National focus on labor fight at Chinese-language papers.

A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge will hear arguments later this month in a battle over unionization at Monterey Park-based Chinese Daily News.

The decision that follows could partially cap a dispute dating back to 2000, when the Communications Workers of America's Northern California Media Workers Guild/Typographical Union first sought to organize the nation's largest Chinese-language daily.

At the heart of the battle are both the validity of the March 2001 vote, which backed unionization 78-63, and the definition of who can be called a supervisor. The latter issue has been playing out in courts across the U.S. as workers seeking overtime benefits challenge some employers' definitions.

The union petitioned for an election that would authorize it to bargain on behalf of the newspaper's reporters, press operators, advertising sales staff, delivery drivers and others. In labor-speak, this broad swath of industrial categories is referred to as "wall-to-wall."

The newspaper challenged the results as being "illegally tainted" because it alleged that some supervisors had solicited support for the union, which is not permitted under labor law.

"That was one of the defects of the election," said Thomas Lenz, a Cerritos attorney representing the Chinese Daily News.

The union argued that supervisors had urged employees to vote against the union.

In August 2001, an NLRB hearing officer ruled against the company. Since the ballot, about 120 Chinese Daily News workers, nearly matching the voter base in the March 2001 election, signed petitions stating they did not want to be represented by the CWA, according to Lenz.

He said the petitions, delivered to Chinese Daily News President Min Shen Su, were forwarded to the NLRB with a motion asking the board to consider them as it reviewed the election.

"There are people among the group that might have at one time signed an authorization card to support the union and who since changed their minds," said Lenz.

Chinese Daily News officials did not return calls. The paper's management later appealed the hearing officer's decision to the NLRB board in Washington for a final ruling three years ago, where the case has languished.

"If it was an easy call, the board would have made the decision long ago," said James Small, assistant to the NLRB's Region 21 director. He said that the chief reason for the delay is the question over the definition of supervisors and whether their involvement in union organizing activities ale permissible.

Lenz, however, said another factor was at play. "The (NLRB) board has had a tremendous amount of turnover," he said, "which has created an unstable environment to render a decision."

The Chinese Daily News, with an unaudited circulation estimated at 100,000, is the largest Chinese language newspaper in the nation. Published by Taiwan-based United Daily News, a holding company formed in 1951 by T.W. Wang, the CDN has a pro-Taiwanese perspective.

Its major rival is El Monte-based Chinese Free Daily News, with an estimated L.A. circulation of 45,000. Alhambra-based Sing Tao Newspaper Group, headquartered in Hong Kong, has an estimated circulation of 30,000.

In becoming the focal point of the labor battle, the Chinese Daily News has stepped into a battle over one of the tenets of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.

The Act requires workers to vote by secret ballot on whether they want a union to represent them as part of a collective bargaining unit. The NLRB, which oversees labor laws, certifies the results.

In some instances, an employer can recognize workers who sign forms to support a union voluntarily, bypassing a lengthy and costly election process. More often, votes are held.

Labor unions cite the Chinese Daily News in arguing that the secret ballot election process should be dumped in favor of "card checks," said Bruce Meachum, the Newspaper Guild's Region 9 representative, overseeing the Western United States.

The Employee Right to Choose Act, proposed late last year by U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Contra Costa, would change the rules to allow the card checks.

These authorization cards, or card checks, would be used by organizers to collect signatures for determining the level of interest in unionization. They then would be presented to the NLRB for certification.

Meachum said the process would stop employers from delaying ballot certifications. "Basically the laws in this country don't protect workers to organize," he said. "We had an election and won."

Lenz, the lawyer for the newspaper, said "it would be tragic if this happened. It would essentially force an employer to keep its hands off, d and mouths shut. There would be virtually no legal recourse for an employer."