AS THE PROJO TURNS Advertisers give the Guild a lift BY IAN DONNIS

A contract dispute between the Providence Journal and the Providence Newspaper Guild has dragged on for more than three years without resolution. But the Guild is hoping that a new tactic — enlisting the support of major ProJo advertisers — will hasten management’s return to the bargaining table.

Last week, the Pride Auto Group became the second large advertiser to take a stand on the union’s behalf. In an August 25 letter to publisher Howard Sutton, Pride president Al Anjos wrote, "The labor war currently going on at the Journal is causing harm not only to your employees but also to the Journal itself and should therefore be resolved expeditiously." Earlier, Pete Cardi, an owner of Cardi’s Furniture, one of the newspaper’s largest advertisers, told Guild president John Hill that Guild members are Cardi’s customers "and we want to see them treated fairly."

Sutton didn’t return a call seeking comment. ProJo management, which has declined to return to the negotiating table since the union rejected a proposed pact in June, hasn’t publicly responded to overtures by Anjos and Cardi. Nonetheless, says Hill, "We think major advertisers like the ones we’ve been going after are people they pay attention to. We’re thinking if they could hear our argument from a business person, it would be harder to dismiss it simply as the ranting of a labor organization."

The advertisers’ assistance seems like a significant moral coup for the Guild. In Anjos’s letter, for example, the Seekonk, Massachusetts-based car dealer wrote, "Every year customers such as Pride Auto Group suffer increased advertising expenses from the Journal because of the Journal’s annual rate increases. Where is all that money going? Clearly, the Journal is not using that money to benefit or take care of their employees. As a business man myself, I go to great lengths to take good care of my employees because I understand how important they are to a successful business."

Hill says the idea of reaching out to advertisers — more of whom are being contacted — had previously been used with some success by a Guild local in Seattle. Guild officials have long talked about a possible circulation boycott of the Journal, but it hasn’t moved beyond organizing efforts. In terms of contacting advertisers, "It’s something we had been kicking around for a long time," Hill says.

The Guild says Anjos sent his letter after the union wrote to him about its contract troubles. In the case of Cardi, who is said to have called Sutton last week, his involvement came after Guild members distributed leaflets outside Cardi’s stores in West Warwick and Swansea, Massachusetts. According to the union newsletter, Guild Leader (www.riguild.org), the flyers were headlined, "Why is This Business Supporting Law Breaking? . . . It went on to explain that ‘profits from advertisements are being used to help fund unfair labor tactics at the Providence Journal.’ The flier urged customers to talk to the manager of the business and encourage them to ask Sutton, ‘not to use your money to violate the law.’ "

The Guild says it previously sent letters to the heads of the two targeted companies, outlining the situation, requesting that they contact Sutton, and informing them that customers would be told of their support of ProJo if they didn’t make the call to the publisher. The leaflets and letters were cleared by union lawyers in Washington, DC.

Police were called to the Cardi’s stores in West Warwick and Swansea during the leafletting, the Guild says, but determined that the union members were on public property and not violating the law. Pete Cardi was on the scene in West Warwick, and the more he heard, the union says, the more sympathetic he became.