Blade union workers delay advertiser boycott

7/31/2006

In a bargaining move, unions representing employees of The Blade said they have commitments from hundreds of advertisers to pull their ads from the paper if labor contract negotiations falter.

Leaders of the Toledo Council of Newspaper Unions, which represents nearly 500 Blade employees, said they had intended to implement the boycott immediately, but decided to delay it just before a membership meeting yesterday.

We want to make an additional attempt to do some better bargaining, said Lillian Covarrubias, president of the Toledo Newspaper Guild, which represents newsroom, circulation, advertising, and accounting employees. Negotiations are under way with seven of eight unions at The Blade; one union contract has been settled. Most of the contracts expired in March.

Luann Sharp, company spokesman, said an advertising boycott would hurt the company and its employees, perhaps resulting in job or work-time cuts.

I m glad a sense of reality has sunk in about that not being a good move for anybody, she said.