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St. Louis Newspaper Guild TNG-CWA 36047

The Bloomington Pantagraph

Employee Organizing Committee

ADVERTISING

ATTENTION: WILL PARKS, LORETTA VANCE AND LINDA LINDUS

I am in outside sales for advertising and I am sick and tired of management trying to “discreetly” see where we stand with the union. I was called into my supervisor’s office last week and informed that he heard a “rumor” that I was unhappy at the Pantagraph and was wanting to leave. He said he “wouldn’t blame me” if I felt that way and that he just wanted to see if it was true, then he tried to steer the conversation towards how I felt about the union.

Sorry, but that is just BS. I had absolutely no idea what he could even be talking about. I never said anything to anyone about leaving and had no plans to, (although since that conversation I’ve been reconsidering!)

Interestingly, I talked to some of my co-workers afterwards and discovered that (rather conveniently) this “rumor” seems to be going around about each of them as well. My manager had virtually identical conversations with other employees claiming he heard the exact same rumor about them.

Very creative, but no dice. Does management really think outside sales doesn’t talk to each other? Do they really think LYING to their employees is the way to prevent union activity? How stupid can they possibly be???

I guess we can just continue to sit back and watch them answer their own question. In fact, I hope the organizers feel free to post this in big bold letters right on the home page of the website and entitle it, “ATTENTION: WILL PARKS, LORETTA VANCE AND LINDA LINDUS”. Management needs to know that we’re not completely stupid, no matter how much they want us to be.

Text Box: Why Organize at The Pantagraph? Our Organizing Committee is Committed to: ◊ Insisting upon FAIRNESS in wages, benefits and working conditions ◊ Advocating for EXCELLENCE in journalism and business practices ◊ Fostering UNITY and understanding within the company and among departments

NEWSROOM

RUMORS IN THE WORKPLACE

As we are seeing at the Pantagraph, employers will often say and do absolutely anything to prevent their own employees from having a voice on the job. Often, management is working from a script—provided by ‘union avoidance’ law firms hired by the company—while adding enough of a personal touch to attempt to persuade individual workers. While many workers have expressed their dissatisfaction with Lee Enterprises and the current publisher, most I’ve talked with have a great deal of respect for their immediate supervisors. Particularly in the newsroom, I’ve been hearing that various managers have been working long hours to compensate for the understaffing and poor morale resulting from questionable decision making at the top. Because supervisors are excluded from the protections provided by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), they are often forced to assist in the company’s anti-union campaign.

Being forced by your employer to stop union activity by your employees—not a good situation for anyone except the corporate executives and the lawyers who can sit back and collect fees. Each department head sent out a personalized letter in June (I’ll post the letters next so you can look for commonalities). On the surface these letters may appear to be a sincere request among colleagues-but if you compare the three you will probably pick up on a pattern. Since then, has your boss (or your boss’ boss) taken a few minutes to chat with you and listen to your thoughts and suggestions? It might be interesting to compare notes with your coworkers—these seemingly casual conversations may actually be quite systematic and eerily similar.

There are occasions when companies use tactics that are of questionable legality or so unpleasant that the corporation is not willing to risk bringing it out in the open. In these cases, it is common for management to begin a “whisper campaign”. These campaigns are effective because they play on the fears and uncertainties already prevalent in the workforce, and since the source can not be traced, it is difficult to discover the truth. One such whisper which I’ve been advised of is a rumor that if there is a union election at the paper, there will be repercussions for Editor Mark Pickering. I sincerely hope that this rumor is incorrect, and that Lee would not dare be so shortsighted and callous an employer. To make a scapegoat of any of the dedicated employees that produce this newspaper would be a shameful injustice.

Let’s be honest, without a contract, any employee can be fired at will. There isn’t any need to threaten anyone’s job. Lee should step back from the overt and covert anti-union attacks and allow employees at the Pantagraph to make an informed decision.