Some want union to split with committee on JOA suit

Some Seattle Times employees are making another bid to sever their union's ties with a citizens committee that has been fighting The Times Co. in court over its joint-operating agreement (JOA) with The Hearst Corp., owner of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Steve Miletich, a Times reporter who also is vice president of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, said Friday he has requested an emergency meeting of the union's executive board to consider ending the Guild's support for the Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town.

The committee's work "is counterproductive to resolving this [dispute], and counterproductive to the interests of the employees of The Times," Miletich said.

He spoke a day after the committee won a big victory in King County Superior Court. At the committee's request, Judge Greg Canova rejected a bid by The Times and Hearst to freeze all legal proceedings in their long-running dispute while they submit it to closed-door binding arbitration with no appeal.

Canova's ruling raised the possibility the arbitration might not happen. Under the agreement between the two newspapers, either one can pull out in the event of a ruling such as Canova's.

"The committee has become obstructionist, an impediment to getting this thing settled once and for all," said Ron Judd, a Times sports columnist and former Guild secretary.

But Seattle attorney Anne Bremner, the committee's co-chairwoman, noted that Guild members have twice before rejected attempts to drop the union's affiliation with the committee. This time, "it's really up to the membership to decide whether they want two newspapers," she said.

The Guild represents more than 600 Times news, advertising, circulation, marketing and composing employees and about 150 P-I newsroom employees. It has been the largest financial supporter of the two-newspaper committee; the union's administrative officer, Liz Brown, is the committee's treasurer.

Losing the Guild's support would be a significant blow to the committee's finances, Bremner said. But she also expressed confidence it could raise enough money elsewhere to pay its lawyer and continue pressing its claims.

The committee, whose supporters include labor, civic and political groups, is an intervenor in a lawsuit Hearst filed against The Times almost exactly three years ago. The suit could decide the fates of both newspapers.

Under the JOA, The Times handles business and production functions for both papers, but they maintain separate news and editorial operations. In return, The Times gets 60 percent, Hearst 40 percent of what's left after the non-news expenses of producing both newspapers are paid.

The Times, which contends the smaller P-I has become an economic burden that threatens The Times' future, moved in 2003 to trigger an escape clause and terminate the JOA, close the P-I or both.

Hearst's suit challenges The Times' moves. The New York-based company maintains the P-I can't survive outside the JOA.

The two-newspaper committee sided with Hearst in earlier court proceedings. It also has filed a claim against both newspapers, charging that a 1999 amendment to the JOA, which allows Hearst to collect 32 percent of The Times' profits if it voluntarily closes the P-I, is an unconstitutional restraint of trade.

The newspapers had asked Canova to put that and other committee claims on hold until arbitration is completed next spring. The committee, which would not be included in arbitration proceedings, argued the delay would harm it irreparably, and Canova agreed.

Several Times Guild members who support severing ties with the committee said the newspaper industry's recent economic troubles have convinced them Seattle will eventually become a one-newspaper town.

"The choice is really which newspaper owner will survive, the [Times'] Blethen family or The Hearst Corp.," Times reporter Carol Ostrom said in an e-mail. "Viewed in that light, I think the Guild participation in the [committee] means Seattle Times' Guild members' dues are being used against those members' interests. ... "

Others expressed concern that the committee's restraint-of-trade claim, if successful, could also threaten a provision of the 1999 JOA amendment that allowed The Times to switch from afternoon to morning publication. "They're going to court to try to put us out of business," Judd said.

That's an unlikely outcome, Bremner responded.

Yoko Kuramoto-Eidsmoe, a Times desk editor who is the Guild's president, said the question of continued support for the committee should be decided by the entire union membership, not just the 11-member executive board.

A general membership meeting already is scheduled for next Saturday.

Kuramoto-Eidsmoe also said she would oppose pulling out of the Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town right now: "I'd like to wait and see what [the committee's] next move is," she said.

Guild Secretary Mike Lewis, a P-I reporter, and Treasurer Don Kirkpatrick, a Times desk editor, agreed the entire membership should probably decide. Kirkpatrick said he doesn't see what would be accomplished if the Guild cut its ties. "The Guild isn't in charge of [the committee]," he said.

Brown, the Guild's administrative officer, did not return calls.

Eric Pryne: 206-464-2231 or epryne@seattletimes.com