Asbury Park Press won’t fight staff vote to unionize

The Asbury Park Press will not challenge a vote by their reporters and staff to unionize even though a number of ballots arrived at the National Labor Relations Board after the deadline.

“We respect the right of employees at the Asbury Park Press to make a fully informed choice for themselves whether to unionize or not,” said Thomas Zipfel, the Gannett labor relations counsel.  “While the NLRB wrongly counted votes that were marked as received after the vote cut-off date, we have no reason to believe those votes did not reflect the wishes of our employees.”

The newly-formed APP-MCJ Guild, which also includes journalists from the Home News Tribune and Courier News, are now joining the NewsGuild of New York.  They had said on Twitter that the vote was “overwhelmingly” in favor of the initiative.

“Gannett strongly supports the NLRB’s election process and has always participated in that process fairly and in good faith which is why we acknowledge the results of the election and respect the decision of our valued employees,” Zipfel told the New Jersey Globe. “Gannett will move forward as the leading news organization in New Jersey, focused on our mission — delivering quality journalism that makes our communities better.”

But the NewsGuild of New York, CWA Local 31003, disputed Gannett’s statement.

“The ballots did not arrive late and were counted as per board rules and case law. The Company’s attempt to challenge the votes was shot down swiftly by the Board, and the fact that the vote count represented the will of the workers was acknowledged in an email to the Board thereafter by Gannett’s attorney, Jonathan Spitz,” the union told the New Jersey Globe.

The three central New Jersey newspapers brings the number of Gannett publications that have voted to form unions this year to six.  The Bergen Record, the Daily Record and the New Jersey Herald voted to unionize earlier this year, along with a group of digital producers for 37 Gannett news sites in New Jersey and four other states.

This story was updated at 7:50 PM with comment from the NewsGuild of New York.