The Beverly Hillbullies?

The union representing some of the covered employees at the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper filed an unfair-labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., on February 24.

The grievance, filed by the Graphic Communications Conference (GCC) of the Teamsters, details how union members were allegedly photographed and threatened while handing out leaflets in front of the Beverly Hills headquarters of Platinum Equity, the parent company of the Union-Tribune.

According to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the paper’s management has refused to bargain fairly with the workers and their union. The U-T employees represented by the GCC have already been forced to take a 12 percent pay cut and have been working without a contract for the past nine months.

GCC president George Tedeschi said, “Management at the Union-Tribune wants to have the right to outsource good, middle-class jobs. We don’t think that’s fair. Our members want to earn the good wages and benefits they need to provide for their families.”

The Union-Tribune was sold to Platinum Equity of Beverly Hills last March after being run by the Copley Press since 1928.

Photo: www.teamster.org