More than half of the 250 newsroom employees at the Bay Area News Group-East Bay (BANG-EB) papers signed guild authorization cards seeking union representation, surpassing the 30% required by the National Labor Relations Board to hold a vote.
E&P reports nine MediaNews Group dailies in Alameda and Contra Costa counties are involved in the effort, filed Friday, for a vote to certify a new combined union. This action comes just nine months after MediaNews Group withdrew recognition of the Newspaper Guild unit at its Alameda Newspaper Group outside San Francisco, after the company consolidated ANG’s editorial functions with the Contra Costa Newspapers.
A response from the NLRB is expected in six to eight weeks. A simple majority of union-eligible employees would be needed to approve unionization.