Appeals Court Sides with Santa-Barbara News-Press in Labor Dispute

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A four-year-old labor dispute between editorial staff and Santa-Barbara (Calif.) News-Press owner/publisher Wendy McCaw  involving alleged biased reporting took an upward turn for the latter following a decision this week by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in James J. McDermott, Regional Director of Div. 31 of the NLRB for and on behalf of the NLRB v. Ampersand Pub., LLC d/b/a The Santa-Barbara News-Press (Case No. 08-56202).

The appellate court voted 2-1 to uphold U.S. District Court for the Central Dist. of Calif. Judge Stephen V. Wilson's rejection of eight fired editorial staffers' attempt to be reinstated. According to a report in The Los Angeles Times,  the turmoil started when five editors resigned in 2006 in protest over alleged biased reporting.

Reporters soon left the paper in droves. The conflict escalated after editorial members joined a division of the Intl. Brotherhood of Teamsters. Eight journalists were fired, and the union prevailed in an unfair labor practices complaint before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). McCaw appealed the board's decision and Judge Wilson ruled that her and the newspaper's First Amendment rights outweighed the labor issues involved. The 9th Circuit panel agreed.