n W. 0 a q I .1 - The Contra Costa County living wage ordinance requiring payment of prevailing wages on large indus- trial projects has been upheld in Superior Court'. Judge James Marchiano rejected the challenge led by the California Manufacturers Association. T'he ordinance, passed Aug. 14 by the Contra Costa County Board November 16, 1990 of Supervisors with strong support Vol. 33-No. 45 from organized labor, is.not pre- empted by state law as claimed by the challengers, the juldge said. ."The Board of Sulpervisors has' properly exercised its police powers," Marchia.no declared. "The or'dinance is appropriate and constitutional. The opponents say they willI Negotiators from ten unions rep- appeal the ruling to a higher court. resenting 4,500 newspaper workers This was not unexpected. Greg hung on grimly at the bargaining Feere, secretary of the Contra Costa table tod'ay with the clock ticking Building and Construction Trades toward a.5 p.m. deadline to strike Council, s'aid before the case went the Mercury and News at San Jose to trial that the ordinance had been and the Chronicle, Examiner and made "4airtight." Newspaper Agency at San The ordinance had its origins in -Francisco. the problems created'during the Hiopes for a settlement before.-the reconstruction of the USX Corpora- &deadine got a setback yesterday tionss Pittsburg mill for the USS- when union negotiators who assem- POSCO joint venture. bled in the morning for their first A notoriously anti-union contrac- look at employer economic -pro- tor brought in from out of state posals were kept waiting until 9. underbid California firms and p.m. imported low-paid workers from the "We'll continue negotiating in Deep South and other areas where expectation of achieving a settle- wages and living standards are' ment," said Doug Cuthbertson, depressed. executive officer of the Northern The results were on-the job-acci- California Newspaper Guild and dents including fatalities and- heavy chair of the Confe'rence of NMews- rvnw oy rauvety, morumm vamom m Wzper wupuw demands on schools, public health paper Unions. lNewspaper worker-s pirotestng slow pace..of neodatiaons spiH onto stret outside S.F. Chr-onicle. facilities and resources. financed by "But there is an enormous taxpayers, many of whom were out wmount of ground to be covered, At the Examiner, columnist Rob ing "You Talk 'or We Walk," and it."9 of a job because of the influx of and progress has been exceedingly. Morse!s column 'was pulled out of many walked with balloons bearing Newspaper unions also faced low-wage workers. slow." the paper by senior editors when he a unity symbol. crises in three other California The supervisors acted after Bylines were withheld today on insisted that it run without his Today's S p.m. strike deadline cities this week. studying a report prepared by a Uni- all.three newspapers in a show of byline. Morse said the missing col- was announced during the rallies * At the Tribune in Oakland,. versity of Califonia economist that support for negotiating com'mittees umn was about thie byline strike. last Friday. members of all unions marched out detailed 'the drain upon public and anger over the slow pace Last Friday there -were massed "Therds no way we will allow of the plant Wednesday in a noisy facilities. ,I p-§d by employers. demonstrations outside the -news---~ 'theelWkg fo-ftEg,into and-eod l.,unch*our protest -after the -pub- Safety,---tIest-ions :surrou.nding- At the Chronicle, Herb Caen's paper plants in both San Jose. and Thanksgiving," Cuthbertson lisher, saddled with leveraged buy- heavV co'nstruction done, by ill- column appeared today with his San Francisco. declared at that timeu out debt paymenlts, announced hed trained crews is thie primary con- name blanked out. Hundreds wore badges proclaim- "The members won't stand for demand 20 percent wage cuts on cern. Opponents argued before top of earlier, concession. Judge Marchiano that the California * In Long Beach, printers at the minimum wage law~prevented the Press-Telegram got broad labor county from requiring higher-wages movement support during a rally in in the interest of public health and protest against the Knight-Ridder safety. Corpratioffs attempts to strip job Deputy County Counsel Lillian security provisions away from Fuji argued that the county can Typographical Local 650 of the require wags higher than the -state Communications Workers. rrinimum if it is necessary to do so * At Santa Rosa, management of to assure public safety. the Press Telegram scornfully The was taken a rejected the Newspaper Guild's argument step opening statement as negotiations (ContinjuedX osn Page( 4) for a new contract got under way.' A strike in San Francisco would be the first since 1968. The San Jose papers have gone a