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Union drive

February 14, 2008 – 8:12 am

After years of union agitation and management push-back, the fate of a unionization drive at the Chinese Daily News will be settled Sept. 22.

That’s the date the Monterey Park-based Chinese-language newspaper and the Communications Workers of America have set for a second vote on whether the paper’s 150 employees should join the largest U.S. media union.

Although there are some signs of acrimony in the campaign leading up to the vote, the union and newspaper so far are declining to air their sides publicly. Both declined comment, other than to confirm the date of the election. That marks a change from the more aggressive posturing in the aftermath of the June 2001 election, in which workers narrowly voted to join the union but management alleged the election was tainted by a pro-union supervisor.

Each side charged the other with retaliation, and the union filed numerous complaints with the National Labor Relations Board.

The Sept. 22 election is likely to be closely watched, as the Communications Workers of America’s parent union, the AFL-CIO, has described the Chinese Daily News effort as a watershed in ethnic media unionization.