Union Claims Examiner Making 'Bad Faith' Effort

When the Fangs started publishing the SF Examiner in November 2000, they did so without the unions that had been representing the newspaper's editorial and production personnel.

When workers in the pre-press department voted by a three-to-one margin to unionize on Feb. 8, 2002, the Examiner responded by laying off up to 40 percent of the workers in the department, according to the union that represents the workers, Graphics Communications International Union, Local 4N (GCIU-4N).

Union representatives are looking into the possibility of filing a lawsuit over the firings.

Fang responded to the unionizing effort at the Examiner by hiring King & Ballow, a law firm known for its union-busting activities. The firm was at the center of a newspaper strike between management and labor unions at the SF Chronicle and SF Examiner in 1994.

According to a press release sent out by GCIU-4N April 9, the union wants to support a second daily newspaper in San Francisco but it is concerned that Fang may be running the Examiner "right into the ground," despite getting $66 million to operate it.

"It would be more cost-effective for the paper and more beneficial to the City if Mrs. Fang used her Hearst-enhanced income to improve her newspapers rather than to bust unions," the release said.

If the unions are successful at negotiating a contract at the Examiner, it would be the first time employees at a Fang family enterprise were unionized.

Ed Rosario, the vice president/director of organizing for GCIU-4N, is on the union's negotiating team. He says there has not been a "good faith" effort to reach an agreement and that contracts offered so far do not offer job security, a workplace free from harassment or an adequate process for reviewing employee grievances. He also claims the Examiner's bargaining team espouses racist remarks.

"She runs that place with an iron fist," he said of Florence Fang's leadership at the Examiner.

Rosario says the unionizing effort at the Examiner has the support of the SF Labor Council. "We want a just contract," he said.

Delivery Drivers "Strike" Due to Increased Load

It is not only the union that has had trouble with the Fangs.

In 1998, the drivers who deliver the SF Independent went on strike, delaying delivery of the newspaper's Saturday edition.

The drivers, who are independent contractors, demanded more money for delivering the newspaper because a recent contract between the Independent and Valssis, an insert advertiser, had almost doubled the weight of the newspaper.

Eleven contractors signed a demand for a 50 percent increase in the amount of money the Independent was paying them to deliver the newspaper.

According to a source knowledgeable with the details, the Independent agreed to increase the amount of money the drivers were getting from $50 per 1,000 newspapers delivered to $70 per thousand.

Job Creation with Federal Funds

When the Fang family got about $1.1 million in loans provided by federal funds, the creation of jobs was one of the stated goals for loaning the money.

Most of the workers who were hired as a result of the federal loans were paid $6 an hour, while some received up to $7.75 an hour, according to documents on file at the Mayor's Office of Economic Development.

Since the Fang family got the loan, the city has passed a law calling for city businesses to pay a "prevailing wage" of more than $10 an hour.