decade longer No Paper than that without a walkout. Next Week It was the 1968 San Francisco The California AFL-CIO strike that shaped the joint bargain- News will not publish next Fri- ing in which the 10 unions and four day, Nov. 23, because of the managements currently are in- Thanksgiving Holiday. volved. The next edition will be.pub- Photo. by Fnon wuc", an jos m-wsppe %mum The aim is to clean. up each lished on Friday, Nov. 30. Dennis Uyeno, left, and Bill Phillips lead union mombers denionstrating outside San Jose Mercury News. (C01rl1inuesd ovn Page 4) 0 m 52n Video display terminal workcers, Aug. 27 by Supervisor Nancy risks including muscular-skeletal childbirth disorders. There is no union leaders and occupational Walker with support of seven of the strain, eyesuain and headaches. In requiremenlt for the electro-mag- healthi and safety experts are sched- other 10 members of the board that this, it resembles le-gislation spon- netic radiation screening thiat manu- uled to testify when the San Fran- governs the combined City and sored by the California Labor Fed-i facturers must provide on computer cisco- VDT Worker Safety Ordi- County of San Francisco. Since eration that has failed in- the past terminals they sell in a number of nance is put to its final public then, employer and industry opposi- five sessions of the Legislature in European countries. hearng on TUesday, NMov. 20, before tion has become intense. the face of massive lobbying oppo- So far, no VDT worker protec- a committee of the Board of TuesdaYs hearing is before the sition from thie samne -employer and tion law in- this country has sur- 5. s Supervisors. board's Committee on City Ser- industry interests 'that are lined up vived emnployer-industry attacks. In r ' Opposition is. certain from vices, which is chaired by Angela aganst the ordinance. Suffolk County, New Yorkc, where a employer groups and representa- Alioto and includes Wendy Nelder The San Francisco ordinance similar ordinance was overturned in tives of the computer and elec- and Richard Hongisto. It is to open would recommend trnsfer for preg- a lawsuit, ernployers' thretned to tronics industries. A number of at 10 a.m. in Room 228 at City nant workers to less hazardous work move VDT jobs -to otbr,Jurxdc amendments are expected to be Hall. and would mandate studies con- tions where n'o such presented. If they approve it, thie ordinance cerning linkage of VDTs with. tions exist. -- The ordi'nance, if adopted, will will go to the fiill Board of Super-, reproductive problems. In Contr Costa: CountY,:-VDT be the on)ly such worker protection visors for a first reading on Dec 3 But it is silent on low-ftequency ordiniance was shelved after the law in the country. and' a vote as ealy as Dec.- lO. electro-magnetic radiation, which county board heard objecios firom It was drafted by the labor-led The ordliftce "would mandate 'researchers increasingly are focus- corporafions that-have located VDT VDT Coalition and was introduced remedies to VDT-related health ing upon as a cause of cancer and data processing work there. Vea 0 m A strike- of nearly 10 'months at of both local unions, declared that patronagye from the other union- room Excalibur Hotel agreed to Binionss Horseshoe Casino in down- "We deeply hope the settlement was "in the be'st bsing establishmrents. union conditions for its town' Las 2,450 Vegas has ended with rat- that the remaining interests of our members, down- Included are the Imperial Maace, employees, the HERE campaigners ification of a new contract substan- town Las Vegas,- and the whole owned the the pointed but. tially improved over the "last and Las Vegas -by Englestad family;, who community." Elardi family's Frontier Hotel; the The Horseshoe s'ettlement gives final offer" that drove union emploers Arnold added: Stardust, Fremont, EI Dorado, Cali- workers out onto the picket lines have'not yet signed back jobs with full senority to all of last Jan. 27. "We are very satisfied and com- fornia Club and Sam's Town, oper- the workers Binion said had been new contracts for fortable with it. We look forward to ated by Bill Boyd, and Gaughan "6permanently replaced." This Members of Culinary Workers Bar- Local 226'and Bartenders Local 165 thei.r employees working with Jack Binion to put the' family properties including the wipes out a National Labor Rela- of the Hotel now will dlo so Horseshoe back in the unique posi- bary Coast, Gold Coast, El Cortez, tions Board ceomplaint against the Employees and Restau- tion as Union Gold rant Employees International Union Thus com- it long enjoyed a successful Plaza, Western, Spike Horseshoe. quickly. and Nevada Club. were Las Vegas institution... The new contract, which runs returning to' their jobs this munity cannot 6 weekend.