Labor board rules against Santa Barbara News-Press
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A federal board says the Santa Barbara News-Press committed unfair labor practices during a union-organizing campaign and has ordered the paper's publisher to reinstate eight fired journalists.
The National Labor Relations Board's unanimous ruling Thursday largely upheld a 2007 decision by an administrative law judge that Ampersand Publishing LLC had appealed.
Newsroom employees voted to form a union after most top editors quit in 2006 to protest the owner's alleged interference with news coverage.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The eight fired reporters complained to the NLRB that they had been wrongfully terminated for union activity and other reasons.
The newspaper said in a statement that it has prevailed in previous court challenges to NLRB decisions and expects to do so again.