge cards at that event and at various other functions in the months that followed that said: MCDERMOTT v. AMPERSAND PUBLISHING 1455 I, _____, support the Santa Barbara News-Press newsroom staff in its effort to restore journalistic integrity to the paper, obtain recognition and negotiate a fair employment contract. Cancel my subscription by Sept. 5, 2006, if the employees’ demands have not been met to their satisfaction.1 The ALJ found that this “subscription cancellation effort became the centerpiece of the Union’s campaign concerning the News-Press.” On September 5, the Union and its supporters held a press conference announcing that the employees’ demands had not been met and asking the public to cancel their subscriptions to the News-Press to show their support. On September 24, employees organized a rally and fundraiser complete with a large banner bearing the message “Cancel Your Newspaper Today.” During the campaign, union supporters made public statements such as “Don’t let McCaw control the news” and “Help us take back the News-Press.” The Union filed a petition with the NLRB on August 10, 2006, to represent a unit of news department employees at the News-Press. The NLRB conducted an election on September 27, 2006, which the Union won by a vote of 33 to 6. Overruling the News-Press’s objections to the election, the NLRB certified the Union as the exclusive bargaining representative of the news department employees on August 16, 2007. Negotiations for a collective-bargaining agreement commenced on November 13, 2007. No agreement has been reached. Between August 2006 and March 2007, the Union filed a series of charges with the NLRB alleging that the News-Press had engaged in a variety of unfair labor practices. On May 31, 2007, the Regional Director issued an amended and consoli- 1 The original demand to invite back the editors who had resigned in protest was omitted from the pledge cards and was not thereafter linked to the subscription cancellation drive. 1456 MCDERMOTT v. AMPERSAND PUBLISHING dated complaint against the News-Press. Among other things, the complaint alleged that the News-Press had violated paragraphs 8(a)(1) and (a)(3) of the NLRA2 by discharging eight employees because they engaged in union activity. One of those employees was terminated in October 2006, another in January 2007, and the other six in February 2007. The complaint also alleged that the News-Press had committed a host of additional unfair labor practices ranging from improperly reprimanding employees to failing to provide employees with adequate raises and bonuses. A 17-day trial before an ALJ was conducted on the allegations in the complaint. On December 26, 2007, the ALJ issued a recommended decision and order. He concluded that the News-Press had committed numerous unfair labor practices and recommended that relief be granted, including reinstatement of the eight discharged employees, constituting more than 20 percent of the newsroom staff. Regarding the News-Press’s First Amendment defenses, the ALJ observed that “a purpose of the union activities of the employees was directed toward what they viewed as a need to restore journalistic integrity at the News-Press.” He identified the “First Amendment protection of Freedom of the Press” as the “starting point in this analysis.” The ALJ recognized that “this protection belongs to the publisher of a newspaper and not to the reporters in their role as employees.” 2 Those provisions of the NLRA read in relevant part: (a) It shall be an unfair labor practice for an employer — (1) to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights [to organize and engage in collective bargaining activities] guaranteed in section 157 of this title; (3) by discrimination in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization . . . . 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1), (3). MCDERMOTT v. AMPERSAND PUBLISHING 1457 Nevertheless, he concluded that the First Amendment does not limit government-mandated collective bargaining aimed at “restoring editorial integrity.” Such collective bargaining was warranted, the ALJ reasoned, because the News-Press had engaged in “conduct that employees believe undermines their credibility as journalists” and adopted policies that “could be viewed [as] vague and ambiguous.” Thus, the ALJ concluded that “the matter of journalistic integrity may be a matter over which employees may bargain through its collectivebargaining representative.” The ALJ rejected the notion that “the employees were attempting to gain entrepreneurial control of the newspaper” and instead credited the testimony of one employee that “the union campaign was not part of an effort to let the reporters rather [than] management control the content of the newspaper.” Having decided that First Amendment rights did not come into play, the ALJ found that the News-Press failed to establish that it would have taken the same actions even if the employees had not engaged in protected union activities. The parties each filed numerous objections to the ALJ’s recommended decision and order. The case remains pending before the Board. The Regional Director had previously requested permission from the Board to file a Section 10(j) petition seeking an injunction against the News-Press. The Board denied this request on June 15, 2007. On December 20, 2007, the then four-member Board, anticipating that it would soon have fewer than the three members needed for a quorum, see 29 U.S.C. § 153(b), entered a temporary delegation order. Through this order, which became effective on December 28, 2007, the Board gave the General Counsel full “authority on all court litigation matters that otherwise would require Board authorization.” NLRB Press Release R-2653 (Dec. 28, 2007).3 3 A copy of the press release may be found at http://www.nlrb.gov/ shared_files/Press Releases/2007/R-2653.pdf (last checked December 30, 2009). 1458 MCDERMOTT v. AMPERSAND PUBLISHING Specifically, the Board temporarily delegated to the General Counsel “full and final authority and responsibility on behalf of the Board to initiate and prosecute injunction proceedings under Section 10(j).” Id. Over two months after this delegation of authority became effective, and despite the Board’s initial refusal to authorize the petition, the Regional Director filed a Section 10(j) petition for a temporary injunction on March 6, 2008.4 This petition sought an injunction compelling the News-Press, among other things, to offer interim reinstatement to each of the eight terminated employees. The district court denied the petition for Section 10(j) relief on May 22, 2008. McDermott, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94596. The court held that the requested injunction, “in its entirety,” posed “a significant risk of violating [the News-Press’s] First Amendment rights” since the “employees’ Union-related activity had as a central demand the ceding of an aspect of [the News-Press’s] editorial discretion.” Id. at , 22. Accordingly, the district court applied the heightened burden for obtaining relief set forth in Overstreet ex rel. NLRB v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, 409 F.3d 1199 (9th Cir. 2005). Considering the “traditional equitable criteria” for interim injunctive relief and the First Amendment implications of the petition, the district court concluded that the Regional Director fell short of establishing that relief would be “just and proper” and therefore denied the Section 10(j) petition. McDermott, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94596, at -48. The Regional Director timely appealed the district court’s decision. 4 Because we affirm the district court’s denial of Section 10(j) relief on other grounds, it is not necessary for us to reach the parties’ arguments concerning the legality of the Board’s delegation of its power. MCDERMOTT v. AMPERSAND PUBLISHING 1459