Day 4 - Final edition

Journal lawyer Richard A. Perras sought to use it as evidence that the Guild's preparations for a reader boycott had hurt the company, but Administrative Law Judge William G. Kocol would not allow the letter to be admitted.

The exchange came on the fourth day of the Journal's trial, as Perras finished his cross-examination of Guild Administrator Tim Schick.

Yesterday afternoon, Joseph Griffin, a lawyer for the National Labor Relations Board, began submitting evidence to support the board's complaints concerning several instances of unilateral changes in working conditions. Griffin's evidence was frequently challenged as hearsay by the Journal's other lawyer, Lincoln D. Almond, the governor's son. The judge frequently agreed with Almond.

Under questioning by Perras, Guild Administrator Tim Schick yesterday morning testified that the Guild had begun planning a consumer boycott to put economic pressure on the company. But he said the Guild has not yet started the boycott.

Perras's questioning pertained to two major charges that the company faces: that the Journal threatened to reduce its wage offer if the Guild persisted in the boycott, and that it later did reduce the offer when the Guild's boycott preparations continued. The NLRB alleges that the company's actions, communicated in letters to Guild members, constituted "regressive bargaining," which is illegal.

Perras tried to enter into evidence a letter that the Guild had received from the International Longshoremen's Union last summer. The union, which had been asked to sign cards pledging to cancel their Journal subscriptions if the Guild called a boycott, took it a step further and said its members would stop buying the paper right away.

NLRB lawyer Elizabeth Vorro objected, arguing that the letter was irrelevant to the case, because the Guild received it several months after the company withdrew its wage offer.

Perras said he was trying to establish that the Guild's boycott efforts had had an economic impact on the Journal.

"Even if you establish what you want to establish,'' Judge Kocol said, ``what difference does that make?"

"We believe that actions to bring economic pressure could be responded to by the other side,'' Perras said.

Kocol sustained Vorro's objection, and further ruled that any evidence from any day after the wage offer was withdrawn would not be admitted in arguments about the "regressive bargaining" charge.

Yesterday afternoon, Griffin entered into evidence documents related to the NLRB's accusations that the company made unilateral changes in working conditions, and questioned Schick about them.

One charge involves an editorial assistant, Doreen Tracey, who for years had earned extra money when she prepared lists of high school graduates, because such work belongs in a higher classification. The Guild alleges that the company unilaterally changed Tracey's job description to avoid paying her the differential. Tracey is expected to testify in this case today or next week.

Another charge involves the company's decision to eliminate the lobby security guard in the Fountain Street building, which the Guild contends is a change in working conditions that must be bargained. Under questioning by Griffin, who sought to show that the area is unsafe, Schick testified about crimes he had witnessed in the area, and one that he read about in the Journal: the robbery on Fountain Street of a security guard who was carrying Journal company receipts out of the building.

Other charges include the Journal's hiring of a company to sell ads for a special business section, farming out work that Guild contends belongs to Guild members; the company's failure to pay overtime to Sports Department workers who were ordered to come in early for a meeting; and the company's unilateral decision to assign to porters plant-care responsibilities that were formerly handled by an outside company.

The trial will resume today at 9 a.m. in Pawtucket City Hall. Brian Jones, a former Guild Executive Committee member, is expected to testify. Today's session will end at 1 p.m.

03.04.02
Clarification: On this page, journalontrial.org originally referred to a company attorney as "Lincoln Almond Jr., the governor's son." The younger Mr. Almond is Lincoln D. Almond. His father, Rhode Island's governor, is Lincoln C. Almond.

Daily reports on the trial will be posted here on www.journalontrial.org. The Web site also has directions and a map to Pawtucket City Hall, 137 Roosevelt Ave. The trial starts at 11 a.m. on Monday and at 9 a.m. on the other days. Here's how to get there:

From Providence and points south: Take Rte. 95 north to School Street exit. Turn left at bottom of ramp onto School Street. Pass Apex on the left and go through one light (one-way right) to next light, bearing left. Go to light at Slater Mill and Visitors Center, making a right onto Roosevelt Avenue. City Hall will be on your right, with parking on left. Trial is on third floor.

From Boston and points north: Take Rte. 95 south into Rhode Island. Take exit 29, Downtown Pawtucket. At end of ramp, merge onto Broadway. Go about two-tenths of a mile and turn right onto Exchange Street. Turn left on Roosevelt Avenue. City Hall will be on your left, with parking on the right. Trial is on the third floor.

Felice J. Freyer is the Providence Journal's award-winning medical writer. She joined the paper in 1982 and was assigned to the medical beat in 1989. A member of the Guild's Executive Committee since 1994, she has taken a leave from the newspaper to cover the trial.

There is much more information about the dispute at the Guild's main website, www.riguild.org. E-mail the Guild at png@riguild.org. The union's mailing address is: The Providence Newspaper Guild, 270 Westminster St., Providence, RI 02903. Telephone: (401) 421-9466. FAX: (401) 421-9495.